MN Spring Tournament Season Underway

 
Busy weekends for the U11s as of late. 

The White team took their lumps in the NSR Region II Cup (Apr 26 and 27) in Rockford, but had a good time in the process as they look to prime themselves for the Minnesota tournament circuit.

• L 2 - 3 vs Strikers FV 97 White (IL)
  
• L 0 - 6 vs LCU Red (WI)
  
• T 0 - 0 vs Sirens (IL)

The girls then came back with solid performances at the The Blaine Breakout (May 2 - 4), missing out on advancing to the final by one goal (in goal differential), though beating the eventual tournament champions 3-1 in group play. 

• W 3 - 1 vs Mpls United
• W 7 - 2 vs St Louis Park
• T 3 - 3 vs Blaine Bombers
  

The following weekend, the Whites put together another good showing at the Cottage Grove Runnin' with the Wolves event, losing to a tough Cottage Grove team in overtime in the final game. 

• W 4 - 1 vs Cottage Grove
  
• L 2 - 1 vs Burnsville Fire
• W 3 - 2 vs Centennial Fire
• L 3 - 2 vs Cottage Grove Finalists
  

The White team continues to show improvement, and I expect to see more as the girls get more and more games under their belt.  It's a pleasure to have Carlie Edwards (U of M Women's player) working with them now.  I coached Carlie when she was younger.  She's a very good player and knows the game, and has a very good way with the young players.  The girls love her and I believe the parents are impressed with her beyond-her-years approach.

In talking with Carlie, along with general skills development, we have definite technical areas that need to be focused on with this group.

• Ball striking
• Crossing and finishing
• Weak-side midfield defending responsibilities
  

I'm looking forward to seeing how the girls on this team progress in the coming months.

* * * * * 

Following their fantastic performance at the West Des Moines Premier Games in early April, the Blues took the U12 title at the Midwest Soccer Challenge (Apr 18 and 19) here in St Croix.

The girls then traveled to Rockford for the NSR Region II Cup (Apr 26 and 27), continuing their impressive streak of regional tournament championships with a 4-0 win in the final.

• W 3-1 vs LCU Red (WI)
• W 4 - 0 vs Sirens (IL)
• W 5 - 0 vs Chicago Wind Hurricanes (IL)
• W 4 - 0 vs Strikers FV 97 White (IL) Champions

The Blues then had a good wake up call experience at the Cottage Grove Runnin' with the Wolves event up at the U12 division.  It was a lackluster Saturday, with a 0-5 loss to the Burnsville Goldrush and a 1-2 loss to Cottage Grove, the girls rebounded Sunday with a fantastic performance to beat Owatonna 3-1.  

This group, like the Whites, continues to improve.  They absolutely love to play and are extremely competitive on the field and in training.  My struggle is to try and find good competition for them at their age group.  This was made clear this last weekend as I watched them battle the U12s in Cottage Grove.  These girls play the game of soccer better than their opponents, that much is crystal clear to me.  The Blues have better overall technique and a better tactical sense.  They are very athletic as well and though smaller in size, compete very well in speed and quickness.  However, sheer size and muscular strength are the differences, and these are more apparent and play more of a factor on the small fields we saw in the tournament.  This type of competition can highlight our individual and team weaknesses for sure, but I still want to find them a test against competition that beats us with skill rather than size. 

It will likely entail some travel this next year as U12s, and I'll need to prep people to the expenses this travel brings with it.  Fundraising will be key, but I think this parent group has seen enough this last year to support what I'd like to do with the girls.  

Am I disappointed about 5-0 and 2-1 losses?  Not at all.  Burnsville had 1 player who beat us, a very talented girl who plays up mainly with their U13 group. She shut us out as a GK in the first half, then proceeded to be influential in 4 goals in the second half.  Do they still beat us that morning without her?  I think so as we didn't have much energy.  It was difficult playing without Babes and Barbie, two key central players, and Maddog had seen a ton of playing time (scoring the game wining goal) less than 12 hours ago at a State Cup game with Andy's U12 team.

We created more chances in the afternoon game against Cottage Grove and scored a wonderfully worked goal.  However, we gave up two direct free kick goals as the Cottage Grove player (the same one scored both) struck the ball hard and clean over our GKs finger tips. 

Our game against Owatonna the next morning was one of the best soccer games I'd seen this group play.  

All in all, I'm going to be able to get a lot of mileage from this weekend's results.  Great highlights about what happens when we don't give 100% effort on the field, and a great wake up call to help encourage and motivate the talented girls to focus better and work harder in training.