Congratulations to the Lady Warriors on winning their first MSPSP league game of the season in an impressive manner: 8-0 over the CW3 Extreme. Three practices per week, four summer full-team tournaments, various small sided 3v3 tournaments, and summer training camps paid dividends on Sunday evening. While our schedule is designed to get progressively tougher with each competition, it was a good way to open the league season.
From the opening whistle the team pressed CW3 back into their own half of the field as they worked to build the attack through possession and dangerous strikes at net. The effort was rewarded about 5 minutes into the game as Alyssa Bolling played a nice ball across the goal mouth to Erin Castillo that had completed her far-post run for the first goal of the game. That first goal gave the team confidence and proceeded to break things open. We would be treated to the "Shelby Watts Show" for the next 15 minutes or so as our scoring leader suceeded in putting three more balls in the back of the net on an assist from Andrea Dumais, an unassisted strike on net up the middle, and a well slotted ball from Aimee Jackson (at midfield) respectably. Kelsey Beach maintained control of the ball as she pushed up from defense to fill the space (Thank You Kelsey) and make the best use of it...which was to accept a pass from Andrea Dumais and drill a ball into the upper 90 of the goal to send us to the half. Midway through the 1st half, we adjusted our formation to provide more in terms of midfield control and offensive presence and it paid off. The defense held well when we converted to three in the back with a defensive center midfielder, but identified a change in the lineup by CW3 where they started posting 4 strikers against us. The defense adjusted, converted to man-marking, and performed all of the changes on the fly. I was very pleased by the identification and adjustment that occurred. Kelsey, Shellie, Faith, Aimee, and Emily Mayer worked very well as a unit during this entire game.
The second half saw us make several adjustments to allow for playing time and positions...including Katie Ging's spotlight at striker. Katie actually made 2 very solid attempts at the goal, missing narrowly each time. Erin took up the goalkeeping mantle and made several good saves to preserve the shutout. It took us a little while to settle down in the second half, but we turned it back up led by a nice corner kick from Hannah Rhoades that sailed right into Emily Loza's head...only to be blocked by a CW3 player with her hand. The result was a PK. Hannah Huff was awarded the kick and put the ball in the back of the net...only to have it called back due to encroachment in the penalty arc space by a team member before the ball was touched. Instant education moment that no one will ever forget...especially Hannah. Andrea would answer back in mere minutes with an unassisted run through the defense ending in a nicely placed ball in the back of the net. Hannah Huff tried on a couple of occassions to chip the goalkeeper (who was playing a little farther off her line than advisable) to no avail, and finally kept the ball on the ground and finished around the keeper on a good penetrating run and pass from Hannah Rhoades. Andrea Dumais would end the game in style and finish a shot on net assisted by Emily Rozin.
While CW3 is not the toughest team in our division, we did see a few items that we needed to work on. CW3 converted to the offside trap in the second half. It took us longer than it should of to adjust to this aggressive use of space. They managed to catch us off on 2-3 runs before we adjusted. We made runs back toward the ball, slotted balls better between players, and used our dribbling skills to penetrate. While they were good adjustments, it took too long to make them. Identification needs to occur much quicker. The midfield contracted and expanded its shape pretty well during the game, adjusting to whether we were in possession of the ball or trying to win it. Taking a lesson from our defensive unit, the midfield still needs to transition between offense and defense much quicker and fall back to support or push up to fill new spaces as the game presents them.
Update on Meggy McConkey. Meggy is still being harrassed by an upper leg muscle pull/tear. She will be taking some time off to rest and heal, with a regiment of RICE and elliptical use. She is estimated to return to practice on 9/23 and 9/24 and be evaluated for play in our 9/27 contest versus the HV Lightning.
Next game is on Thursday night at 8:00pm (under the lights) in Northville versus the Rush.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment