2nd game September 19, 2009

Our second game, which was against the Goldfish, was punctuated by some excellent dribbling and shots on goal by our Peacocks. What a great game everyone had. I was especially impressed with Kaitlyn, Emma, Faith and Ayla who had several shots on goal each. Emma and Kaitlyn both had goals.

Well done to our goalkeepers who stopped as many as they could. Allison, Sydney, Faith and Hannah.

A special "good job" to Sydney who got smashed in the nose with the ball and was back in and playing within minutes. Sydney, you are doing better all the time. I appreciate your ability to keep going and get in the middle of things to try for the ball.

Sarah, excellent determination and persistence today. Your ball handling skills are getting better and better. You are not afraid to go wherever the ball is. I really enjoy watching you play.

Allison, you are a great goalkeeper! I was impressed with you in the goal as well as your defensive maneuvers. You cleared the ball away from the other team several times!

Ayla, you stopped the ball on defense very well, but didn't just quit and kick it out. You kept going and took it up and shot on goal a few times. Very nicely done!

Hannah, going everywhere, doing everything. You are an all around player who always seems to be in the right place at the right time. Good job.

Kaitlyn, little goal scorer! Your intensity is an asset and it is a nail-biter every time you get the ball. You have the ability to make things happen on the field and are someone who can play both defense and offense very well.

Emma, your ball handling skills are top notch and your goal was a thing of beauty. You had at least one excellent cross (passing the ball to the inside) today and great dribbling.

Faith, I think this was your best soccer game ever! You were where you were supposed to be and never gave up. I loved watching you take a couple of shots on goal. You almost had one!

Amber, you are a good athlete. You have a natural inclination to know what to do with the ball. You took the ball away from the other team several times today. Well done.

Riley, we missed you!

Thank you, thank you Jorgensons for providing water for the team as well as refreshing watermelon and protein-packed cheese sticks!

Good job Coach Wes for organizing the girls today. I think the pace of substitutions was excellent.

Here are some photos. I think they are all in reverse order with the exception of the last few candids. I will try to get to commenting on most (not all) in the next few days. I won't be able to take this many shots at every game, but will when possible.

Though this is a great photo of Kaitlyn, what I love about it is Hannah running as fast as she can to come help out. She doesn't assume Kaitlyn will take care of it. She gets herself into position to actually help if needed. Excellent job both of you!

Similar situation as Kaitlyn/Hannah above. Emma has the ball, and Allison is right alongside ready to help. Sydney is close behind. Allison could have got closer toward the middle (her right) to give Emma some space to run with it as well opened a bigger path for Emma to run. Remember the "Open Space" we've talked about. Allison could have found open space to allow Emma a place to pass that wasn't right next to her. However, great job being up there Allison and Sydney for following too. If I were Sydney here, I would have run behind Allison and hung quite back, but ready to run up immediately, to give Emma a completely different option, in case she got stuck in the middle, and needed to pass the ball BACKWARD.

Good intensity here from Sarah as she controls the ball away from her opponent. I don't think that elbow was intentional.

She's already a step ahead of the other team and should be thinking about her next move. Emma is right there. She could let Emma take it up the sideline or call her off, saying "MINE!" to Emma. I know that sounds selfish, parents, but with two converging we usually have a collision. "MINE" tells a teammate that you have control and a better position. We'll work on that.

Ayla is in front of the other team's goal. If she had pulled it back and turned around (like we work on in practice), she would have had a shot...

But the goalie got it. Well done getting it that far. We'll work on "Finishing".

The three photos above show a progression, from having control to losing it. Faith has the ball right in front of her, turns it and gets caught by the other team. Faith could have touched ball to keep it close and looked up, realized the opponent was right there, and either passed it to Hannah or dribbled to the side to keep from dribbling right into the other team.

The last picture says it all. After all that work of dribbling down the field, Ayla has no one to pass to, gets nervous and kicks it right to the goalie. We'll work on looking up while dribbling and passing in front of the goal to avoid this. Ayla almost had a goal. Really good dribbling. You did this several times with a similar result. We'll learn the way to solve this problem.

Emma or Faith just cleared the ball?

The above 5 photos is a progression of Emma dribbling past two opponents. Emma excells at seeing that the opponent is off-balance or already committed to going one way and she goes the other. She doesn't just dribble through them (usually!), but waits until they commit, as we've talked about in practice. Excellent!

Something we will work on at practice is crossing/passing back to give someone else a shot when you have no good angle to shoot on goal. I am the first to admit that Emma did the work and dribbled that ball all the way down the field. but, she had no shot and lost it to the other team. Both Amber and Kaitlyn were in the middle of the field. Had Emma passed the ball (crossed it) either could have taken a shot with a better angle.

I'm not sure if this was a pass or if Kaitlyn got a stray ball, but let's assume it was a great pass from Amber...Kaitlyn does a great job of turning the ball and heading to goal. Ball is a little far out, but with no one around, she has to touch it less and can run faster. If there was an opponent right there, she'd want to keep it a little closer.

Kaitlyn just had a shot on goal. The keeper got it. Both Kaitlyn and Amber just ran, but it's time to get back and "mark" a player. Just as if the other team had a throw in, this is your chance to guard a player and possibly get the ball right back to take another shot.

Here Amber does a fine job of controlling the ball and moving it upfield.

Hate to pick on you Amber, but here is an example of Amber losing the ball and taking her frustration out on her opponent. Keep your arms in.

Moving the ball away from the opponent.
Emma with great control. Ball is in a perfect position. Not to far ahead, not too close.

A missed opportunity. Goalie gets the ball. Emma could have looked for someone to pass to. Kaitlyn could have gone to the middle, instead of behind Emma, to give her someone to pass to.

We had this scenario many times in our game yesterday. Not just with Emma. :-)

Great intensity here from Kaitlyn. She's speeding up toward the ball to gain control.

Here Kaitlyn gets her body in front of he opponent, not just her foot. This is a good way to control not just the ball, but where the other player goes.

Kaitlyn intercepts the ball and takes it to the OUTSIDE, away from our goal. She is CLEARING the ball.

See where the ball is on the field? Everyone is in a great spot here. Faith is on the "near post" and Ayla is between the ball and the goal to stop it in case Kaitlyn loses the ball to the other team. Really good positioning everyone!

I like Faith's stance here. Her hands are out, ready to go in either direction. She not back on her heels or standing on one foot. Her knees are bent ready to spring. She could go in any direction from this position and she's watching the ball.

Look! She's clearing the ball AWAY from the middle of our goal. Good job.

Here, Ayla had the ball and was making a run on goal. She let it get a little far ahead and it was CLEARED to the OUTSIDE by the other team.

The above 5 photos are very interesting and though it resulted in a goal for the other team, there is a combination of factors leading up to that. It starts with Ayla commiting to the ball and the opponent dribbling right around her (just like we've practiced doing ourselves!). Ayla could have hung back a little, waiting for the other team to make a mistake, rather than jumping in and letting them go around her. I understand the desire to just take the ball and turn it upfield, but we need to learn patience too. If that player had to pass to get around you, you could have intercepted it, or the other player might not have been able to control it or... Either way, you did just what she wanted and she got past you.

Now, they are past Ayla and Sarah is too far toward the middle to intercept it, so Allison (as any good goalie will do) goes after the ball. Allison is not able to get her hands on the ball, the opponent already has speed and zips right by her. Sarah is too far away to get there and the other team shoots and scores.

This is a really good learning opportunity. The goalie should be the last line of defense when the other team is that close. That won't always be true in every circumstance, but for our current level, it's true. I know Sarah was marking that other player, but she was out of the picture and should have stepped in to take the ball instead of Allison. Allison had no choice, but to do that, so I am proud of Allison's effort even though it didn't end up how we wanted it to.