Week Two

The U4 Grey Spiders were down a player this week but still played strong. Among the highlights were two strong runs toward goal by Lucas Meagher. On his first run he ran past the ball a bit at the end and a defender was able to take it. On his second run Lucas was on a clear path to the goal with Xavier shadowing him on his left to help out when unexpectedly Lucas' shot was blocked by...an adult running around the field swinging their child like a hockey stick. No doubt the child/hockey stick learned a lot from that. I've seen coaches and parents attempt to get a recalcitrant child engaged in the game using that method before but I've never seen it have good results and it's unfair to the kids on the other team. They didn't sign up to play against child-wielding adults. If I see that happening again I'll talk to the Ref and get it stopped. At any rate Xavier was able to collect Lucas' blocked shot and put it in the goal. A very heads-up play. I should have had him run up to the Parent in question and do some sort of Ochocinco-like dance.
Jill and Karolyn both also had excellent games. And Brennen was very solid, mostly in defense, showing off that big kick of his.

The Seals were so fired-up during our practice time, cheering each other on, that I'm a little surprised they didn't dominate more during the game. I'm just thrilled with how tight these kids are as a team. They really like playing together and are learning quickly how to work as a team and rely on each other and that shows in the way we scored our goals this week. Our first was from Owen who was hanging out in front of the goal while Alex followed the ball into the corner. By keeping his distance Owen was in the right spot when Alex got the ball out and across the goal leaving Owen with an easy chip-in.
Our other goal was off of a beautiful set piece. On a hand-ball kick Madeline made a perfect pass to Kaleb who was waiting just to the left of the other team's defensive wall. Kaleb one-touched that pass right into the goal. I don't think the other coach had his team fully set up but Maddie was watching the Ref and the Ref said go. They weren't going to block that shot anyway.
The other highlight of the game was Justin's play. Justin took a ball to the face early in the third quarter and had to go off. When he came back in in the fourth he came in like a lion and seemed intent on dominating the field. He was showing speed and graceful ball handling that I haven't seen from him before. And everyone knows he has a strong kick. His shots didn't get through but it was still a great game for Justin. Kevin, Luke and Kendall all had excellent games too and Mac had a great first half.

The Sapphire Bullets had the game I thought they would after their last one and their last practice. They came out fired-up and focused and they played that first half with great intensity. In a very narrow 5 to 4 loss we had goals from Avery, Kyle K., Erin and Kyle D. Avery's goal was on a perfect pass and shoot combination with a nice assist from Erin whose pass threaded the defense and found Avery all alone in the box. Kyle K. was in the right place at the right time, crashing the box after a teammates' shot he was right there to put in the rebound. Erin had a lovely clean shot from some distance that was the one successful attempt out of what seemed like dozens of good shots. Kyle D. was in the scrum just in front of the goal after a free kick from Erin. As the ball got loose from the pile-up Kyle collected it and quickly pushed it in the goal.
Braden played some amazing offense, tirelessly attempting over and over again to penetrate the defense with his amazing footwork but just didn't get the chances on goal that he was working for. On the other side of the field Erika was again showing her speed and Helen and Lauren gave us excellent games in midfield. Lauren's instincts for the game are getting better every week. She had a great game. Jordan was great in defense and was playing so aggressively up the field that I may have to move her into midfield. David and Kathryn, our two rookies, were great in defense. David is getting the hang of it quickly and he's got a strong left foot. Seth was excellent in goal during the first half with help from Nicholas anchoring the defensive line for him. Jake came in as keeper in the second half and handled himself very well making some fearless stops. Unfortunately the rest of the defense left him in too many one on one situations which is what had happened in the previous game so we know what we have to work on in practice.
The weather for next Saturday looks great so I'm planning to hold practice at Richardson Road again, this time at 2:00 PM and we'll go for 90 minutes. See you there.
Parents, if you get a chance follow this link to view a training video that shows a player demonstrating good ball control skills. View the video with your player if you can. Watching this definitely helped get my kids more interested in developing their ball handling technique.