Monday, December 14, 2009

Week Seven

The Spiders were on fire this week with goals from Noah, Xavier and Lucas. Noah dazzled the other team with his footwork and energy and when he stripes the ball with his shoe laces the other coaches always give me a wide eyed "what was that" sort of look. Brennen has that effect on people too. Xavier has apparently become accustomed to scoring as he had no trouble doubling his previous week's total with two goals. And the clear star of the game was Lucas who, after a long drought, broke through with a trio of goals.

The Seals met their match this week. Everyone played very well and maintained their positions with a lot of discipline. Alex had our loan goal on a great shot from just outside the box. Kendall had a great game including a good stint in goal. Kaleb, Justin and Luke played tireless defense but we just couldn't get anything going on the other end. We had no subs so everyone had to play the whole game and they were great, especially Kevin who is at the end of only his first session playing soccer.
Thanks to Ben for running the field with the team for me.

The Bullets played valiantly with barely enough on hand to field a team. Lauren had her first goal of the session and I'm so sorry I missed that. Thanks Lisa and Amy for covering for me. See you all this weekend.

Remember the U4 game is at 8:00 AM Saturday. The U6 is at 8:50. The U10 Tournament is on Sunday.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Week 6 Highlights

The Spiders had a great game Saturday. The big highlight was Xavier's first goal. Jill played hard again and continues to improve every week. Noah had a few goals too.

The Seals were dominant with a couple of excellent goals from Owen and great play from everyone else. Everybody was doing a great job playing off the ball and avoiding being trapped in the corners. Kendall's play was the big highlight of the game. She wasn't just running with the ball. At one point she was dancing with it, trying to get around the other players. Justin, too, was putting his own ball handling skills to the test regularly. I love to see that kind of confidence.

The Bullets got beat but they played really hard this week. I was really proud of all of them. They showed great energy and attacked the ball hard. Still the play, especially in defense, was a bit panicky but it's getting better. Avery led our offense most of the game again with lots of help from Erika and Kyle K. Kyle had our best shot on goal in the first half. Our lone goal was from Helen who put in a beautiful cross from Avery. David is showing great improvement as a defender, playing with the kind of tenacity the position demands. Also of note; I mentioned last week that Jordan was playing so aggressively in defense that I would have to move her up to midfield. Well this week in midfield she began, unprompted by me, to sneak up into offense looking for a shot on goal. Impressive.
We certainly missed Braden and Lauren and look forward to having them back this coming week. Helen, Erin and I will be absent this week as we have a strings recital to attend. Lisa Roedig, Avery's mom, will be filling in for me as coach.