This game really surprised me. I coach both teams and get to see all of the kids at work often so I had a sense as to which team would likely come out on top. And I was wrong. I thought going into the game that the Thunder would have a hard time without Parker and Mya in the line-up. Parker was out for an end of Summer vacation and Mya was attending her Dad's deployment ceremony (Scott, thanks for your service and come home safe). The Polar Bears had all of their best players on hand and that is a pretty tough and experienced group. But surprisingly the Thunder spent most of the game running right through them. Most of the credit has to go to Brooke and Juan. Brooke has a bullish determination to get going toward the goal whenever she has the ball and manages frequently to get past defenders by basically running through them. Each time Brooke did begin to make a run Booboo (Juan) would smartly break off and head straight to the goal to be in position. That is huge. He didn't get any goals in this game but he was in position so often he had a lot of good chances. Brooke did finally get one in on another solo run.
The Thunder had great work in keeper from Maddie early on and then she played some great defense later. Zychick took a turn in keeper too and after missing on a good shot from Noah that equalized the game he stopped another shot, this one headed right at him, and that gave him a sudden burst of confidence that allowed him to finish his quarter playing the position with real enthusiasm. I think he had another two stops. Great work.
On the Polar Bears side it was mostly Carson, of course, handling the ball. That kid is tireless. But it was Noah who got the big goal off. It was a tenacious effort by Noah as the Thunder defense had basically rejected his first shot but he stayed in there to get the rebound and drove it hard into the net.
Ashley had a few flashes of brilliant ball handling. She's got great speed and is developing rapidly. Like every other good player she is clearly in possession of the one very important bit of soccer knowledge: The ball goes in the net. You can see her and other kids sometimes standing on the field looking a bit disinterested but then the ball is at their feet and suddenly their body language clearly indicates that they are on the way, that they have a purpose in mind. I love that. Ava had some similar moments and despite being a bit smaller than some of the kids she was facing she was really fearless in her attack.
Mason showed some flashes too for the Polar Bears. Mason is really tough (hard headed) and never shies away from the scrum but he isn't always fully engaged in the game. But I see that changing and he has good speed and a nice touch on the ball so I expect him to become a real team-leading player. In this particular game there was one little moment that showed Mason's potential, just a brief flash. He was in his own end of the field as the ball came loose toward him. He was open with no pressure on and so he might have let the ball come to him, settled it and then taken off. But what he did was begin to step toward the ball, stride forward with his right foot and in that motion deftly guide the ball out of the air, his foot stretched out so as to control the ball with the outsole of his shoe, then get up to full speed in another step with the ball now safely contained between his feet. He didn't make it all the way to the goal but that little step was beautiful and showed me that Mason will be more than just a tough and aggressive player. He has the potential to develop some real grace.
Great game Polar Bears and Thunder. We'll throw the own goal out and call it a 1-1 draw. See you the week after the Holiday.
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