Rec Season Kick-Off!

    The Juniors led the way this past Saturday, facing a Blessed Sacrament side on an unusually shaggy Children's Home field.  We had seen some really fine play from this group towards the end of last season but going into the fall season I was concerned about how they would adjust to the loss of two strong players in Evan and Zach who had aged up a year and moved over to the select squad.  Clearly I had no reason to be concerned.  Our newest teammates, Louis, Carter and Landon stepped in and made an impact right away while our returning players carried on like veterans, with skill and intensity but also with a very evident familiarity with the pressure of competition.
    The outcome was a satisfying 3-3 draw with the Juniors dominating possession of the ball for the entire game.  At the end of last season we were just starting to see the boys learn to use their developing skills in a more thoughtful or purposeful way, dribbling to find a path to goal rather than simply to keep possession.  This Saturday's game was even a step beyond what we'd seen in the spring, with players like Damon, Riley and Pierce finding that they can impose themselves on the opposition.  Riley in particular was a revelation in this game.  He was weaving in and out of traffic with amazing speed, refusing to be denied a path to goal.  The first shot he took, while a bit wide of the goal, was a stunning blast that sent a warning to the other team, "this kid has a foot!"  Moments later he delivered on that promise and buried one in the net from near the edge of the penalty area with a beautifully powerful stroke.
     We had goals from Parker and Carter too and both of those were beautiful efforts.  In Landon's first game with the squad he produced some fine saves in keeper and some very impressive punts too.
     I have to say the thing that impressed me most about the game was the level of energy throughout and the intense commitment to keeping the ball that the boys showed.  Damon, Louis, Riley and Colin seemed always to be on the ball or always pestering their opponent to regain it.  After the first six or seven minutes of the game it became apparent that, typical of Legends style soccer, the ball wasn't going to be going out of bounds very often and so subbing in players would be a challenge for the BSS coach.  He seemed a little put off by that.  Early in the game the Juniors really had the run of the field as the other team got winded, being forced to defend for so long with no stoppage of play.  That's Legends soccer though.  When you aren't just wildly booting the ball around it stays in bounds most of the time and the other team has to work harder.  It's not a tactic exactly, just a nice consequence of the way we ask our teams to play.
     Finally, you may have seen some glimpses of a passing attack developing with this team.  It will be fun to watch that evolve over the course of the season but I'd remind everyone that I want to see that aspect of the game develop naturally for the team.  I want it to be their own idea, their own creation to begin finding passing opportunities and I will continue to pressure them to dribble first and to win their 1v1s.  What I want to see is passing that is part of the overall attack, not passing that happens just to get out of a pressure situation; cool-headed, game-dominating passing rather than panicked passing.  With that in mind I'd remind everyone that while you should cheer for them as loud as possible, please resist the urge to yell out any specific instructions, other than "run faster".  That one I'm okay with.

     The second game of the day saw the Beechwood Boys taking on a huge squad from St. Agnes.  They must of have had twelve kids total.  So, of course, this turns out to be a day where we have no subs ourselves.  At game time we had six players so we'd have to manage to play the whole fifty minutes with no rest.  Our reputation proceeds us though and the other coach seemed giddy at the possibility that an easy win against a Legends team might be in hand.  In retrospect I think perhaps that coach might have come over and offered us the loan of one of his players.  He didn't, though and the game was probably a bit tense for him as it looked for most of the time like we might handle them anyway, subs or no.
     We started the game with Quinn in as keeper and I asked him to play with a very active "sweeper keeper" mentality in the position meaning that he should play high off his goal line and very aggressively advance on the ball when it was still outside the penalty area.  This would allow his full-backs in turn to play high up the field too.  It's a dangerous gamble because you can end up in some unwinnable one-on-one situations but if it works it keeps the ball and most of the other team in their own half, reducing the amount of running your team has to do.  Quinn pulled it off, coming out quickly for every ball he could reach and then distributing smartly to his teammates. 
     My other advice to the team was to remember to cover for each other on the field, to rotate positions when necessary to give each other a rest.  They did that very well most of the game and remained fairly fresh throughout.  I'm not sure how it looked from the parents' side of the field but to me it looked like our boys were actually pressing the St. Agnes team hard for most of the game.  Holden was amazingly fierce on the attack, showing an amazing confidence in his skills.  Matthew really impressed me in his first game with his excellent field awareness.  He's got the instincts of a natural mid-fielder and made some really lovely passes out of the middle to find his teammates. 
     Anes, Cole, Lucas and Quinn were trying to develop a unified attack throughout the game and I was really impressed at how they stayed aware of each other and looked for opportunities to cooperate.  In the end the final score of 2-4 in favor of St. Agnes was a victory for our boys.  They gave a magnificent effort in a situation where they might easily have packed it in at half time.   We had plenty of chances and plenty of shots on goal and the game might easily have gone the other way.  These Beechwood Boys are fierce competitors.
    

Some video from Saturday's titanic clash thanks to Coach Chris. 

I was really happy with how the scrimmage went.  It was just what our girls needed...a game against a skillful and physical team.  I thought they held their own very well.