The Girls had a good tournament.  The one thing they did was work hard all 4 games.  In the past, they have had tournaments with ussually one unaccaptable game based on effort--that was not the case this weekend.  I hope I am correct, but it seems the girls are enjoying the game, and are putting in the effort without me having to get on them; I call that "playing for the love of the game"!

Game 1: This was a heartbreaker.  The girls outshot the other team by a large margin, with many of them 1 v 1 with goalie that we couldn't finish.  We didn't finish, and let two slip by for a 2-1 loss.  The effort the girls gave the last 15 minutes in trying to at least get the tie was outstanding.  I knew their legs were going to be a little tired the second game because they left everything on the field that first game.  We had some good passing combinations, but we continued to play right back into pressure instead of switching fields when the opportunity was there.

Game 2: The girls came out at the blow of the whistle with a 12 pass sequence without the other team even touching the ball.  Well done--beautiful to watch.  We took the lead.  The other team put on incredible pressure.  I never saw a field of tired girls as our team was that last 20 minutes.  I new that first game was going to have an effect on our stamina, and it did.  I was so proud, as tired as we were, that we were able to secure the win.  We win as a team; but I do want to mention the fantastic play by Sophie and Olivia that game.  Again, our legs and stamina left us, and our goalie and sweeper put us on their shoulders.  Great team effort for the win!

Game 3:  I asked the girls a question at the end of this 1-1 tie game--"How many times did we switch fields that game out of the back".  Answer -- 1 time.  Then I asked, "how many goals did we score"? Answer-1 goal.  And then I asked, "when did we score the goal"--Answer-- when we quickly swithed field out of the back". That was the one thing we worked a lot on at the bigginning of the year, and for whatever reason, our backs were not backing up from their defender to open themselves up and find the space to make this happen.  But that time, our defenders were far enough back to be an option for our throw in.  So, instead of throwing it forward into pressure, Hope intelligently threw it in back to Hannah who quickly switched fields.  This quickly got the ball up to Jenna who cuaght her defender in a 1 v 1 situation.  And that defender had ZERO help/cover because WE QUICKLY SWITCHED FIELDS, which put the help/cover defender out of position!  That's why we switch fields girls:)!  Jenna, great jop in beating her 1 v 1 and nice left footed strike for goal!

Game 4:  We got to play the team we beat game 2.  I was VERY happy the first half.  We talked a lot before the game and warm-ups about switching fields, especially from our back.  We played possession very well that half!  We switched fields numerous times, which gave us several scoring opportunities, but unfortanelty couldn't finish.  They were very aggressive and their defenders did have good speed.  I felt we were just as aggressive.  We did tend to lose some focus the second half and began the bad habit of playing back into pressure instead of staying with possession and switching fields when we had the opportunities.  GIRLS--IF THERE IS ONE THING WE NEED TO IMPROVE ON, IT'S NOT SWITCHING FIELDS ENOUGH AND GETTING THE BALL TO WEAKSIDE/AWAY FROM PRESSURE!  And that goes for all of us--defenders, midfielders, striker, etc. Anyway, we got anxious that second half and were trying to play right up the middle (as well as back into pressure).  Many times our outside Mid furthest away from ball (many times Anna and Taylor) was wide open, but we were missing it.  Olivia made amazing save on the PK and Jenna did a good job of clearing it after the save.  Was happy with some of the overlaps our outside attacking backs were making (hannah, Delaney).  Overall, it was a good game that we really dominated, but came up with a 0-0 tie.   Defenders did a good job in defending the ball, and the first half in playing possession.  Actually, the defenders did a heck of a job all weekend in defending their goal.  Pat on the pack defense!

Good tourney girls.  You girls probably maintained a 65% possession to their 35% the whole tournament.  That was well done, and I know it can even get better.  Great hustle like I said.  And your skill was much higher than all the teams, which you used and displayed well, specifically in 1 v 1 situations.  I was proud of your performance.

See you tomorrow.  We worked really hard this weekend, so we will most likely use a good portion of the practice simply going over set plays (corners, indirects, directs, etc), which we have not done so this season yet.  Please be there, as I don't want to spend more than this single practice this season on set plays.  They are important and need to be learned.

Thanks again girls for a really fun weekend!
Brian

Gary, Eric--feel free to add anything.