Game Notes

Girls, very well played game today.

Once again, you are making decent teams look "not very good" with a very nice 3-1 win, that could have been 8-1!  Today's team pressured their defense up very high, looking for offside traps.  We did a decent job at playing to feet, and then exposing their flat line in the back, and playing thru balls allowing numerous one on ones with their goalie--making them pay for playing that style of defense.

I am not sure why they continued to play that way, and not play a little more cover/depth in their defensive back.  Our speed was way to much for them to handle.  But, that's how they played, and we did a great tactical job by making runs and playing the ball behind their defense.  Just remember, if they would have played with greater depth, we would have had to play to feet a lot more.  But, we did do a good job of making 2 and 3 passes to feet to work it up the field, and then made those through balls.

We definitely didn't switch fields enough.  We continued to play balls up through the middle.  Fortunately though, we were fast enough to outrun their central defenders and cause great pressure on the goalie--I think Maleah actually scored a goal this way when the goalkeeper's clear deflected off Maleah, who then finished for a nice goal.  Just remember, it makes it much easier to play from the middle to the outside, back to the middle.  Many times, those balls played from our back straight up the middle simply go right to their goalie. So let's focus on switching fields a lot more next game and our long balls/clears going to corners flags versus down middle to their goalie.

Our high pressure defense was pretty outstanding today.  Very nice rotation.  Fullbacks, great job in stepping up to deny their outside mid fielders, and the other fullbacks did great in rotating over.  Outside mids and forwards, great pressure on their backs!  Your high pressure was the best I've ever seen you girls play it.  And it was done so well!, because you ALL rotated so quickly.  Remember, if one girl falls asleep on that high pressure, we could have a quick counter on us.  Well done in not allowing that to happen!

We worked on heading in the last two practices and I am SOO happy to see that evolve to game play.  Their coach (girls on the bench heard this too) said to his team "this team (talking about us) has headed the ball more this game than you girls have your whole life"!  And what was so nice, was you girls were heading the ball with purpose--a pass, a clear, or a shot on goal.  The passing head flicks were awesome today!  Megan, passing by head to Jenna, who passed by head to Kylie, who finished for one of her two goals--well done.

Eric and Gary also heard the other coach tell the refs after the game, "you guys had your work cut out for you today reffing a team with so much speed and skill."  What a great compliment to you girls!

We will continue to work on movement off the ball, and perfect one and two touch passing.  I always say that we learn the most from our losses.  I continue to think back to our one loss this season and remember how well that team moved off the ball and passed so perfectly with both feet.  That is our goal--we are not far off, but it will take a lot of practice to get there.  Let's continue to all have that same focus/goal in mind!

Good luck to all the girls who have high school games this week!

Brian

Team Outing

The US Womens National Soccer team will be playing New Zealand on Wednesday, October 30th at 7:30p at Columbus Crew Stadium. 

I think this would be a great opportunity to see the best soccer in the world right in our backyard (ok, not like Pine Hill field, which is literally Kyle's backyard, but Columbus is as close as we'll ever get to watching the US Women's National Team...)! 

I understand this is a weekday, and the kids may have school the next day.  I am not a big fan of late nights with school the next day, or early mornings for that matter (yes, I was at work today before 8 am--RECORD BOOKS!).   But this really is a great opportunity for the girls, (and this will only prep them for the all nighters they will have in college with exams--yes, I am trying to sell this event to you)!

Tickets go on sale Friday, 9/27.  I am not sure of pricing, but I think there is a group rate for 20 or more.

If you have any interest, let me know!  PLEASE, for my convenience,  put your comments below in the comment section to this post.  We will need to know asap.

Thanks,
Brian

Practice Saturday 10:00-11:30 Pine Hill

Parents,

We have practice scheduled at Pine Hill Field (thanks Kyle) this Saturday from 10:00-11:30.  These Saturday practices are to replace the Friday evening practices since so many girls and their parents requested off so the girls could attend the highschool football games.  Enjoy your Friday evenings!

Thanks,
Brian

Pine Hill Drive is located in Highland Heights Kentucky (basically Kyle Sparks back yard).

Here are directions (someone correct me if these are wrong) from NKU.  As you go down Pine Hill Drive, you will see the small parking lot on the right.  The field is down below the parking lot.  It is in a very residential area, so please drive slow, and if you think your lost, you probably are not lost--the small parking lot literally sits in the middle of houses on both sides.

Driving directions to Pine Hill Dr, Highland Heights, KY 41076

3D

Northern Kentucky University 1 Louie B Nunn Dr Newport, KY 41099

	1. Head east on Louie B Nunn Dr
		0.3 mi
	2. Turn right onto Alexandria Pike
		1.6 mi
	3. Turn left onto E Alexandria Pike
		0.4 mi
	4. Slight left onto Dodsworth Ln
		0.5 mi
	5. Take the 1st right onto Uhl Rd
		0.2 mi
	6. Take the 3rd left onto Pine Hill Dr Destination will be on the right
		0.1 mi

Pine Hill Dr Highland Heights, KY 41076

Tuesday Practice Time Change to 6:30-8:00PM @ General Cable(due to darkness)

Mead Cup Results and moving forward

Girls (parents, feel free to not read--BUT PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR DAUGHTERS DO--I WILL BE ASKING THEM ABOU THIS--thanks) ,

First, congrats on making the Semi-Finals of  the Mead Cup!  Remeber, there are 16 teams in the division--only one leaves with the win.

Some thoughts...

Game 1: We played well the first game, with the result being a tie.  We all know we had many opportunities to finish, and they had very few.  It wasn't our best game, but it was good.  I would have liked to see better movement off the ball and better passing to feet.  We tried to pass to space way too much, especially when they were playing off of us, and feet was the better option--they were sitting back deep.  Remember, when they play off of you, that is when you play to feet. You still tied a good team--a team I think we should beat 8 out of 10 games...

Game 2: We played our very best soccer EVER in the second game of the tournament!  Some reasons I felt this way...

• The first reason was that we did it against a good team.  That team was much better than those we played last week when we won the Cincinnati West Soccer Tournament.  And, besides our team, they were the best team in our bracket!
• The second reason was that we were definately the more physical team, winning 50/50 balls, shouldering girls off the ball to win balls, being first to balls, etc.  We set the tone early that we were going to win every ball no matter what.  And if we didn't win the ball, you got it back within a 1/2 second!
• They saw our speed right away, and decided to play off of us; and we passed to feet!  The passing was very nice.  The movement off the ball to be an option was terrific.  Our first touches were nice. We wore them down.  We used skill when we needed to create more time/space for ourselves!  They became unorganized and had multiple girls chasing the ball; which lead to us finding the open person. This led to many shots on goal.  We only finished one, but the set ups to all the shots we had were very very nice.  It was a 1-0 result, but it was total domination against a good team!

Game 3: Rainout--automatic Tie (hate that rule!).

Game 4:   Girls, DO NOT GET DOWN ABOUT THIS GAME.  I will put this loss on my shoulders.  Let me take this loss--all of it.  Here is what you need to know (Please read all of this). Let me tell you who the Four teams were in the semi-finals.  The two teams that played after us are both in the MRL.  Ohio Premiere Red and GTFC Impact both are in the MRL League. Ohio Premiere Red won 1-0.  Ohio Premiere Red actually plays The VERY TOP Kings Academy team (the Red Academy Team) the 28th of this month.  The team that beat us to go to the finals, CUSA Courage Premiere, plays BOTH in The Premier League and in the Buckey League--State Division. Girls, this division is basically the top 8 teams in Ohio. Remember, the Mead Cup is a tournament that the very best teams in Michigan, Ohio (Ohio is the soccer mecca girls), Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, and other states play in.  When you put the very best teams from all of these states in a tournament, I hope you can see how even the "Silver Division" will have to have these types of teams in them.   Now, do NOT think you CAN'T play at this level.  Girls, Javanon and Kentucky FC both will be playing these teams.  And I believe they will do very well against them.

So, what can we learn from this...  Here is what I learned.  I think I (and coaching staff), have gotten you girls to a level where we can now DOMINATE teams we had just lost too THIS past spring (think of last tournament as proof of that).  And we can now compete with teams in very high divisions such as MRL and Buckeye.  But, what I learned, is we played a team today that plays the EXACT type of soccer that I envision, but only better. They were not like Lexingto FC (State Cup winners) who were very quick in playing "Up, Back, Through"--somewhat very direct, but extrememly fast, so it workded for them.  No, this team today, played a style very much like us.  Anyone watching that team would have been very impressed; just as they would have been impressed watching us that second game.  So, what's the difference then...  Three things:

1.  Their touch on the ball was perfect.  For example, when a ball came to their feet, their first touch to space  or teammate was perfect, and their pass was placed perfect.  Our first touch, even from our most skilled girls today, was not perfect.  And against a team that put that type of very quick pressure on us, we didn't have time to correct our imperfect first touch.  For example, if a ball was passed to you, your first touch may have put it in the air.  By the time you tried to use your thigh to get control of it, the defender was already on top of you--making your first touch now a 50/50 ball!!  On the other hand, their touches were equally as good with their left as their right.  So, how do we get to their level??? As many touches from here on out at our practices, AND ON YOUR OWN, as possible.  For those girls not playing highschool ball, you really need to be touching the ball for at LEAST 1/2 hour a day (remember, your teammates are practicing 1.5 hours per day with their teams).  TOUCHES, TOUCHES, TOUCHES (and most with your weaker foot).  

Why was our touch better in the 2nd game than the last game???  Well, the pressure wasn't as strong, so we had time to correct our first touch, and we were able to take a little more time to make the perfect first touch.  In the second game, many of us also panicked with the quick pressure, making more errors for ourselves.  We've now have got to learn to make that perfect first touch a LOT quicker under much great pressure.

2.  Our lack of organization on Defense (All 11 of us on the field, not just defenders).  Girls, this comes with talk and understanding the correct rotations.  It was 0-0 at halftime.  If we stay organized on defense (starting from forwards back), we have the opportunity to take that team to a shoot out, and possibly upset them (yes, it would have been an upset--they were the better team).  But, we began ball chasing.  And, if you are guarding a girl, and she passes the ball, and you run to the girl she passed it too (ball chaser), who already had your teammate defending them, you were now leaving your girl open.  We did that so many times.  WE DO NOT BALL CHASE.  We talk and rotate.  Girls, I GUARANTEE you ran twice the mileage than the other team due to this.  They hardly even had to sub.  We were exhausted because we actually worked TOO hard.  If we work smarter, we don't need to run that much.  

Again, I will put this on me (YOU CAN TALK--THAT IS ON YOU), but I think I do need to show you proper rotation when we are playing high pressure ( Example:  when they try and switch fields with their fullbacks, our outside midfielder needs to leave her mark, and step up to deny the pass from the farside fullback,  while our outside back QUICKLY steps up in front of their outside mid--while our other fullbacks shift over).  We will go over this.  Seriously, in 5-10 minutes of going over this, you girls will see the simple breakdown that took place on our defense.  For whatever reason, our center Mids (all of them) were also leaving their mark in the middle to go gaurd the outside mid.  Again, we will show you the correct rotation.  We NEVER leave middle open unless 100% necessary.  So, this was leaving the middle open throughout the entire game--again, my fault.  Many of you only thought you were doing what was right.

3.  Lastly, I ended our very last practice, after breaking down every position, showing you how much more there was too learn.  Remember, I said "You girls should be so excited of the things I want to teach you"?   I even gave you an example of how the outside mid could make a run directly towards the inside midfielder for an overlap to lay the ball off, and how the inside mid would then roll off making a run towards far post!.  If you remember, Coach Eric said, "Yes, let's focus on everything you learned today, and when we master that, we will take you to this other level Brian wants to show you..."!  Well, from the beginning of that last game, that team was making those runs--the runs we have not even taught you yet.  Those runs caused a lot of confusion on our defense.  Some of you may have been thinking "do I stay with that mark, or hand her off"?  And that's the result--making the defense make those QUICK decsions and making them pay for any hesitations or mistakes!  Again, back to number 2 above, we will go over this simple rotations on defense so you know how to defend against this type of play.  BUT, I want you to know, that these girls were making runs off the ball that we have yet to show you girls AND WILL SHOW YOU GIRLS IN TIME.  We just are not there yet.  Here is why--In speaking with both Coach Eric and Coach Gary, we feel that YOU MASTERING YOUR TOUCH ON THE BALL comes first.  So, be patient.  It will come.  We will most likely not be playing a team nearly that good in our league.  We have time.

Let me share with you some information to make sure we are all together on the same page to support the above:

Girls, we had the opportunity to join the MRL league this fall.  We were invited to the MRL league for being finalists in the State Cup.  We denied the invitation because we knew that numbers 1, 2 and 3 above have to take place first.  BE PATIENT, but continue to work hard.  TRUST ME.  You will be at the level of the team you played today, and I believe that will come within a year.  Coach Eric and I talk of this vision all the time. You showed it the second game, but I hope you see how beneficial our last game was today.  It simply showed our areas needed for improvement.  It has turned my focus back to help concentrate on demanding that your girls get 10000's of touches on both feet.  Remember, TECHNIQUE (good skill) before TACTIC (runs, spacing, overlaps, formation).  I am glad we spent tons of time on tactic this season.  We had ALWAYS focused 95% of our time on skill, and 5% on tactic.  By spending more time on tactic THIS season, it was the "icing on the cake" to dominate those teams that just beat us in the spring.  BUT, now we see to be competitive with the very top teams, we need to get our focus in practices back on Skill/touches.  And once we feel your skill has gotten to another level, then we can get back to more tactical runs--like you saw today.

Thanks girls for working so hard this weekend.  Even with todays loss, you really didn't give up.  I was proud of you for that!  Enjoy your day and congrats on playing the best soccer of your lives that 2nd game!!!!

Coach Brian