Post Game Notes

1. Outside Backs made great runs and we found them many times.  It gave us many more chances to move ball forward.  Well done!
2. Saw one of the best "up-back-through" combinations 1st half.  Well done!
3. Witness in the first half some of the best passing from this team ever.  One passing sequence was well over 20 passes without the other team touching the ball.  Well done!
4. Saw some girls play different positions, and really excelled--Well done!
5. Saw an awesome slot for a goal (Ok, the ref totally botched up that call, but who cares.  All I care about is progress, and we worked on that almost exclusively two weeks ago)--Well done!
6. Saw great use of the head for passes, winning balls out of the air, and one for that goal that got called back--Well done!
7. Saw every girl that first half be FIRST to almost every single ball--Well done!
8. Saw a team play their heart out and really outplay the other team, without their two normal central defenders (hannah and sophie) who I never sub out,  and without two of their huge offensive threats (Maleah and Morgan).
9. Saw one girl getting her groove back who has been out all season with injury (Taylor).

Girls, we will finish.  Continue getting your crosses off.  One thing we need to work on is finishing (like Kylie did the one time) when that ball is crossed.  Toooo many times I saw the ball get crossed, and you girls ducked or got out of the way, or if it was a low cross, you tried to strike it too hard and either missed it or it went off your foot in a uncontrolled fashion, instead of just making contact and finishing.  Besides that (which is VERY important--gotta finish!), I was VERY VERY HAPPY.

Yes, we tied this team in the state cup.  Girls, I am not making excuses.  These are just facts.  Your 1-0 loss today was 100x more impressive than your tie in last years state cup.  I walked away after that tie thinking how lucky we were to get a tie.  Remember, they had over 20 corner kicks and we had our backs against the wall almost the whole game???  Today, even without four of our really good players, I walked away thinking we would beat that team 8x if we played them 10x.  And I apologize for letting that ref know how much he botched the call.  That does no good.  I only did that because I was frustrated because you all worked so hard and I wanted that win for you girls so much because you all worked so hard and deserved it (Not me or eric or gary--We wanted it for you).

So, moving forward... Tomorrow, I want those 9 things listed above to all happen again--they were really nicely done!  But tomorrow, I want to see girls finish.  I do not want to see a ball get crossed without us attacking the ball and finishing!  I NEVER want to see a ball crossed from one end, and go through untouched making it out towards the other end.  We are U14 now girls--No ducking or getting away from solid crosses.  MAKE CONTACT, especially with your head.   Attack with scoring mentality instinct.

Have a great night, I can't wait to see you all tomorrow!  And tell your Mom's "Happy Mother's Day" after you give her a HUGE hug and kiss!

Brian