Passing plays prevail once again!

Ronaldinho gives your performance a big thumbs up!

Well, we asked our Warriors to remember how they played last week and try to duplicate the performance and they did it again! Except I have to say our passing has improved even more over the course of the week!

From the opening kick-off you were hungry for the ball and after winning possession, you very rarely kicked it away to the other team. Your heads were up looking for the passing lanes and more often than not you had more than one teammate showing for the ball. Great job on using the support up front, square and and back if needed. Excellent work on taking the ball to the attacking corners and using your support behind you. This gets the opposition chasing and allows you to pass the ball around until you get a good path to the net!

Our defensive lines were strong today led by Sammy who had a fantastic game. She was tight on her checks and always used her size to 'guide' the Bays attackers to the outside. Great patience back there today Sammy in not diving in to a tackle and simply containing the attack and keeping it out of our danger zone! Good support today as well by Sid, Court, and Maia!

Our midfield was key in today's performance with an outstanding game by Bri who was displaying some amazing foot skills and quick lateral moves. She was aggressively winning battles and using her speed and excellent moves to open up space which allowed her to distribute the ball to the feet of her teammates. Speed and tenacity lead to her first goal and a cracker of a left foot shot that skimmed the cross bar made it a 3-0 game (at that point). She was wearing the 'hand-me-down' golden boots from Bryan Taylor who is currently playing in Scotland for two weeks and I'm sure Bry is surprised he left some goals in them;)

Another strong game from Maddy who continues to be a key ball winner. She came up with an amazing header today as well! Marisa put in another strong performance with some great moves and excellent passing plays on the front line in the 1st half. Amanda used her speed and long stride to create a couple of great scoring chances and really made and excellent run and an even better strike at one point that the Bays goalie had to make an amazing save on. She managed to stay strong on the ball and her hard work today lead to an eventual goal!
And then there's Taylor...her 'wheels' came in good use today as she played a very offensive role. She had to have a good touch on the ball today as well because of the constant passing going on and the likes of Maddy, Bri, Michelle, Jessica, Teah and Marisa constantly pinging balls up to the speedy striker. I know she got one great goal and may have netted another to cap off a very strong performance!
And what can we say about our keeper? Although not tested very often she made a few great stops and continues to do a great job controlling her 18. To get her more involved, she came out and promised Coach Tim that she wouldn't allow any shots on our 2nd half goalie, Marisa;) Although I think one or two shots made it through (which Marisa made some incredible saves on) Cassy certainly showed that she is still very good out of the net as well!

All in all, you played an excellent positional, possessional game. You're playing very well as a team. As you know, this is not U9, 10, or U11 soccer where you could get away with trying to dribble through your opponents. This is U12 Gold and the only way to achieve success on the field is as a team. Passing and support are key elements of this game and it's great to see you all embracing the tactics so well.

Be proud of your efforts and keep up the excellent work at all of your training sessions as they are obviously giving you the skills you need to play excellent soccer!

(below) some great defensive work on a Maddy (#15) corner kick

Bri draws in a crowd of Bays before laying off a pass.

All smiles at the cool down after another well played game...Sid-what's in your mouth;)