First Game Summary

We had a strong first game, but it was also clear that we were a little rusty. For the most part, we had a strong defensive effort. We shut out the Spitfires in the first half, and really controlled the middle of the field most of the second half. We had a few moments where our defense did not clear the ball, or allowed the other team to get behind them. But for the most part, I think we did a good job of maintaining possession and controlling the middle third of the field.

Last week, we worked on corner kicks and direct kicks (both offensively and defensively). It really paid off in the game. We had great opportunities on the first two directs, and then scored on the third. We also defended a direct kick from just outside the box. The wall worked beautifully.

Most of our corner kicks were very competitive and gave us several good chances for goals. We also had great passing, especially on several transitions from the backfield to midfield.

A couple of things we need to work on. One is for our players to follow through on shots, and be more aggressive on challenging for the ball. Another is to keep playing to the whistle, or to be very obvious when the ball is out. We were very fortunate that the referee reviewed the where Christopher had stopped the ball. The other team continued playing even though the ball was out, and the scored. This could have easily been left as is.

We had excellent effort from all of our boys. But Coach Andy and I felt that John, Rafael and Trevor had particularly outstanding efforts. Congrats to John on a great goal, and great hustle on both sides of the field.