Mississippi Premier Games

First a thank you to the van drivers and riders. We had a lot of fun in Van#1 and I could see (when Rob was close enough) that Van #2 was enjoying themselves as well.


Also in an unrelated item a big thank you to Tom D. He scored a big one for all the men out there by remembering his anniversary when it just happened to slip Vicki D's mind. I am glad that I was present to enjoy it first hand Sunday morning. Happy 23rd!!


The weather was really a non event for us. We encountered some rain and wind just as we were leaving Jackson for about 20 minutes and that was it. We were a bit concerned about fuel availability so to error on the side of caution we took on fuel each time we stopped but the fuel piece really was a non event as well.


Now on to the games.

We had two focus items going into this weekend.
1) Do a better job of keeping possession of the ball and minimizing the unforced turn overs.

2) Work on becoming more physically and mentally tough. I talked about this a great deal before the first game.
I define the physical toughness as being able to play through the bumps and bruises that take place during a game. Being able to handle the collisions and to keep playing on. At this level the physical play will continue to be a part of the game.
The mental toughness piece is being able to play through the individual adversities and learning to deal with what I call the "gamesmanship" part of the game. An adversity could be defined as getting knocked around and not getting the call from the ref or getting beat by an opponent in a 1v1 situation and keeping the desire to keep going. The 'Gamesmanship" is the grabbing of jerseys or arms or the slight nudge or hit after a play or when the ref isn't looking. I wouldn't call it dirty play but its a part of the game at this level that some players use to intimidate the opponent.


Game 1 vs. Gulf Coast United loss 2-1


According to this team's web site they are ranked #1 in Mississippi, #3 in region III and 15th nationally. I really thought that after a 9 hour car drive to come out and play a team of this caliber the way we did spoke volumes as to how far our game has come.


The girls came out fired up and it was a back and forth game most of the half. We gave up a goal on a defensive mistake in the first half to go into half down 1-0. But aside from that we played a pretty solid half. The girls were able to change defensive formations on the fly without any confusion and it helped us set up off sides trap all night. We had some pretty solid play individually with our defenders and goalies in this game. When the other team did get break aways, the defenders kept enough pressure on the ball that it did not allow a clean shot on goal or a tactical advantage on a crossing pass. I was disappointed in our transition game though. Normally this is one of our strengths and we only took advantage of it occasionally. We did have our chances offensively in the first half, we just need to pull the trigger when we are in the box and not wait for the "perfect" shot. We also need to be more aggressive on going after the ball once we are inside the other teams box.
The girls passed the ball very well in this game. We dropped the ball back several times to reset the offense and our defenders and mids did a great job of dropping to give depth and spreading to give width without being told, they moved pretty well without the ball.

The goal we gave up early in the second half was just a brief defensive break down between our mids and defenders another 10 second mistake. They pushed us pretty hard for about the next 15 minutes. Our defenders really stepped up their effort. Mango and Ashley had some great stops. Kate had to fight off about 4 or 5 big break aways in a row. I think Kate's gutsy effort really helped inspire the girls. She was tired and hurting and kept going until I was finally able to sub her out. We then attacked very hard after this and got our goal with about 10 minutes left in the game. In the last 10 minutes we kept them on their heals but they did a good job of clearing the ball and keeping us out.

A very solid game. it was a lot of fun to watch.

Game 2 : 3-1 loss against Mississippi Fire

To put it very simply not one of our best showings. This team was not as good as the other team we just played poorly. Perhaps the long van rides finally caught up to us on Sunday.
Tactically we did fine, the field position and movement were just how it needed to be. But we were not winning the 50-50 balls and about 10 minutes into the game we just went flat. We were getting beat to the ball and we were making very poor passes and most of the time directly to the other team. It's not that they were taking away passing lanes we just did a very poor job and it wasn't just one or two players it was everyone.
This would be the need to work on our mental and physical toughness and in this game it really made it self known by some of the efforts that took place. Enough said on this though I addressed it.
The first goal we gave up I really question. The other team had a corner that we had not cleared. They kicked it directly to Emma but the A.R.said she was in the goal when she caught it. I think her feet may have been but I don't think the ball ever crossed the line. After that we just never got our act fully together for the rest of that half. He wasn't the best A.R. we have ever had. Even the LRFC parents got on him.

In the second half we had two player errors that allowed two break away goals. We didnt let it get us to down but offensively we really only mounted 3 or 4 solid attacks in the second half but we were able to put in a goal on a cross to TW midway through the half.

We talk a great deal about wins and losses. But our big focus is really on improving our game. I really think doing this league is the right thing to do to prepare us for the next level. While it would be great to get over that hump and put a up "W" I do like how we are starting to execute both as a team and individually.

I do get a little concerned about the girls mental well being when we loose a few games in row like this, it's not something that happens to us very often. It does however, level set us to know that we have to keep working and that we are not on the top yet.

Tactically I wont be adding any more new things this season. We are going to work on execution of what we have learned and consistency.

Overall I would grade out Saturday as an A- and Sunday as a C+.

I will be sending some notes on plans for our next trip in the next day or so.

Practice Tuesday & Thursday at 6 pm at Sugar Creek. Sunday is still up in the air as to where we can practice.

Thanks
Doug