Hurricane Cup Summary

When I received the initial invite to be in this invite only bracket back in August I thought it would be a good measuring stick for us to see just how much separation there was between us and some of the top teams in the region. While we didn't have the win/loss results that we all wanted I saw many positives as well as things we will need to spend more time on.

While I tend to talk mostly about things we need to work on during these summaries. I will try and focus in on some positives at the same time. As a side note I wrote each game summary immediately after each event so it will be my immediate perspective rather than from memory.

Hurricane Rhein 3-1 loss
We came out a little tentative to start the game. We knew they had some great speed at the top and they exposed us a few times right of the bat until we adjusted with our center defenders by giving up some depth when they set up to play the long ball.

Disappointingly we gave up our first goal on a corner where we were just standing & watching. I don't know if everyone was expecting Paulina to catch it & she was expecting them to clear the ball it was just a break down.
After that we started playing with a little more confidence and we were able to put them on their heals a little and put a little pressure on them but we just couldn't get off any shots on goal. I'm not sure on the stats but we did get out shot I think 7-1 in the first half.

They also out played us on the 50-50 balls in the first half and our passing was pretty poor. We took too many touches and tried doing to many 1v1 moves. Once we started playing possession, knocking the ball around and thinking defensively we did much better. I told the girls before the game our goal was to get perhaps 5-6 chances on goal and not to be concerned if we don't get many opportunities. I also wanted them to get use to having another team press us because it really helps with our transition game which is our strength.

What I want to stress more is the need to work on everyone being more defensive minded with everyone trying to win the ball first and waiting until we win the vs. half getting the ball and the other half waiting to take off down the field. This will prevent us from having players unmarked when the other teams are transitioning against us.

The second goal we gave up was just a fluke off a funny bounce. The girl misskicked the ball and when Emma went to pick up the slow roller it hit a bump or rock and just went over her head.

We scored quickly after that on a great transition. Great movement, working the ball up the field by passing and we did a great job of following. I'm not sure but I think it was Tayler and Hope on that combo but I think 6-7 passes were strung together on that play. The score was 2-1 at that time and we were doing a good back and forth with them.

The third goal we gave up was just a bad decision. When we are in the box with the ball being pressured by #s we just have to clear the ball and set up defensively against the corner . We've talked a lot about this. We cant try and turn with the ball in our box when we are out numbered.

Tactically we knew what to do and our field position and movement wasn't too bad during this game. Our execution could have been better with passing and touch. The positive of it was this was an extremely good team. Going into this tournament they are the favorite to win it all.

Things I want to work after this game. Our touch was a little rough as a team during this game. . How much are we practicing at home? On finishing we are still taking too many touches before we shoot. Were working on this.

I still want to see more shots from our mids. Our shots off crosses have dropped so we need to get back on that focus. When we took them deep and crossed we were very dangerous. The challenge again will be to have our mids take shots from the middle so that we are not so predictable on the outside.

It may have been a 3-1 loss but we never gave up and we did not have any major let downs. After the game their coach really complemented the girls and wants to get together to play some more.

2-0 loss to Toro Booyah.

Let's say with their B team cheering in my ear it didn't start me off in a good mood it was difficult for me to stay focused so I applaud the girls for shutting it out as well as they did. It did fire up the Booyah team though.

We knew what to expect from Booyah. They have good team speed and worked the ball well. The first goal we gave up I still can't believe it went in or how it when. They followed with a second goal on a pretty good cross and follow. We were just a step off from preventing the goal. This is an example of body positioning we've been working on for long time. Our back side who had the player marked needed to start getting body position and running the backside out of position as they were working down the field vs. waiting until the ball was passed to get position.

As we continue to play at the higher levels we have to pick up our level of play away from and without the ball. ( That's a coaching piece), it will come from repetition and accountability of execution.

Booyah has improved since last year but we were right there with them. The second half we played with a great deal of heart and pushed ourselves to step up our individual game. We forced Booyah to start making poor passes, we forced them into clearing the ball and they were really getting wore down. They had girls wanting off the field due to exhaustion. We are playing the down sized 30 minute halves which doesn't play well to our strength of conditioning.

I thought we played a more complete game tonight. Again we had some great opportunities to get back in this game but we didn't capitalize when we should have. We had several break aways that we took one too many touches or took a bad dribble or touch which killed the run but lastly we just need to shoot the perfect shot isn't always going to be there. Oh yeah, I don't complain a lot about the refs but this lady was terrible. (enough said)


3-2 loss to Glavin.
If you couldn't tell from the sideline or from what the girls may have told you I was a bit upset about our total team execution during this game. Glavin was not the best team we played in this tournament but they worked hard and we had some terrible break downs during the first half.

I got on the girls for not following our team tactics and for not giving a complete effort on the execution of our team team tactics. ( going through the motions)

They came out with a little more focus and really put a great deal of pressure on Glavin. We tied the game up 2-2 by the middle of the second half and we were really putting them on their heals.

The girls did a better job of everyone working to the ball. This was a physical team not quite to the technical level of the other teams but they were aggressive. I don't want to say they were cheap but it was as close as you can get.

We did everything we could do in this game but once again put the ball in the goal. We had some great transitions and some great individual efforts. Obviously finishing under pressure is going to be a focus.

We gave up a goal on a almost half field shot with 10 seconds to go. Not quite the way you want to loose a game. This was a very up and down frustrating game. The challenge will be to get them fired up for this last game. We are going to be playing a very good TSC White team. If we come out flat or down they will give us a good thumping. They beat Glavin 5-1 and they beat us 3-1 back in August a week after we got back from Sweden.


TSC White 0-0 Tie

While I would have like to have gone home with a win this was a great way to end the tournament. The girls played one of the best games they have played. We had TSC on the defensive almost 80% of the game.

TSC is always physical and this game was no different than any we have had before with them. I warned the girls before the game to expect a brawl and it was.

It was a very good team effort from everyone. We had some great defensive efforts and we attacked very well. As expected when you play a very good team they had some opportunities but we played a great bend but don't break defense. As expected a majority of our opportunities came off a transition. We also created many opportunities when everyone made the effort to play defense first. We won allot more balls, put allot of pressure on them, forcing bad decisions, bad passes and allot of miss kicks.

While we didn't win and the "fail to finish" monster was present again. I really liked the effort and execution during this game. It took a lot of character to come out for this last game after loosing the first three and not give up.

Summary:

I would say overall a very competitive weekend. Every game was a battle and their was no give me's.
I watched the Torah Booyah & the Hurricanes play their last game. Booyah controlled the ball a majority of the game and it was 0-0 at half. Like us Booyah had chances but just couldn't create a shot. When the break aways finally happened for the Hurricanes they went down and scored and won 2-0. We love to attack and its our strength. But its a defensive mind set that is going to win us games at this level. We have to have everyone playing with the intent to win the ball first and then when an opportunity opens up we have to attack hard. That is soccer at the next level. When we fail to play that way and expect to attack attack attack, these good teams will be able to over come that approach.

A big thank you to Anna Beffor for guest playing with us. We don't use guest players often and it spoke volumes about our girls. They took her right under their wing and supported her as if she was one of their own. I thank you parents for showing being kind to her family and providing support for them during this as well. It was fun to watch her tenacity against those players twice her size and she played very well with the girls.

Up next is LRFC Blue on Nov 1 here at home, we will be fired up for this one.