LRFC State League Game 3-0 win

The girls worked hard the last two weeks getting ready for this game. We have been moving very well tactically all fall. I feel what has made games closer or caused some losses has been some sloppy individual play sporadically during games. Technically the focus these last few weeks has been on individual execution and not just going through the motions. Tactically the stress has been on everyone playing with a defensive mind set first, winning possession of the ball than quickly making the change from defense to offense. When we have our attackers working back helping to pressure the middle third of the field we put a lot of pressure on teams no matter how good they are. Which we saw against TSC a few weeks ago. We did that very well today.


I thought we played a much sharper game as a team today. When we lost possession of the ball we kept constant pressure on the ball which prevented LRFC from making consistent clean passes. We did allow a few shots on goal in the first half but I don't think anything that was really a threat or caused me to have a great deal of concern. I think the expectation from everyone is that we should not only see but as I tell the girls allow some deep pushes into our deep third. As long as we stay composed, keep our defensive shape and movement it actually allows us to make some great transitions back to the attack and we did that very well today. We scored our first goal off of a great defensive transition.

When this transition began our defenders made a great pass up to Paige at half field. Instead of trying to dribble through the defenders to the goal (which she could have done) she instinctively knew TW should be running down the outside and made essentially a blind pass through the open lane and placed it right where it needed to be. TW was running and beat the outside defender to the ball and carried on to the goal. (This is that chemistry piece that comes over time of just having that feel of where your teammate would be).

We have also been working on finishing these types of runs with defenders hanging on us, pulling on us, etc, which is what we have experienced in the premier league and at the high levels of play. This time TW fought off a defender trying to push her off the ball, kept her balance and had a strong finish with our first goal.

Defensively our center defenders are doing a better job of recognizing situations and making decisions of when to give up depth to prevent pushes or hold the line and set up the off sides trap. They are also getting much better of using each other to kill attacks by not only talking but using depth and width as well as just clearing the ball so we can reset defensively instead of trying to make a difficult turn with the ball. I thought our goalies played one of their strongest games. They moved well, made the stops they needed to make and then transitioned us back on the attack so that we kept possession of the ball.

So the half time score was 1-0. At this point although we had controlled a major portion of the first half. LRFC was still playing a decent game but I could see they were starting to fatigue. In the second half we won their kick off and then worked in a decent shot on goal to start the half. This kind of deflated them a little. Shortly after that AD took a deep run and cross that started a big pressure run on the goal. The ball went back and forth inside and around the box. The goalie made several saves but she wasn't able to get possession of the ball. The defenders were making stops but they couldn't get a clean clear out of the box. We've done this a number of times against several teams the last few matches but those resulted in the defense eventually clearing the ball. This time we kept the pressure up, moved well, used our bodies to gain position and eventually knocked the ball in. However, the ref didn't give us the goal right away and then called a defensive hand ball before the goal was made giving us a PK. AD stepped up and made a great shot.

Our third goal was almost identical to the second only this time when we started our pressure on the goal Ellen was in position to finish.

I dont want to leave out the mids. Today they played a very strong game. They worked hard and owned the middle. A much better job of rotating the field and keeping their spacing. We still need to work on our offensive depth though. Its a tough position, they will get there.

The last 15 minutes of the game we kept strong pressure on the ball, when we had possession we worked the ball and field very well. Solid passing, solid movement just a much sharper effort. I kept our player lineup rotations going which allowed us to stay fresh. LRFC's fatigue could really be seen in the last 15 minutes of the game they were also a little flat on their attempts to win the ball as a group.

Overall a great follow up to our last game back during the Capital City Cup.

We have the Clorox Cup this coming weekend. It probably will not be as strong as any of the tournaments or matches we have played this year but it is a title we need to defend. The challenge for the girls is these are all games we should win and we need to maintain our level play against teams that are not as competitive.

Doug