Spring Elite Memphis

Although it was a bit breezy it was nice to have a weekend where the weather was a bit friendlier for both the players and the fans watching.

We were the top seed going into this tournament and the favorite to win. I really thought from a competitive standpoint that the teams were above mid tier but not near the level we had seen at the premier league. So I felt pretty good about our ability to win this tournament. I really felt if we came out with some intensity, worked to be first to the ball and were able to keep control and possession we could play our style of game vs. our opponents.

1-1 tie vs. Redoubt FC from Chattanooga

I felt we had a pretty good warm up and were ready to play. Redoubt was not the most skilled team we have played but they were physical, had good size and they played with a lot of hustle. I think we were out hustled the first 8-10 minutes of the game but we still were able to string passes together and created some opportunities to score. We struggled though taking clean shots even though we had the goalie out of position several times but we couldn’t put on in. the half ended at 0-0 but I think we had really controlled the game to that point.

Redoubt pressured the ball very aggressively which made them very susceptible to fakes and faints in 1v1 situations as well as give n goes and over laps. Our half time strategy was to set up the over laps and put pressure on the goal with crosses. I was very disappointed in that we failed to execute this one time in the second half even though we had numerous opportunities.

The ball very seldom crossed the center line but Redoubt was able to secure a corner and put in the first goal of the game in. During that play we were clearly on our heals watching and they took advantage of this. This might have rattled us a little and could have been part of the reason for our lack of execution.
The girls played on though and put some great pressure on the goal to secure a goal and a tie about mid way through the final half. We had quite a few opportunities to win this game after that and just failed to finish.
I think we played well enough to win this game but we were just off a little on our passes. The field was fast and I think that lead to the pace of our passes being just a bit long. We finished strong but I think we were all disappointed that we tied that match.

2-0 win over Tupelo
I thought Tupelo was the better technical team versus Redoubt and we controlled this game from start to finish. I didn’t get the shot break down on this game but it had to have been very lopsided maybe 19-2. There was not a lot we couldn’t do or didn’t do besides put the ball in the goal. Several times we pulled the goalie out dribbled past her and then shot wide of the goal.

We were already up 1-0 and just had to shut out Tupelo to make the semi-finals. Based on the short halves and going into the wind I decided to try and play a possession game. Tupelo had one of the most athletic and talented goalies we have seen. Close to 6 foot tall and she could move and when she took a goal kick or punt it really took off. One would have thought with the wind and this behind you it would have been tough for us. It was really one of the more lob sided halves we have played. We did a great job of winning every ball and controlling the game to include the punts and goal kicks. Because we went with a single forward I rotated them every 4-5 minutes and told them they had to give it all because they had to work both sides of the field. Our forwards did a great job. They hustled and put a great deal of pressure on the defenders as they tried to win the ball. Their defenders couldn’t get clean passes or ball clears up the field and our mids were just waiting on the ball. Our defenders did a great job of stepping up and penetrating when they had to. Hard to complain about a 2-0 win it just felt like it should have been a wider spread.

Semis loss to Polaris Soccer club in PKs

The first 10 minutes of this match was really a feel out by both teams a little back and forth but no real threats by either. I think we then took over the first half and really put a lot of pressure on them. We were winning every ball and putting them on their heals. The only shot they got in the first half resulted in a goal. I viewed it as a break down at several levels. It wasn’t a great penetration, it wasn’t a great shot. Our defenders and goalie were just watching waiting for the other to clear or pick up the ball. They had a forward hungry enough just to follow and take advantage of the situation. Up to that point that hadn’t really done a great deal of anything to make me concerned about how the outcome of the match would be.
I can’t really remember what we discussed at half but the girls came out fired up. We took their kick off and went down and scored in about 1:45 of the second half and it didn’t slow down from there. We played one of our most dominating halves we have every played. Great ball control, solid passing, movement, etc. In total we probably took 15 shots on goal and also had 7 corners during this half alone. I struggle to think how we didn’t score more than 1 goal. They had 1 shot on goal the second half.
During the over time we took another 5 shots on goal and had 1 more corner versus zero for them. Unfortunately this took us into penalty kicks to determine the winner of this match which then takes a very lob sided game and turns into anyone can win. How do you take 24 shots on goal with 8 corners and only score 1 goal?
Ever since our lost to Thunder Italy in the finals of a tournament 3 years ago to PK’s, I’ve tried to be very disciplined about practicing these at the end of practices. Shame on me for being a little lax on these the last few weeks during practices for not practicing them.
Loosing the PK shoot out 3-2 was a heart breaker. This is our first loss of the spring season. Clearly a loss caused by coaching and not player effort.

As I mentioned in my email the other day we out shot our opponents in these 3 games 49-8 and we only scored a total of 4 goals out of 49 attempts. Clearly a very poor ratio and one I take full ownership of. This ratio needs to get closer to 1 goal out of every 3-4 attempts versus 1 out of every 11.
We will focus on game like scenarios with heavy pressure on our shot takers and following our shots in. A few things I want to sharpen on our field tactics but clearly finishing needs to be our focus. I think traditionally this is contrary to what most team have to be focused on. I think on the positive side it’s the easiest to address. It takes a great deal of time, work and chemistry to address field movement, passing and control and many times it fails to be consistent. If I had to guess why we are struggling I think it would have to be mostly on that they are over thinking their shots right now. I’ve put a great deal of focus on correcting bad form and technique that it appears that its not natural for everyone when its time to shoot. It appears that its going through their mind on what they need to be doing to set up for the shot versus it being second nature and just shooting.
However, I really like where we are from a field presence stand point. If we come out with the right mind set and attitude both as a team and individually we can play on the field with anyone. So right now our focus is on finishing.

Share your thoughts with me as well as everyone. That’s the part about a blog that makes it a blog.

Your thoughts
Doug