State Cup Summary

Winning all three games 3-0 and winning our third straight championship and for the third straight state tournament not giving up a goal its very hard to say we did not play well.

However, I would say that this was probably not our best showing as a team. I'll try to explain as we go.
In our first game against Searcy, Searcy came out ready to play which I think caught us a little off guard at first. In the first 10 minutes Searcy was the more aggressive team and won a majority of the 50-50 balls. Even though we were not into the game yet mentally, I think instinct and skill allowed the girls to keep Searcy at bay until we got into the game mentally.


I do think this was our best game of the tournament. After we started to click we played fairly well. We looked sharp on the set plays catching Searcy unprepared on almost every corner or free kick. What we failed to do was to take advantage of the situations. Even though we put in 3 goals we really had opportunities to put in about 4 others as well.


In game two LRFC came out with a different game plan. They came out very physical and I think were focused on trying to be the aggressor. Scoring the first goal in the first few minutes didn't really give us any momentum. In fact I thought our play was a bit complacent. We sat on our heals a great deal instead of going to the ball. We had an attacking mind set but forgot that we needed to get possession first before we can attack. We really struggled to string passes together and our play looked sloppy.

In the second half after the coach threw his fit about having to play two games in one day it inspired the girls to come out and play a much more aggressive game. Ellen made a great one v one move to get a solid goal followed a few minutes later by TWs savy little in and out goal to give us a quick 3-0 lead early in the second half. This pretty well took the wind out of LRFCs sails. I then went to a defensive set by pulling off a forward and going with an extra defender to protect the win. I must give the girls credit here as we changed formations quite a bit to keep LRFC off guard and the girls adjusted without issue. I also changed up positions during the game to try and get a few mis matches going and the girls did very well with this. A sign they are maturing in their game.

LRFC scouted our set plays though and we did not adjust very well. A bit sloppy on our set play execution.

The girls did what they had to do to put themselves in the drivers seat for a third straight title the first day so good job so far.

Sunday's game against Searcy was definitely a brawl. Searcy once again came out as the aggressor. After getting our first goal mid way through the first half I then went back to the defensive set to protect the shut out win. I knew if we got the win and shut out Searcy we automatically had the state title. Searcy didn't give up though but really couldn't string any type of play together to put a real threat on the goal. We occasionally had some break away opportunities but couldn't secure a goal. In the last 10 minutes though we put in two more quick goals to secure another 3-0 shut out. Searcy really put forth a better individual effort than we did. It says a lot that the girls can come out and play an average game and still win 3-0.

I think if I reflect back on how I was preparing the team for the state cup it was very evident that I was preparing them to peak after state cup. Generally you condition very tough up until the week before an event. A good rule of thumb is up into the last week before an event you back off the stamina type training and work on the quick burst efforts in order to dial up the pace of play. I don't think I would have done it differently though. I don't think I would ever look past an opponent but one tends to know their team and their opponents.

We played well enough to win our third straight title. We will start working to peak during regionals. Ive seen the initial list of teams and I dont see anyone yet that we cannot play with.
We are physically ready but the tough part will be to be mentally prepared to play and execute.