Weekend Jamboree

Here is how the scores for the Jamboree finished

NWAL Black 6 FT Smith Express 2
TSC Red 4 NWAL 96 0
NWAL Black 6 NWAL 94 2
Ft Smith 3 TSC Red 0
NWAL Black 6 TSC Red 0
NWAL 94 1 Ft Smith Express 0
NWAL 94 4 TSC Red 1
Ft Smith 2 NWAL 96 0



I gave the girls two challenges this weekend. I felt last weekend that we lacked some emotion or passion in how we played. So the first challenge was to get themselves charged up emotionally for our games on Saturday. You always have to be up when you play a state rival.

We've been working a number of things tactically that the girls must begin to recognize in order to compete at the next level. So the second challenge was to apply what they have been working on in game conditions.

The girls did very well against Fort Smith and the 94's when it game to the first challenge. Those things that I attribute to the emotional part of the game we did very well. Such as winning a majority of all the 50-50 balls. Playing with hustle and working together as a team. (Heart / Hustle / Discipline) which is what defines our team.

The girls moved the ball pretty well for this early in the season. The girls stringed passes together very well and they had several one touch combinations. So that tells me the movement was pretty good with and without the ball. The positioning on the field was very fluid and really kept Fort Smith as well as the 94's off balance to the point that they struggled to recognize what we were doing. Obviously when you put up 6 goals you have to feel good about how we finished as a team. There were a few times we should have put the ball in but the ball either went wide or high. Several attempts at headers on crosses during both games. Very exciting to see.

The second challenge the girls fell short on. Its not that I want them to completely change their style of game. But in order to keep the higher level teams off balance their are certain things tactically they have to or need to recognize and we had numerous chances to execute those tactics this weekend and we struggled with being disciplined enough to do the runs and passes in order to execute the tactic.

Defensively not too bad. We are still working on some positioning and some decision making but overall the defense is moving in the right direction. The goals we gave up were some pretty basic break downs at the wrong time. I think we can over come those mistakes very easily so we will work on it. The goalies didn't get a great deal of work this weekend but both Emily and Paulina had a few nice saves and some decent set ups to play out of the back.

You could probably tell I wasn't to happy about our game today. When we put that first goal in after 50 seconds the girls got the off to the races mind set instead of trying to apply what we've been working on. The girls came back in the second half with the right attitude and mind set and took care of business. Still a great application of challenge one but we failed on challenge two again. Quite a few nice combinations, solid runs and some gutsy efforts during this match. Hard to complain about a 6-0 win. But I would have liked to have seen some more disciplined efforts tactically and there was a lack of hustle in the first half.

Overall a good weekend. I like the direction we are moving down.

Good job
Doug