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2009 IceBreaker Tournament - Game 2 A Draw Means First Place Having lost their first match of the tournament, and knowing that the Avalanche and the Arsenal had already won one, the SASA Sparks were desperate for a victory. A loss or a tie would put them out of the playoff round. Conversely, a tie or a win would clinch first place for the Avalanche--only they didn't know it. They were going for the win regardless!
 Shelby, Alyssa, and Sydney. Excellent crosses from Steph and JPeg were putting consistent pressure on the Stafford keeper.But, as often happens in competitive, fast-paced tournaments like this one, goals were not going to come easily. Even with pressure applied by center mids Sammy and Tyla, the Sparks' defense would not crack. For the first half, with control up and down the field, the Avalanche was clearly the stronger side.All that dominance disappeared in the second half. The Sparks now began applying the pressure on the Avalanche defense and winning the majority of the balls at midfield. As had happened in their earlier match the Avalanche defense gave up numerous corner kicks when under duress  and had difficulty clearing the ball from their own end. Have no doubt, Ashley, Anna, Goose, Dana, and Nicole did well to hold on, but hold on is about all they could do under such intense pressure.True, another great second half rush by Kaitlyn and a near-miss by Tyla almost won the game for the Avalanche, but those were the only true chances our girls had late in the match. But the true star of the game was second half keeper, Shelby. She was simply magnificent. Her decision-making was flawless, her timing impeccable and her reactions spectacular. On more than one occasion she thwarted a Stafford player who had broken through the defensive line and was poised to score. In the end the Avalanche breathed a collective sigh of relief as they escaped with a 0-0 tie. The result left them with four first round points and first place in their division. The Avalanche has arrived. In a challenging tournament the team more than held their own. At the end of this game, confidence was high for the playoff round. The weather was the only outlier. Would the forecast--predicting an overnight deluge--come through or would the games go on as scheduled?
So, we'll never know for sure how the Avalanche would have done. We can only speculate that the girls would have done very well indeed, and there's some pretty good evidence to back that up. Hello, Spring 2009! Think snow! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
