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Fall 2011 - Game 6 Close But Not Yet
The change may have been subtle to most observers. Essentially it involved pressing stalwart stopper Anna into a defensive midfield role and moving Caris into an attacking role. As with any formation adjustment, strengthening one aspect will typically weaken another and that's the chance we took. While we hoped for a stronger offense, we knew that we would be playing with only three defenders. For the first half, it worked brilliantly. The girls in light blue put intense pressure on the MCLN Fury Gold keeper, and were it not for a brilliant save the Avalanche would have been ahead within the first ten minutes of the match. The interior passing at midfield, led by Sammy, Danielle and Jillian, fueled an inspired and aggressive attack by Steph and Holly. Both attackers had good first half chances even as the Fury began to figure out the plan. Reserves Hailey and Alyssa kept things going hard when they were in the match, too.
Within minutes of the second half whistle Caris found herself one-on-one with the Fury keeper. This time there was no hesitation, no mistake, as the diminutive forward laced one home. Wow! The Avalanche had the lead. This is where the coaching mistake was made. Since things were going so well, no defensive adjustment was made once we had the lead. It should have been easy for me to recognize that after playing two full games in two days, the three defenders were starting to tire. We could have tucked back into a conservative style, but we didn't. And that's on the coach. Not long after that goal, the opposition began pouring it on. Each run down the field toward our goal produced a decent threat. Some were averted by great last second efforts and others fell short because the Fury couldn't finish. But as we were tiring, our opponent seemed to be getting stronger. The lead seemed precarious and with about ten minutes to go our girls gave up a corner kick. You could just tell that our defensive legs were dead, and when the kick came in none of the girls in light blue had the strength left to go get it. Goal. Score tied.
You could sense disappointment at game's end, but that is a wasted emotion. Every girl in the match for the Avalanche gave everything they had. Ten of them had hung in there for the majority of two eighty minute games. What more could I ask of them? Not much. They finished the weekend with two well-earned ties. One in a game they probably should have lost, and one in a game they almost won. Not too bad when you remember all that we have been through together. Next weekend brings two more matches. One against an old rival and one against a team we've never played. I know that we'll be close to victory--because we always are--and I hope that we will finally bring one home. Think snow! |
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