Tournament Game 2 Synopsis (Wolverines vs. TFS-RG)

Hi Team, Another great effort by our boys and a 3:0 halftime score that remained unchanged in the second half. We started very strong from the first minutes and kept the pressure up all half. Tate kept the goalie busy from the onset and after two close charges on the keeper he got one through to start of us with an early goal. Probably our fastest goooaaal of the season!! A bit later we had a great set piece where Nick launched a beautiful corner across the goal and Gideon rewarded him with an assist by timing the bounce and knocking the ball in the net. Go-Go-Gideon! (Safe travels to Africa next week!) Clearly fired up Nick took care of business a bit later by dribbling through several defenders (through the legs of the last defender! Nutmeg!!) and took a nice outside shot over the keeper's arms. Goooaaaalllll!!!! Way to seize the moment! We were doing some very nice passing and dribbling and generally had control of the ball. We had a couple defensive errors that kept Isaac on his toes, and we were saved by an offsides call on a breakaway that led to their goal being recalled. Good job defense on pulling up the back line! (I'll give them the benefit that they intended to do the offsides trap). Our defenders looked confident and chose to pass or dribble out of trouble instead of booting it into the shins of the opponent. Dylan made a nice clear from in front of our goal when things got scary at one point, Kyler showed everyone how to shield the ball while waiting for help, and Ethan put on some amazing freestyle moves when under pressure in our defensive end and was able to move the ball up the wing leaving two pressuring opponents kicking at empty air. In the second half James made a great defensive challenge that kept the ball from being centered--which was a good thing because our midfielders were just a bit slow getting back on the defensive end to cover the face of the goal where some TFS players were eagerly waiting for that cross. James also took a great header--love that eagerness to win the 50:50 ball! We also had some scoring opportunities and Ben found himself on the 18 with a ball rolling back to him that he struck with his favorite left foot but the keeper picked up the shot. Good positioning leads to good opportunities! Next time find the back of that net and your name is Ben Jonny Steele! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsVtevc9Oh4 We were again up against a team with no subs vs. our 3 subs today and we weren't able to capitalize on this advantage in the second half and were held scoreless. So, we'll have some endurance training on Monday because we are going to need it to beat our next opponents (the Girls!) on Thursday. The Infinity Girls beat this TFS team 5 to 0, so they are showing an ability to finish in front of the net and are hungry for more wins. The girls lost today to the TFS "A" team 2 to 8. So I think we fired up TFS-A after we handed them a defeat on Thursday. The good news for us is that we are leading now in this tournament with six points awarded for the two wins. TFS-A and Infinity Girls each have 3 points, and TFS "B" has zero. So our fate is entirely in our hands (or at our feet?!) if we win on Thursday then we finish first in our bracket. A loss to the girls would mean both teams have six points, but they win the tie breaker--so we'll try to avoid that scenario. News from the top flight bracket: Aggies-JL (1 to 4 against us) beat Aggies-ZZ (4 to 6 against us) 7 to 0 then beat Infinity Boys 8 to 0 (Infinity Boys beat us 1 to 3 this year despite our outshooting them). Not sure how Sport Academy is doing since their scores haven't been posted. I digress to these scores because we've tied all the teams in the top flight and have not had a goal differential of more than -3 this season! We also haven't had a goal differential of more than +3 either, so we continue to be stingy on both ends of the scoring. We'll take it! We have a great group of kids that are starting to play as a team--the passing is fantastic. I love those assists! See you on Monday at 3:30, and remember I need some players to stay after from 5 to 6:30 for our second goalie training session with Coach Andy Parker--the first session was incredibly beneficial for our keepers and also benefited the field players who helped out. Go Wolverines!