Congrats on your hard work today ladies. Of all games the ref decides to play extra time (I think we played 40 minutes in the first half, 35 in the second) he chooses the game where we have a short-bench. Despite the handicap of having only one substitute we came away with the win and plenty of positives to take into our last game before Christmas.
Some of the positives are obvious - Chloe's goal (a bullet from eighteen yards!); our fourth consecutive clean-sheet; our passing and movement (particularly in the first-half); as well as the desire and hustle we showed all game. Other positives were more subtle - getting first to the ball (Holly, Lily and Annabel in particular); players soldiering-on despite suffering cold and flu (Olivia and Kristina); very assured clearances from our keepers (Emma and Leah); and headers (Holly again, along with Kristina). And special mention of the two Chaos kids - Mara and Erin. Both of them had a long, tiring game earlier in the morning and they didn't look out of place amongst all of the "bigger" players.
Hopefully next week we will be back to our full quota of players for the visit of Bays United.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Storm 0 Lakehill 0
I cant fault your endeavour today - each of you worked very hard and put your self about, but in the end there wasn't much end product to all our huffing and puffing. We got some good looks at goal, hit the upright, shot over from distance, but in-close, we either didnt battle hard enough or anticipate the shot, rebound or pass.
Lakehill came to close us down and they did a good job, particularly their back line who were first to most of the ball played in their end. Our defense wasn't too shabby either, and I thought we looked more assured on the ball today than we have perhaps in any other game so far this season. We fielded several different defensive combinations and each one did their job very effectively. Our goalkeeping was also very good, with excellent handling and distribution from both Marissa and Mia. That's three straight shut-outs and we should be very proud of that achievement.
Going forward we didnt look as good as we did against Peninsula. We had our moments with some good wing-play, but the Lakehill defence did a good job of getting into the passing lanes and just generally disrupting our attacking game. It seemed at times we forgot we had a midfield (or the midfield forgot it's game) and the ball ping-ponged back and forth between opposition defenders. We have to get the ball down and play our way forward to have success and we didnt do enough of this today.
Next up is Gordon Head. We haven't seen them since the Tourney on the Turf, but we will be playing them twice in short order - once this weekend and again January 10th at Lochside Park.
Lakehill came to close us down and they did a good job, particularly their back line who were first to most of the ball played in their end. Our defense wasn't too shabby either, and I thought we looked more assured on the ball today than we have perhaps in any other game so far this season. We fielded several different defensive combinations and each one did their job very effectively. Our goalkeeping was also very good, with excellent handling and distribution from both Marissa and Mia. That's three straight shut-outs and we should be very proud of that achievement.
Going forward we didnt look as good as we did against Peninsula. We had our moments with some good wing-play, but the Lakehill defence did a good job of getting into the passing lanes and just generally disrupting our attacking game. It seemed at times we forgot we had a midfield (or the midfield forgot it's game) and the ball ping-ponged back and forth between opposition defenders. We have to get the ball down and play our way forward to have success and we didnt do enough of this today.
Next up is Gordon Head. We haven't seen them since the Tourney on the Turf, but we will be playing them twice in short order - once this weekend and again January 10th at Lochside Park.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Congratulations to Paige!
My congrats to Paige on being identified as a player of interest at the recent Whitecaps Prospect Camp at PSIE. Not sure when she registered at Juan de Fuca but she played a stormer for us today against Peninsula so I'll have to thank them for loaning her to us for the day!
I also didn't realize that LISA Metro teams were officially known as "Metro/Selects" - seems a contradiction in terms to me. Oh well, you can add that to a very long list of things about both LISA and Metro that puzzles me!
Click on the linky for the article from the LISA website: http://www.lowerislandsoccer.com/
I also didn't realize that LISA Metro teams were officially known as "Metro/Selects" - seems a contradiction in terms to me. Oh well, you can add that to a very long list of things about both LISA and Metro that puzzles me!
Click on the linky for the article from the LISA website: http://www.lowerislandsoccer.com/
Storm find their feet on the Turf!
What a perfect result for our inaugural game on our new turf! In many respects it felt like the start of the new season rather than the middle of November. How can it be the middle of November with weather like what we had today. Amazing!
We challenged you before the game to match your skill with an equal amount of desire and you responded by putting three goals past the current league leaders. If you can consistently find the energy and commitment you showed on the pitch today then you will always win more than you lose. It's really that simple - keep your approach to the game simple, work hard and make quick, smart decisions and the results will follow.
Now the challenge for you is to keep-up that tempo and desire next game, and the game after that, and so on. But first we're back on Turf for more fitness training and ballwork on Tuesday. Enjoy the rest of your weekend and we'll see you at 5:30, sharpish.
We challenged you before the game to match your skill with an equal amount of desire and you responded by putting three goals past the current league leaders. If you can consistently find the energy and commitment you showed on the pitch today then you will always win more than you lose. It's really that simple - keep your approach to the game simple, work hard and make quick, smart decisions and the results will follow.
Now the challenge for you is to keep-up that tempo and desire next game, and the game after that, and so on. But first we're back on Turf for more fitness training and ballwork on Tuesday. Enjoy the rest of your weekend and we'll see you at 5:30, sharpish.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Storm Photos
Storm photos (team and individual players) are scheduled for this Saturday at Lochside Park. Please be there for 11:30am.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Gorge 0 Storm 0
Frustrated. That's a word I find myself repeating to both myself and others when I analyze our games. Frustrated that we don't turn our chances into goals, frustrated that we "switch-off" on throw-ins and other dead-ball situations, and frustrated that we often seem to play to the level of our opposition. No, I'm not saying Gorge is a bad team. More that they didnt play well either and if we had applied our skills a bit better we could have been celebrating a win instead of a draw.
Unlike last week's game against Juan de Fuca where there was little to choose between the teams, we dominated Saturday's game for long stretches and deserved the win. Put simply, we created more than enough chances to win, but we failed to take them. I dont think Gorge had the ball in our end and under control more than five minutes in the second-half. But despite all of the play being in their end, too often we were late getting into the box for the cross or closing down the defender. Gorge defenders did well clearing the ball, but on many occasions we made it easier for them by not putting any pressure on them.
What's a bit more worrying was that we rarely strung more than one or two passes together all game. One of the hardest things to do against a energetic team like Gorge is to keep your composure and play simple balls. We didnt do enough of either and it seemed we were a tad tired or uninspired. Whatever it was we never reached the tempo at which we are capable of playing. And that's very frustrating as a coach when you dont feel your players left it all on the field. Be very sure that we will spend most of this week practising and re-discovering our passing game.
Next up is Peninsula. The good news is that our first game back at Lochside will be on turf. The flip-side is that we will need a much-improved performance from all players if we hope to take all three points on offer.
See you all at practice on Tuesday.
Unlike last week's game against Juan de Fuca where there was little to choose between the teams, we dominated Saturday's game for long stretches and deserved the win. Put simply, we created more than enough chances to win, but we failed to take them. I dont think Gorge had the ball in our end and under control more than five minutes in the second-half. But despite all of the play being in their end, too often we were late getting into the box for the cross or closing down the defender. Gorge defenders did well clearing the ball, but on many occasions we made it easier for them by not putting any pressure on them.
What's a bit more worrying was that we rarely strung more than one or two passes together all game. One of the hardest things to do against a energetic team like Gorge is to keep your composure and play simple balls. We didnt do enough of either and it seemed we were a tad tired or uninspired. Whatever it was we never reached the tempo at which we are capable of playing. And that's very frustrating as a coach when you dont feel your players left it all on the field. Be very sure that we will spend most of this week practising and re-discovering our passing game.
Next up is Peninsula. The good news is that our first game back at Lochside will be on turf. The flip-side is that we will need a much-improved performance from all players if we hope to take all three points on offer.
See you all at practice on Tuesday.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Storm 0 JDF 1
I felt there was very little to choose between the teams today. Neither team created much in the way of good scoring opportunities with defenders dominating the forwards at both ends of the field. I think 0-0 would have been a fairer representation of the play and possession, but a communication breakdown at the wrong time and in the wrong place allowed their forward to steal-in and score the winner. Ouch! One mistake and we get punished for it. These small mistakes are happening less and less as the season progresses, but that doesn't make the loss any harder to swallow. But our luck must surely turn soon so we need to keep our head's up and work harder the next time.
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