Monsters 3 Reds 1

Well we made it harder on ourselves than it should have been, but in the end we got the goals to defeat a spirited Reds team. We lacked the zip and intensity from our last game but once we rediscovered that things started to roll for us. Our passing, movement and hunger for the ball was much better in the second half and Mia, Lily and Leah scored to turn-around a 0-1 halftime deficit versus the Reds.

We had chances in the first half, but we either found the side-netting or were stoned by the Reds keeper. Nicole, Marissa and Leah all had good chances but it was the Reds who scored off a nice three-way passing play. The goal itself was a boomer and didn't give Emma much of a chance, but our marking leading up to the goal was very, very slack and we weren't really paying attention to the play. Sometimes it seems we need to be scored on to wake up, and I thought this was the case in this game.

As a team I thought we played the ball the way we were facing (more times than not) and our communication was pretty good. We switched play and our coners (short and long) were good as well. A couple of things we need to work on include moving up and down the field as a unit and our shooting. Too many times our defenders were too far behind our forwards and midfield which means we missed chances to win the ball back and support the attack. As for our shooting, we need to try and hit shots hard and low to the corners.

Player of the Game was Emma for her crunching tackles, great passing and hard work all over the field. Emma also had a great shot saved by the Reds keeper and generally made a nuisance of herself whenever they had the ball. (There you go folks, I can say something positive about my daughter!)

Honourable mentions go to Lily and Nicole.

Lily got her first goal of the season - a booming shot from just outside the penalty area that literally tore the net off the goal! It was such a nice goal Lily says she wants to know if anyone took a video! Well, actually it was a tap in after the goalie fumbled her shot, but I think everyone would agree we're splitting hairs here. Besides, it was the game winner!!

This is Nicole's first year playing soccer and she's making great progress. What I like most is Nicole did a great job of making safe, smart decisions whenever she had possession of the ball. Soccer is a game of making decisions and last night Nicole did that well. In addition, she showed some speed and nifty dribbling skills.

Next week's game is Thursday 6pm on Field K1. Our opponents are the Maroons and they appear to have a fair number of Peninsula U12 Gold girls. This means we'll have to be on our game right from the start.

See you there!