Bays 1 Storm 1

A 1-1 draw against the league leaders is never a bad result, but I think we did enough to win the game so it feels like a little bit of a let-down. At 1-0 I thought we had a good chance of scoring the next goal but instead they equalized and we lost momentum.

Our goal today was excellent. Chloe won and kept possession on the far right, played a short ball into space for Annabel who then knocked a low pass/shot across the top of the six yard box that was thumped home from Brooke E near the far post. Brooke's timing running onto the cross was perfect and was great reward for a hustling performance. Way to go to Brooke E! We had a couple of other chances from crooses/shots after strong runs by Chloe and Brooke G, but we didnt connect with our shots when they mattered. I think the long grass had quite a bit to do with our soft shots.

Their equalizer was frustrating because we failed to put any pressure on the ball carrier higher up the field. This allowed their player to dribble to our penalty area and then lay-off a ball for a good shot to the corner. We had defenders and midfielder on that side of the field at the time but they backed-off the ball too much and invited the Bays player to get closer to our goal. Remember we always need to put pressure on the ball carrier. Their goal changed the game and for a period we lost our shape and possession of the ball. That's what happens - goals change games - and we proceeded to spend too much time on the back foot and this seemed to zap our energy levels going forward. That said, our defending was solid, and all of our defenders did well clearing the ball upfield when we were in trouble. Thanks to Mia it stayed 1-1 as she made two great saves late on - the first off a shot at the near post and another diving low to save a shot to her right corner.

Remember next time we play on a short or narrow field that it's absolutely critical our wide players stay as wide as possible. When we did this today I thought we looked like we could get around their defenders easily. However when play became scrambly our wide players ventured too far into the middle. This resulted in us bunching up, and when we did get possession and made passes out wide often no one was there.

We also need to keep our eyes on the ball when kicking - there were too many soft passes and mis-kicks today from us. Some of this was from mental and physical fatigue of playing six games in one week.

Our next game is Juan de Fuca on our new Turf. For anyone considering turf shoes I recommend the Nike Tiempo. Turf shoes are not required - multi-stud work just fine - but if you have blade-styles cleats you may want to consider a pair of turf shoes instead. All of our practices from November onward will be on turf.