Game: DDL FC U12 Girls vs. Extreme Team
Date: Saturday, January 19, 2013
Result: Tie, 3-3
Player of the Game:
Game Summary:
This was a new experience for the girls. Playing indoor is always different than playing outdoor, but getting used to the smaller spaces and the use of the walls was cause for an adjustment. This caused a quick two-goal deficit, but the Lions found their resolve and held fast. Gradually increasing their attack and creating more opportunities, the Lions were able to score three goals over the course of the game and take a 3-2 lead, before eventually conceding the tying goal with a couple minutes left in the game. Coach Eric was pleased with the way that the game went though, saying that the girls “did a great job of overcoming their initial nervousness. Combine that with trying to build up from the back, and the girls were put in a situation that was unfamiliar to them. They made the best of it and learned to create opportunities in different ways.”
Defensively this was a good game for the Lions. They allowed very few shots on goal, with most of the goals coming from rebounds off of the wall that caught the Lions off guard. They managed to hold the other team at bay for most of the game, countering their direct style of play with hard-nosed defense and finding an outlet pass to the midfield. The one issue the Lions faced throughout the game was a disconnect between the defense and midfield in terms of getting back quickly. This caused a few situations where the defense found themselves outnumbered or quickly countered, but they were consistently able to shut it down and relieve the pressure. The unintended bonus of playing on a smaller field is that the defenders and midfielders naturally got wider the moment the goalie had the ball, which helped to build up from the back.
This was a new experience for the girls offensively. This was their first game on turf as a group, and it showed in their first touch. Every so often the ball would get a little too far ahead of them and they would have chase it down. There were several occasions where the girls took the correct first touch to set up a shot if we were playing on grass, but found that the ball was slightly out of reach. They did an excellent job of trying to show for each other, and it was evident that the ideas were there, but the execution was a touch late. Coach Eric attributed this to the winter break and that “as we continue to get back in the swing of things we’ll find our stride again shortly. I think this was a good first game for us to come back to, and I’m pleased with the result.”
Dutch Lions FC G96 @ CUP U16 Black
Date: Sunday 1/20/2012, 9.00 AM
Final score: 2-1 CUP
Player of the game: Spek
The second game for the Dutch Lions FC G96 in the Wall 2 Wall league was against an opponent that plays in the MRL (Midwest Regional League). During the game the Lady Lions showed they are more than capable of competing against a team that plays at this high level. The Lions didn’t reach their usual level, but were competitive the whole game. 2 Moments of lack of concentration in the back resulted in 2 goals for CUP. The Lions were only able to score 1 goal, by Lauren M.
The first 5 to 8 minutes the Dutch Lions played well and controlled the game. They were able to pass the ball around and keep possession. When getting closer to the CUP goal the Lions had a harder time finding the open players. The Lions missed their centre forward Rachel, and Lauren M played in her position most of the game. After the opening phase of the game CUP got in a better rhythm and was able to pressure the Lions more than in the first part of the game. This resulted in a game that was played mostly on midfield. After about 20 minutes the Dutch Lions let a cross from the side bounce up to 4 times in their box, waiting for somebody from CUP to kick it on the goal. This happened and totally not necessary the Lions were 1-0 behind.
The goal didn’t change much in what happened on the field. The Dutch Lions tried to build up from the back and CUP was pressuring the Lions. When CUP won the ball they used quick passes to counter attack. On one of the occasions the Dutch Lions defense didn’t cover the middle well enough, leaving a player wide open in the middle of the field. With a shot in the far corner the CUP player scored the second goal of the game. After this goal the Dutch Lions got a little closer to the CUP goal when attacking, but not always making the right choices. The center forward didn’t get involved enough in the plays by mostly the midfielders. The first time the Dutch Lions were able to reach the forward, Lauren scored right away. In the remainder of the game both teams appeared to be very equal.
Coach Tommy was disappointed after the game: “It doesn’t matter to me that we lost. As a matter of a fact, the girls just had to tell me. I thought the game ended in a 1-1 tie. I am not too happy with the way we played. We didn’t pass the ball quick enough on midfield and in the final third of the field we hardly ever looked at the center forward. If we reach our “usual” level we can do so much better”
Dutch Lions FC U18 Girls – Lady Warriors 96 Elite
Sunday January 20, 03.00 PM
Final Score: 0-3
Player of the Game: Samantha
The Dutch Lions U18 Girls played their first game of the 2013 season. A team with a lot of new faces but also with a good level of talent playing an opponent that had been playing together for 8 years already.
The lady Lions where motivated to put in use what they had been practicing for the last two months and ended up playing a good game with a very strong defensive performance and being able to create some good chances even hitting the cross bar once.
Coach Sid was pleased after the game “With only Courtney, Kaitlyn, Amanda, Spencer and Alex returning from last season we have a lot of new players joining us (Ashley, Abbie, Ryen, Anna, Samantha, Laura, Taylor + 2 DDL U15 girls, Michaela and Morgan), and the way we want to play takes a lot of work and practice. I chose to work a lot on defensive organization in the last couple of weeks and I am very happy with the team’s defensive performance today, although there is still room for improvement I think we have a good solid basis to work with from now on. It has been a search for me to put the players in positions where they would fit best and I think we did that with success, Anna and Laura did great as our full backs and Samantha had a very strong game as our controlling midfielder, that is also the reason why I named her player of the game. Even being under a lot of pressure throughout the whole game we didn’t give any big chances away and ended up being a little unlucky, conceding 3 goals that can be avoided in my opinion. And even not having worked a lot on offense the last couple of weeks we were still able to create some good chances thru Morgan and Michaela and had two good shots with Abbie hitting the crossbar and Kaitlyn finding the opponents goalkeeper. I am looking forward to next week’s game.