Gator Classic Tournament Recap 10/03/2010
The weekend of September 24-25 we played in the Gator Classic and for the most part had a very nice, although disappointing, showing. Before the first game I asked the girls what they wanted and they all agreed that we wanted to walk away with the top trophy. So, in that we didn’t walk away having won the tournament it was a disappointment; but, there were some very bright spots and some things to be proud of by the end, regardless of the end result.
Our first game against JFC was a big bright spot. After a slow start and going down 1-0 the girls fought back and put some very nice things together in the process. After the first few minutes we started moving to the ball and the game turned in our favor because of it. The goals we scored were also a bright spot and they came from recognizing opportunity in front of goal and moving to a 50-50 ball in front of goal respectively. I was pleased to see both of these things happening as they are things I’ve talked about us not doing well in our first few games. I believe the first game also showed us that when we do move to the ball and communicate well we can play with and beat anyone. In the second game we continued doing things properly and while we still struggled to recognize opportunities in front of goal I think that the girls moved the ball around well and showed definite improvement from the first time we played Pearl River.
Sunday’s game (something of a different story from Saturday) saw us playing about as poorly as we have played. I’m not sure if it was the fact that we simply expected to win, the heat, playing our third game in two days or some combination of the three. I feel like it was mostly our own expectation that Calcasieu would be an easy win similar to Pearl River on Saturday. Although Sunday’s game was a disappointment it wasn’t all bad. The girls fought their way out of a funk which is something that shows a good deal of character. The problem was that our opponents had already bought into the idea that they could play with us and continued to play over their heads. In fact we created more chances than they did in the second half and I would say we out played them; however; we play the only game in the world where you can outplay your opponent and still not come away with a win. It would be easy to blame a referee’s decision for our failure to advance in fact I’m inclined to; however, had we come out and played the way we are capable of playing the referee’s decisions poor or not wouldn't have entered into the picture. Quite simply during the first 25 minutes of the game we sat back and let them win balls rather than moving. Our back line didn’t move out as they played the ball out and we weren't talking to each other. Hopefully we can take a valuable lesson away from this rather than just disappointment. That lesson being that while we are a good team that can play with everyone we come across we also can’t allow other teams to play with us. Assuming a victory isn’t the same as earning one and we didn’t go out and earn one last Sunday.
Our first game against JFC was a big bright spot. After a slow start and going down 1-0 the girls fought back and put some very nice things together in the process. After the first few minutes we started moving to the ball and the game turned in our favor because of it. The goals we scored were also a bright spot and they came from recognizing opportunity in front of goal and moving to a 50-50 ball in front of goal respectively. I was pleased to see both of these things happening as they are things I’ve talked about us not doing well in our first few games. I believe the first game also showed us that when we do move to the ball and communicate well we can play with and beat anyone. In the second game we continued doing things properly and while we still struggled to recognize opportunities in front of goal I think that the girls moved the ball around well and showed definite improvement from the first time we played Pearl River.
Sunday’s game (something of a different story from Saturday) saw us playing about as poorly as we have played. I’m not sure if it was the fact that we simply expected to win, the heat, playing our third game in two days or some combination of the three. I feel like it was mostly our own expectation that Calcasieu would be an easy win similar to Pearl River on Saturday. Although Sunday’s game was a disappointment it wasn’t all bad. The girls fought their way out of a funk which is something that shows a good deal of character. The problem was that our opponents had already bought into the idea that they could play with us and continued to play over their heads. In fact we created more chances than they did in the second half and I would say we out played them; however; we play the only game in the world where you can outplay your opponent and still not come away with a win. It would be easy to blame a referee’s decision for our failure to advance in fact I’m inclined to; however, had we come out and played the way we are capable of playing the referee’s decisions poor or not wouldn't have entered into the picture. Quite simply during the first 25 minutes of the game we sat back and let them win balls rather than moving. Our back line didn’t move out as they played the ball out and we weren't talking to each other. Hopefully we can take a valuable lesson away from this rather than just disappointment. That lesson being that while we are a good team that can play with everyone we come across we also can’t allow other teams to play with us. Assuming a victory isn’t the same as earning one and we didn’t go out and earn one last Sunday.
Comments
Rich Goldkamp
Sat, 16 Oct 2010 09:13:35
Thanks for posting these John -- the feedback is valuable for us and the girls alike!
