Away vs. Juan de Fuca

Gorge Canadians Outplay Juan de Fuca to a 5-0 Win

It was a cool but sunny day today at Sangster Elementary field in Colwood. So cool, the ground remained frozen for the whole game. I am not sure whether the game should of been played/cancelled because of this - there were some timid players out there today, some slips, some falls and hurt knees. And what can you say about that crazy keeper of ours ... the frozen ground was not going to stop Paige from diving and scrambling around for the ball.

Today's game we were missing our stalwart defender Heather and our speedy forward Cara. The first half of the game was slow, as I said above, I think the girls were very timid and were trying to get used to the field and their footing. We definitely carried most of the play in the first half (~80%) but only came away with one goal ... a "weak" shot by Joslyn that got through the keeper.

After a half-time talk by Coach Mafalda the girls came out with a renewed energy and started moving the ball around better. Because of this, more and better chances came for us. Four unanswered goals were scored (see below). We also tried a few lines changes that we normally wouldn't do - some girls played positions they are not "comfortable" with (or don't like). That said, we controlled the ball in this half.

Some good things I saw today were...

• Some good communication out there. Girls were calling for the ball and calling to give the ball. Excellent!
• Indy attacking the players aggressively - I think this was her best game by far this season.
• Taylor had the ball a couple of times today and was very good at shielding the ball and passing it to a teammate when they came to help.
• Kaitlin H. and Kaitlin M. controlling the midfield today.
• Jenn playing some good defence when we had some weaker line changes (Coach Brad tried a couple of different line combinations today leaving the defence to do a lot of work).
• Erin had some great assists today.
• Paige was called upon to make a coupl eof good saves and she also agressively controlled her goal area and got rid of a lot of balls that could have easily gone to the other team. Way to get to the ball first Paige!

Goals were scored by...

• Joslyns "weak" (her words not mine) goal --> Don't discount "weak" goals, they count as much as an excellent goal! The importnat thing is you are shooting!
• Alanna's two beautifully placed goals. The shooting practise last week must have helped. Remember, sometimes finesse is better than a hard shot.
• Jaymie goals --> both on strong shots. One goal was masterfully placed in the upper part of the net from a sharp angle.

Some things to work on ...

• Some of us are still bunching up (always send in one player)
• Some players still not playing their positions as good as they could
• We are still allowing some players to dribble the ball into our goal area - DANGEROUS!
• We are not clearing balls out of our own end especially when in the top center part of the goal area - DANGEROUS!
• Getting Juan de Fuca to set up the nets and field better :-) Was that a short and narrow field or what??!

It was a team effort today girls. You were talking, passing and playing positional soccer today! Good job and have a good week.