1-0 loss to Rampage

friday 28th August

98G white got their first outing as a team on turf. Rampage brought their usual big girls game and pushed the ball into our half consistently with big boots upfield. Our girls struggled with the ball running fast on the turf and neither side was able to put a passing game together.

Rampage scored through a breakout where our defence stood a little flat, and also forgot to kick the ball... so as usual, that goal didn't really count.

For the second half, Sporting produced a defensive and goal tending master class. The wind kept the ball at our end of the field for most of the half but strong defence and aggressive goalkeeping from Adriana kept the Rampage out. We managed a couple of really nice breaks resulting is some shots on the Rampage goal .

It was very useful to be able to try some players in different positions. The coaches and the girls learn what will and won't work. Hopefully we'll have most of this sorted before the season starts.

0-1 versus a class 1B team is a decent result. We'd have beaten them on grass anyway

Soccer By The Bay

Our 1st real competitive games as a team at the "Soccer by the Bay" tournament resulted in a 4 and 0 record.... and 3rd place - yeh, go figure. GF = 12, GA = 2.

SuperFan Franklin in Sporting Colors

Game 1 v. Peninsula Storm

We started with a hard fought 1-0 victory over Peninsula Storm. Monica passed one into the net in the 1st few minutes, but after an early period of domination, Peninsula came back into the game. A key moment followed when after a perfectly fair hockey tackle by Andrea, Peninsula were awarded a PK ( something of a theme for us this weekend ) - Fay stuck out a leg and made a fine save from a strong kick. The game was then pretty even until the end and 98GWhite secured their 1st competitive victory. Another point to note was how strong our players were in the tackle against some monstrous opposition.

Game 2 v. Stanford Avalanche ( 7-2 win )

After a sluggish start, Sporting took control of this game after about 10 minutes and eased into a 1-0 lead ( might have been Monica again - she got 5 this tournament so there's a good chance it was her ). Then, horror of horrors, a PK against us, this time against Fay for kicking the soccer ball whilst wearing cleats. Andrea could do nothing against a sweet shot into the corner : 1-1. Then the blitz started. Can't remember the order of events but we went 6-1 ahead by half time. Taylor scored one and Lexie and Fay scored 50 yard touchdowns. For the second half the girls were told not to score unless Stanford scored... and both teams scored 1 goal in the second half. Considering how bad the pitch (field) was, there was some awesome passing from Sporting in this game (actually, in all games this weekend).

Game 3 v. San Carlos Blaze ( 2-0 win )

Its all a bit of a blur now but I do remember one thing...a PK against us. This time for the ball brushing against Marina's arm from a throw in. No worries, Fay made her second PK save of the tournament.

It was tense going into the 2nd half at 0-0 knowing we needed to win to have a chance of making the championship game.... but then 2 goals within a few minutes in the second half calmed everyones nerves and we coasted to our 3rd victory in 3 games. 3 and 0 during qualifying is usually enough to get a spot in the championship game, but due to some mathematical anomaly (2 other teams scored more 3 goal victories) we ended up having to play the consolation game. ( In the U12 group, only one team had 3 victories in qualifying ).

Game 4, 3rd v 4th. 2-0 win over San Mateo Blue Crush

A game we dominated from the start. Our team is certainly fitter than anyone we played against this weekend as evidenced by us finishing every game much stronger than the opposition. This was even more apparent in this consolation game. This time Vaeda got the 50 yard touchdown. Andrea tried her best to make sure the Crush were awarded a PK, but just missed with a leg sweep. Then, to add insult to injury over PKs, Fay was tripped about 3 yards inside the Crush penalty box. Both players ended up lying down totally within the penalty box. The AR flagged the foul and indicated a kick to us. The referee came over, spoke to the AR and we were awarded a free-kick some where near the touchline of a field in the next town. Justice was served though as we scored from the melee that followed the kick into the box, Fay lifting the ball over their GK and it nestling in the far corner. We lined up the subs ready for the final whistle and the players gathered to celebrate and awesome tournament.