Scrimmage. 1-1 tie v. West Valley U12s

another great game from the new look team, including another couple of players trying out.

Jeffs_Photos

Sporting White 98 took on WV Olympique 97, so U11 v. U12. This West Valley team won the D2 cup a couple of months ago so are no slouches.

We had almost a full squad with only Jennifer absent.

Sporting started off with a 4-4-2 formation with Fuller in goal for the 1st half and the girls took control of the 1st quarter of the game with Olympique unable to get the ball out of their defensive half of the field. Sporting were moving the ball nicely around midfield but were missing opportunities to play our forwards through on goal by delaying the passes for too long (we pointed this out to the girls at half time). The pressure we were applying on the Olympique goal brought rewards after about 15 minutes when Monica moved the ball down the left, fed Morgan, who fired a high left foot shot over the goalkeeper and into the net. Sporting then had to go on the defensive for the rest of the 1st half as Olympique kept the girls pinned in just outside our penalty box. Fuller made a number of good saves and the defensive line held them out until just before half time when a scuffed shot wriggled past Fuller for 1-1.

For the second half coach George switched the line up with Eva at sweeper and she did an awesome job "sweeping" up everything that Olympique threw at her. Kristen took over in goal and looked quite accomplished in there. The midfield started playing earlier passes which worked very well at releasing our forwards and Sporting created a number of scoring opportunities which really should have brought us a couple more goals, but the game ended as a 1-1 tie.

A shout for Preeya who finished her try out with this game.... which was successful and I'm pleased to say that she has agreed to join Sporting 98 white.... congratulations !!

The team continues to look very well balanced and we are looking forward to the Spring season

2010 New Players..... great start

Following try outs in December, some players leaving the club, and some players moving to the Sporting Green 98 class 1 team; 98G white has a very different look for 2010. In fact, there were so many good players at try-outs that both the green and white teams have a very fresh feel for the coming Spring season.


Sunday Jan 3rd : 1-0 victory v. Juventus Galaxy

The first outing for the white team was a scrimmage on turf in Redwood City versus Juventus Galaxy, a team we tied 0-0 in the D2 cup back in November. Thus this was a good gauge of how our re-formatted white team can develop. On the field, we had only 5 players returning from the Fall team ( Eva and Monica were not available ), so a big test for the new players, including Morgan who was trying out and with us for the 1st time.

Sporting started out at high speed and were in control of this game very quickly. The challenges in midfield were tough and that kept the ball away from the Sporting goal and in the Juventus half. However, shooting chances were kept to a minimum by an efficient Juve defence. Sporting forced a succession of corners, and that's where we lost a bit of momentum as the coaches realised with so many new players and very little time together that we didn't have corner takers identified. Katie K, playing at sweeper, was snuffing out any attacking threat from Juventus with calm interceptions and drag backs with the rest of the defence (Rebecca, Jennifer, and Lexie) working very aggressively to stop any progress towards our penalty box. As the half progressed, the girls started to gain in confidence with some sweeping moves through midfield from Marina H, Vaeda, Morgan and Kristen feeding the forward players of Sophie, Celine and Marina F. Coach George noted that the team looked very well balanced for positions and ability.

The second half followed a similar pattern with Sporting generating most of the scoring opportunities. Sophie moved to sweeper and played great there anticipating any breaks and sending the ball way back into the Juve half with well timed interceptions. Morgan, Katie K, and Rebecca all made long runs from the half-way line into the Juve box but the shots were being well saved by their keeper. Crosses flew across the Juve goal line, but Sporting couldn't get that final touch into the net. Eventually, Morgan picked up a loose ball between two defenders and outsprinted them towards the goal and fired a shot into the net off the keepers glove. This pushed Juventus into some action and they played the ball into the Sporting penalty box a few times but no clean shots on goal were made. Sporting locked up the 1-0 victory by playing the final 5 minutes very tightly..... an awesome start for the new look team. Not just the victory, but the manner of play and the way the girls grew during the game.