We went into this season knowing that three time Division winners: Peninsula Thunder would once again be 'the team to beat' and we also knew that the Saanich Fusion team had strengthened and would be very formidable! So far both teams have been difficult to play against!This season (so far) pretty much has been a stratification of the u16GG table with three races developing: places 1v2, places 3v4 and place 5 over place 6. Not much has changed over the last 10 weeks! Saanich had managed to remain undefeated over 14 weeks of play. Depending on how LISA evaluates 'completed rounds', Fusion are set to add the Division Title (and a place in the Island Champions Final) to their lengthy list of accomplishments!
Up until this weekend Peninsula has pretty much dominated all their opponents with the notable exception of the Fusion. Up till this weekend that is! For many it came as a surprise to see that the Lochside and Tyndallers unable to score a goal! That is rare and a tribute to the excellent Blue Heron defenders! More than anything it shows that on any given weekend any team can be beaten! More than any other team we know just how good the Thunder are, I'll explain that in a moment. We've now had over 17 weeks of league scheduled play, and that means players are feeling the effects of illness, injuries and other commitments. It is not uncommon to have shortened benches (as we know only to well ourselves!).
Starting next weekend Coaches and Managers will be hoping that their rosters are healthy as district area "cup season" starts with B Cup qualifying! We did not draw into the opening round starting Feb 4th so we expect LISA to schedule us to play Peninsula. We should know the field by Wednesday at the latest.
The Thunder have been an extremely difficult team for us to play against. They have scored a combined 11 goals against us, all the other teams have managed 9 goals against us. It is not a Goals Against record we are too happy abou,t but I mention it to stress that for whatever reason the Thunder has dominated us more than any other team, to have any chance at hardware this season we need to cut down the Goals Against- starting next weekend!!
Which brings me to a couple of words about yesterday's Gorge game:
The score indicates we scored 4 goals...yes we scored 4... the Gorge goal was an unfortunate own goal but it highlighted how much we miss Dani in the midfield! It also highlights that for all the good play we had on Saturday we had a real let down that caused the lone Gorge goal! It comes as no surprise that Jelly was the spark in the Gorge offense! We did a solid job closing her down quickly for most of the first half! But what we observed was some momentary confusion as one Lakehill defender thought another was going to pick her up in the midfield, neither did! Jelly exploited the open space to attack and she got a decent shot away. We thwarted (kind of) that, but somehow sent the ball into our own goal with a deflection. Ok, 0-1 at the half, nothing to be too concerned about...except...for Cassy. Cassy is without a doubt the dominant u16GG goalie this season! Her positioning is excellent and she thwarted Lindsay on four occasions on Cassys left side. But...she can be beaten! We just were unable to do so on Saturday...so the fact that we scored 3 goals against Gorge , while positive it identifies an area we need to work on, especially our decision making inside the 18 yard box (ours and the opponents!).
With Gorge down a couple of players in the second half, despite our superiority in numbers. we lacked "finish". We did get some nice opportunities and had three nice goals by Morgan , Allie and Natasha! Alicia and Natasha came close on headers (one of which really should have gone in). But for many watching the game the highlight was the crisp passing and the use of width! All good! Other players took some decent shots: Katie, Natasha and Monique come to mind. Safahana, Mina, Soleil all contributed to our strong play! [I highlighted our defenders in a separate posting (see the Gorge photos!)]. Alicia and Kailyn took the majority of set pieces and while we did not capitalize on them we did have some good opportunities!
As we continue towards the next 6 weeks we will have another good run out tonight at 5:45pm on the Braefoot Turf! Then Tuesday,Wednesday & Thursday practices this week! See you all there!
