3-0; Good Training

A good solid victory on Monday against Rappahannock County High School. We jumped on them right from the start to put the game out of reach early. We put Gracie through on a spectacular ground ball out of the midfield and the Rappahannock defender just crushed her from behind giving us a penalty. Gracie stepped calmly to the spot and buried the ball into the right corner giving us a 1-0 lead in the second minute. The mids then kept control of the game and we raced to a 3-0 lead. Savanna and Diane both scored nice goals in the spurt. Our scoreless streak then ended as Rappahannock scored a goal. Max just lost concentration for a minute and the ball was in the net. That would be the last time there was any doubt about whether RCHS would score again.

Demi scored two goals and Diane added 3 more to finish the game with four. Diane has two hat tricks in a row. Jordan scored a nice goal from the front. Catherine put one in from up close and we came away with a 10-1 victory. Liza stroked another assist.

We adjusted for Izzy's absence moving Savanna into the central midfield and Jordan to the front. Katie stepped into the deep midfielder role in place of Jordan. We also missed Domi who was also out sick. Jessie played strong minutes in the front in the second half.

Margaret and Kiely gave us great minutes in the front and the back. Kiely made another bone crunching tackle late in the game that just put an exclaimation on the victory! Sarah played well in the back again with Nia and Alex. Sarah played some strong minutes in the central midfield in the second half increasing our future flexibility.

We still need to work on our communication, especially in the back. We had a few moments of confusion in the back third, which against a better team could create some problems for us. The mids and front runners also have to track back harder to help the defenders bring the ball out when under pressure. Our front runners also have to track back to the ball a bit better and start making diagonal runs to the flags and back posts. We had far too many off-sides, especially in the second half. Disciplined imagination scores goals.

We trained very well on Tuesday. Keep it up today and Thursday. We have a big weekend ahead of us with games against Notre Dame at home on Friday, and Seton away on Saturday. This is a chance to move into the elite. Let's make good on it.

Just remember, it is a game, and games are supposed to be fun. Have fun playing, win or lose. Play with fortitude, temperence, prudence and virtue. Love the beautiful game and it will love you back for the rest of your life.

Go Wakefield!