MNJYSA game #2
Coming off a thrilling last minute victory away to Hillside yesterday, on a very hard, narrow, and mostly dirt field, the Wildcats travelled to Livingston high school to play on their new 120 yd long turf field. The girls were up for the game and cheered their teammates as they were checked in by the referees. The Liberty started to sarcastically cheer our girls too, which aggitated the Wildcats and prompted them to raise the volume even more, and get them really psyched for the game !!!
We were back at full strength today, so we had 4 sets of fresh legs on the sidelines to rotate in, as the huge field would take its toll with all the extra ground to cover. We are also trying players in different roles to add to the flexibility of the team and to further develop the players.
The Wildcats started brightly, moving the ball around, finding spaces, challenging well on the ball and keeping the ball in Livingston's defensive third. Five minutes in, the ball was cleared on the ground out of the Livingston penalty box where it was met by Bri who was running in from the right wing. She struck the ball perfectly with her left foot and lofted the ball high to the far post, well-beating the keeper and dipping just under the bar, and catching the inside side netting to put the Wildcats up 1-0.
The Wildcats kept up the pressure.. on 12 minutes Jules lead Amy with a nicely weighted pass that Amy connected well with, resulting in a good save by the keeper. Two minutes later Amy and Jules worked a number of 1-2's through the mid-field and defense but couldn't get off a strong shot. Then, in the 23rd minute Reb received the ball at the top of the 18, took one controlling touch and turned and shot in one motion low near post, killing the gopher, and beating the keeper for a 2-0 lead. A few minutes later Jules split the defenders and pushed a lead pass out to the right that saw Siobhan run on and connect in stride with a perfectly timed shot that barely missed near post.
At the half there was not much negative to talk about.. the girls were hustling, using their support well, making diagonal runs and passes. We did note that Livingston, on the whole, were good ball handlers and could take advantage of over pursuit, so we reminded the Wildcats to close quickly, but to contain in close range rather than over commit to a challenge. The girls were also reminded that 2-0 is the worst lead to have, and that they needed to play with the mindset that the game was tied.
The offensive highlight of the second half occurred in the 12th minute which saw Reb take another snap shot from about 18 yds out, that needed a good save from the Liberty keeper to keep the score at 2-0. Even though we didn't pepper the Livingston goal as much as the first half, Syd, Paige, Mattie, and Bri controlled the central midfield area; Lin (Bre, in the first half), Andy and Rachel stifled any flank attacks; Chelsea and Liz kept the central defensive area clear and Hannah, Siohban, Amy, Reb and Jules kept pressing the Livingston defense all game.
Great start to the season !! two games in two days... 2 wins.. and more importantly, the Wildcats played better as a team in each successive half. Let's keep the progression going
GO WILDCATS !!!