Fall 2008 - State Cup Round 1
Knowing that the Spirit were last year's State Cup Champs, and are currently ranked #1 in NJ, #2 in Region I, and #9 in the U.S., the coaches and trainer decided that the best plan of action was to go with a formation that would give us the best chance to control the midfield, and slow the game down; anticipating that Howell would be well skilled in all positions but could be overwhelming if they controlled the midfield.
After a long road trip to Freehold, we warmed up on the field and found it to be very bumpy, with a lot of bare spots and clumps of grass, and a couple of pretty big swayles. With a misty fog all day the conditions were also pretty slick. On the opening whistle we moved the ball back to the middle, and advanced it over the half, but soon lost possession. Howell immediately tried to attack us up the middle, but our numbers closed down the attack and forced a weak shot wide. The game was constant for about 20 minutes.. they would press up the middle, we would close them down causing weak shots that were handled by Lin, or they would go wide. After this continual frustration, Howell started to attack down the flanks, or getting it in the middle then going outside to attack, in a effort to spread our defense out and create some more space for their middies and strikers to operate. Soon after this they got off a harder shot from just inside the left side of the box, which skipped before getting to Lin who misplayed it, allowing it past for the opening goal.
The Wildcats kept playing hard and fighting for every ball and continued to stifle Howell's attacks. Minutes after their goal their tall lanky right winger put a low ball across from the goal line at the six yard box towards an oncoming forward in the middle of the frame, but Lin who was guarding her near post dived out and parried the ball allowing it to be cleared. By the end of the half we were getting the ball over the halfway line and Reb was able to make a couple of runs on goal. The half ended with the Wildcats only down 1-0, but the girls were annoyed with the formation. Seeing the success of the formation to stifle the Spirit's goalscoring opportunities, and seeing some signs that we could break away and score the formation was maintained to start the second half.
Play continued as it had for much of the first half, but again we managed to move the ball to the front a little more, but about 15 minutes in we allowed a long shot that came in high that Lin could only get her finger tips on; not enough to deflect away from the goal, so now we were down by 2. Since it's single elimination, it didn't matter if we lost 2-0 or 20-0.... we needed goals; at least 2 now. So, we reverted back to our 4-3-3 and started pushing the ball forward more. This change opened the game up and the ball was going 18 to 18, but as quickly as we moved up Howell took it back and pressured our goal with some strong shots, two of which Lin was positioned perfectly for and saved well. The middies and forwards were hustling to create space on offense and cover all the newly opened space, and the defense was banging hard to win balls all day long. We ended the last 18 minutes or so of the game with our regular formation, and even though we didn't score, we also didn't surrender a goal to the #1 team in the state, and every Wildcat fought until the final whistle.
This game demonstrated that the WIldcats are closer to the #9 team in the country than they were two years ago to the #5 team in the state, when they lost to Matchfit in the divisional playoff at U11. It's a tribute to the work that they have all put in
GO WILDCATS !!!