MNJYSA league game #6
The Wildcats opened their U12 league season against Montclair on their very clumpy and almost unplayable (in spots) field, that made it very difficult to control the ball and play our game. We were hoping that Palmer would prove to be a better surface to enable the Wildcats to demonstrate what they been working on in practice.
It was again a most unusually warm day for late October, and the Wildcats started as hot as the weather. From the beginning the Wildcats pressured the Cyclones goal and kept the ball in the opponent's defensive third. The pressure paid off in the twelfth with a play almost the mirror image of a play from the day before against East Brunswick. Bri crossed the ball from the right, and a Montclair defender attempted to volley a clearance, but mis-cued the ball and hit the back of her own net.
The Wildcat pressure continued, so much so, that Lin (playing goalie) had her first touch of the ball in the 25th minute. With 2 minutes left in the half Amy crossed the ball diagonally across the goal from the right, and had Reb and the Montclair goalie chasing to the goal line.. Reb fought the ball away from the keeper and fed a nice drop pass to Paige who calmly slotted a shot far post for the 2 goal lead.
As time was dwindling in the first half Amy beat her defender again and made a low hard cross to the middle where Hannah back-flicked the ball behind herself and the keeper to put the Wildcats up by 3. At this point I think the referee's watch had stopped, because the coaches noted a time of 35:57 when Bri fed a ball up the middle to Hannah, who touched the ball forward, just inside the 18, looked up to see that the keeper was out of the goal to her right, and she deftly knocked the ball left footed to the far post, to increase the lead to 4.
Some Wildcats saw some playing time in different positions n the 2nd half.. Rachel played some inside midfield along with Hannah, Lin played some stopper, and Syd had her shot up top. Just as Syd was going to be taken out, Amy again beat her defender and crossed from the right to Syd on the 18, who controlled ahead and hit a shot that beat the keeper. With a 5-0 lead the Wildcats had been insructed to work on their passing rather than working for another score.. and for just over 10 minutes they moved the ball around the field with one touches and crisp passes just like we've been trying to emphasize in practice as the method of keepig possession in the regular flow of the game. With one lapse late in the game, while playing this style, a Montclair striker intercepted an errant back-pass and knocked it home from just inside the 18.
The game ended 5-1 with the referees complimenting our team on their "drive" and the Montclair coaches complimenting the Wildcats on the quality of their play. Great job WILDCATS !!!!