Through the players' eyes

All too often adults are the ones to summarize, assess, report on how the game went. WE decide what went right; what went wrong. Partly due to lack of time but mostly due to the fact that I've grown to love listening to the players' version of the game, I've asked my U14 girls to take turns writing up a summary on the games during the spring season. I want to see the game through the players' eyes. And depending on which player, where she plays, when she plays, that view will be uniquely her own.

We just had our first spring league game on Saturday, April 4 ... we traveled to Rochester and played Doug Miller Soccer Academy at Paetec stadium (where the professional team Rochester Rhinos play). We got the result, 2-1. The field was gorgeous but the weather conditions were horrendous; bitterly cold. Here is Susana Zigante's game report; she is our goalkeeper. Enjoy!

TC vs Doug Miller Soccer, Result:2-1

Today's game was freezing cold. But if we were that cold, the other team had to be, too. Although, if we didn't think about being cold, we wouldn't be as cold. (ya get what I'm saying?) We were all very excited for our first outdoor game. Marley and Shannon led warm up very well because I didn't feel so cold after that. Sylvie gave us a pep talk while you were looking for bathrooms (thanks by the way ) and we were all really excited.
Kick off started and we were facing into the wind. Not what we wanted but we dealt with it. As the ball was passed back, our defense quickly found out how fast the ball would travel because of the slippery turf and wind. A girl on Doug Miller quickly got the ball and I think we were surprised at how fast the ball was moving. The girl kicked it. I sort of grabbed it and she tried to hit it again. The referee called 'out of bounds'. Goal-kick. No problem. Except the wind was blowing at my face and the ball was very hard to kick. A little bit later, a breakaway came. I made the first save, and a girl kicked my mouth and nose and another girl tried to shoot it but luckily Cassie did really well and was protecting the goal on the post and she kicked it out.
Later we had a corner kick. We just learned how to defend them at practice so I told the girls to get both posts, and everyone else knew where they were supposed to go. The ball was kicked. I screamed 'AWAY' but I guess I didn't scream it loud enough because players didn’t do anything so I ran to get the ball. I misjudged it; it was much faster then I thought and skidded. Plus my gloves were soaking wet which didn’t help. I scooped it and sort of missed and it went between my legs. Whoops. 1-0 Doug Miller. Well, I was a little mad at myself for missing that, but life goes on. Nothing much else happened first half, but I tried not to put my head down.
2nd half came. I changed my gloves because my other ones were soaked and my fingers were freezing. What was really nice was that our backs were against the wind. The other goalie made a mistake. She picked up the ball outside of the box. Luckily, we worked on free kicks in practice, and Shannon, who is a very good free kicker, kicked the ball just under the cross bar which is very hard to save; 1-1. Doug Miller had a break away at the top of the box. I came out and dove to the right but she went left. I quickly realized this and stuck my feet out to get the ball. I saved it but she quickly settled the ball again. She shot and missed an open goal. I was so lucky! The next goal occurred when Marley had a breakaway in the box. The other teams' goalie should have came out, but she didn’t and Marley calmly placed it. Perfect goal. 2-1 TC United. I didn’t have many shots after that but I had a few where I came out and played with my feet. When we were leading I was very happy that you put Marley on defense. I think she made a difference there. My legs were so cold. I didn’t feel like I could take the goal-kicks so I let Cassie take them. I didn’t want to mess up when we were leading, and I really couldn’t feel my legs!
So all and all we won 2-1 and it was exciting (and SO COLD!). And I thought that Sabrina and Cassie did very well on defense. Emily also had a good game. She settled it well and got it out of pressure. The only mess up I think we had was our corner-kick. But now we have learned from experience and it won’t happen again. Kristen also did good passing and connecting. Oh, and Rachel W. was very good at getting back with her speed, and she saved me, I think twice? I think our team could have played better, but with the conditions we were in, we played as best as possible. (except the corner). And since we live in NY, I suggest we schedule games on warmer days :) and I can't wait for the rest of our season!
Suzie GK #4