Metro Girls Vs St. Mary’s

Hello from Annapolis!

The time 6:30 pm. The team St Mary’s. The venue: very fancy turf field. The temp: 80 degrees and nice!
We were now lucky to have Paul and Cath Bibby with us. And of Course the lovely Carina who received a very warm welcome from all the girls.

Everyone arrived and to our surprise some of the girls had actually complied with our rules which we had made pre game (no eating after 3pm. Have a rest before the game. Drink lots of water the night before and the day of the game and generally look after yourself). This is a real indication of how much these girls really want to win and play well.

Our short team talk before the game was simple. Start strong and we can carry on from there. So the game started and did we start strong?… The answer was no. They scored twice. We put Liv Wimpenny in centre who took the ball, ran the length of the pitch and scored. 1-2. The Defence yet again was being pressured with Mary in the goal not needing the make a save. Lauren, Suzie and Sarah B were all excellent at keeping the other side out. Charl scored a great individual goal after than and then a great team goal which went from Hayley to Emily Carlson to Emily S who then did a neat flick to Charl again to score our 4th. 3-2. The girls on both teams were being run ragged as it seemed as soon as any team got possession they lost it again (thank god for having 12 subs!) Finally another team goal scored by Zoe Jones and helped by her fellow Mellor team mate Erin Parker. 4-2. They had a time out. We had scored 4 on the trot and were pleased with how we were playing and urged the girls to carry on what they were doing.

We started again and they came back with 2 goals to level things up. 4-4. On the stroke of half time the attack consisting of Sarah C, Fiona Emily Kealey, Charl, Lauren Rousseau (yes Lauren sneaked up there!) and Ellie worked together around the goal to assist Charl who drove round the goal and scored our fifth. It should be said thought that the excellent positioning of the attack was superb to create an isolation allowing the goal to come from behind. 5-4.

HALF TIME

So second half saw Meg in goal.

The only real instruction we gave our girls at half time was to start strong. If we do that then we have a good chance of keeping up the momentum and carrying on. Our girls listened and a team goal including Katy, Fiona, Hayley and Erin and scored by Dori was the best start we could have hoped for.

Charl got another one and a couple of excellent looking passes from Emily Kealey to unnamed attack players in front of goal were dropped so we could have been in the lead by many more. 7-4. They got one back and had another time out. We were not going to let them score 2 in a row again like they did in the first half and just asked our Defence to carry on doing what they were doing but tighter and stronger than before. Charl scored 2 more – her speed was too much even for their best player who was tracking her down the pitch. 9-5. We were playing so well and our girls were transitioning from Defence so fast they could not keep up with us. Dori scored another excellent goal and we had many opportunities. Ellie G could not find the back of the net but her excellent play drew 3 fouls in the ‘fan’ and we were awarded 3 free positions. Liv W scored a good goal when we had a settled attack and the final goal was scored by Jenni with another drive round from the back of the goal.

Only one goal was scored in the second half by St Mary’s and this was not without trying. Meg did not have to make any saves as the Defence was excellent. They supported the ball well, they double teamed, slid when they needed to and their checking was superb. I would like to detail to defence individually as they did an excellent job. Lauren, Suzie, Lizzy, Ellie C, Lynchy Sarah B, gerogia, Sarah H and Charl. Also, their goalie was exceptional. I think every attack player had a shot at goal and had the goalie been weaker our score would have been double!

As you know I like to give player(s) of the match. I have found this game a lot harder than most to call. Obviously if we go on goals and all round team performance I have to give it to Charlotte Lytollis. Her game has developed so much since I saw her at County and North level last year. I would like to give the next player of the match to Dori. Dori has been a solid player throughout the 4 games we have played over here. She is consistent and has an excellent attitude in that we can play her in any position and she is strong and always contributes to what is going on around her. I am sure you are bored of me saying this but this award again could have gone to all our players.

The reception was kindly hosted at The Calendar family’s house (where Zoe is staying). The girls all bought their swimming costumes and had a great time in the pool. They even pushed Martin in!

Ok. Another monster match report done! All the girls have a free weekend. We will reconvene on Monday when I hear we will have our hardest game against Broadneck.

Thanks for reading – L & M