The Triple Header

My highlight of the week continues to be watching the girls play soccer. This weekend was great because Stef's game was on Sunday so I got to watch both girls play. Saturday, Jess had 2 games; we had to leave at 6:30 am to make it to the tournament by 7:30, but we had fun listening to radio Disney on the way there. Her team has some awesome players, including herself. Unfortunately, they have yet to win a game.

The coach sent a note to the parents this week saying that the girls have caught onto the fact that they haven't won a game. He didn't mention if they've caught onto the fact that they've been outscored by a googleplex. I was told during the sign-up period in July that every team should win 5 and lose 5 games, not including tournament play, although every team should play .500 ball there as well. Without questioning his sincerity, I guess I'm looking forward to the 12 week winning streak over the next four weeks.

The first game Saturday was a close one. Jess scored the first goal of the game on a great shot, and her team led 1-0 at the half, the first time all year they have led a game at any point. Five minutes into the second half, her team had given up two quick goals, and they lost 2-1.

There was a 2 1/2 hour break between games, and in true seven year-old fashion, rather than head to a diner or a Dunkin' Donuts to relax, Jess stayed and played with some of her teammates on the playground. I spoke to a lot of the parents and parent-coaches between games, and we all agreed that the girls have amazingly talent (the roster is made up of girls who basically scored at will last year on the smaller, goalie-less fields) but they are still learning how to play on a field that's ten times larger than last year, and on teams that now have goalies.

Game two was expected to be much tougher because the girls they were playing were older. Jess's team was outshot 20-0 in the first ten minutes; our goalie should have been wearing hockey goalie pads based on the speed of the shots. Corner kicks flew in across the mouth of the goal, two on ones quickly became four on ones, but because of the outstanding goalie play and the fact that goalposts can stop shots the score was only 4-0 by halftime. In the second half Jess drew the short straw and played goalie. She played well, giving up only two goals on shots that would have been over my head. Jess still had fun, the weather was great, and I put Mr. "the goal is that every team play .500 ball" out of my mind until this post.

Stef's game on Sunday was great. She played the most aggressive soccer I've ever seen her play. She scored a great goal from about ten yards out, and nearly had another one. In the second half she switched to playing defense. At one point she ran across the field to chase down another player and knock the ball out of bounds. She also knocked the ball out of the box a few times when the other team threatened to score. Stef has always been able to excel at whatever she puts her mind to, and it is great to see her play so well this year.

Thanks girls.