2008 GATOR GIRLS SOCCER COACHES RECAPS



March 18th, 2008 VS. FREMONT (Fremont, NE)

This was an enjoyable game for a first game.  I wasn't quite sure what to expect considering this team was returning 10 of 11 starters and what I originally thought was a good goalkeeper.  The jury is still out, but I would say that we completely dominated this team and were able to get the result we wanted.  I was especially pleased with our ability to work hard from beginning to finish regardless of who was in the match.  This was evidenced by the shutout (only one shot on goal), and by 6 different gators scoring.  We've got a ways to go, but this was a great start.

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME:  Brooke Clymer.  Brooke had a goal and an assist so she finished it up with 3 points.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME:  Taylor Nelson.  She's starting to get this group organized and was communicating effectively all game long.

March 20th, 2008 VS. HASTINGS (Lincoln, NE)

WOW!  I was about ready to put this one in the books when I looked at my watch and realized we only had 20 minutes left and were down by 2 goals.  The whole time I kept thinking, "we don't deserve to be down 2 goals because we are controlling this game".  Well, sometimes we take matters into our own hands and tonight, our gators decided to do just that.  With 20 minutes to goal, Zaina made a streaking run down the left touchline, received a ball in space and took off for goal.  The first goal got them flustered and on their heels.  For the next 18 minutes we put pressure on them and kept them sweating.  With 2 minutes remaining Sara collected a ball off of a keeper error and was there to punch it in for the goal.  The result was a tie, and after regulation and overtime, we were heading to our first shootout of the season.  What an UGLY shootout.  We were fortunate to win it, but the best team definitely won.  I was proud of our efforts.  THIS SAYS A TON ABOUT THE CHARACTER OF A TEAM WHEN THEY CAN COME BACK FROM BEING DOWN 2 GOALS TO WIN THE GAME.  It has only happened one other time at LNS......against Northeast on 2005.  Hopefully we'll keep the ball rolling! 

COLUMBUS ON TUESDAY!!! GET EXCITED!

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME:  Zaina and Sara share these honors. Each had a huge impact in the outcome of the game.  In the shootout, Ashley stepped up and made the final kick, so she deserves some credit too. 

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME:  Clare Maier was a stud on Thursday.  Play like this will only get contagious.  Keep up the good work!

LNS vs. Lincoln Northeast

I enjoyed several things about this game.  For starters, we were able to beat the rockets for the 4th straight year.  This is a good thing when you consider the proximity of the schools and the natural rivalry that has sparked over the years.  In addition, it was good to get the win since we were able to get one of their best players from last year (Casey). 

The bad was the inability to finish until the 77th minute in this one.  It took a while, but eventually we got on the board.  One goal would prove to be enough to get the job done.  Emily had a nice finish to a ball that was originally served in by Casey. 

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME:  Emily Weber.  Scored the only goal of the game.  Enough said.  Kudos to Casey Noonan for giving her a nice ball from the right side.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME:  Taylor Nelson and Kallee Chrisp.  Kallee wasn't tested that much, but every time she was, she played well.  Taylor had her best game of the year directing the defense and played like a sweeper capable of post-season honors.  Keep it up and we'll be singing praises about this defense at the end of the year.

LNS vs. NORFOLK

WOW.  I never thought that we would be down a goal so fast in this game.  I originally thought that we would be done for when we got scored on.  I had to remind myself that this team knows how to come from behind.  I think this is something that is a little bit of an oddity with this team, but it is also something that tells me that we can be very dangerous at the end of the season.  Once we settled in, we found the goal often enough to get four of them before it was all over.  Overall, we really only had 2 breakdowns in the back the entire game.  Unfortunately, they made us pay for one of those.  Offensively, we were able to attack a TON and get players through quite easily.  We found out we had a lot of weapons up front.  Ashley, Siteena, and Clare Maier got their first goals of the year.  All of them were nice goals.  We'll see where we go from here.

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME:  I'd have to say Siteena on this one.  Her goal wasn't the only shot she ripped this night, and she had a nice follow up finish to her goal. 

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME:  I'd go with Clare on this one.  Not only did she play a new position in the back, but she played it well.  In addition, she sunk a 40 yard shot dead on underneath the crossbar for a goal.  I think we found a threat from a distance on free kicks.

VS> LINCOLN EAST

I knew that this team was still going to be good.  I thought we did a good job talking about adjustments that needed to be made for the 3-4-3 system that we saw against East, but we didn't do enough to go through the repetitions to simulate the sheer power in the midfield that we needed to.  This was a problem that I wish I had spent more time on.  We were simply outnumbered in the midfield.  In the first half, EAST came out fired up.  I can honestly say that we are a team that is on the move because we are no longer overlooked.  The EAST coach complimented us after the game and told me that they were very concerned about this game going in because they had heard so many good things from scouting reports.  I wish we would have lived up to that hype.  We simply didn't play hard enough in the first half to get the job done.  They came out fired up, and we went a little back on our heels in terms of aggressive play in the middle third of the field.  We got that back in the 2nd half, but at that point the officials decided to call everything on the field.  We will move on to Kearney knowing that we can play better, but also knowing that we are moving in the right direction. 

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME:  Zaina Mayer.  Very, very close to a goal in this one.  I felt like it could have been done if given a few more minutes.  Pressure up front was getting to them near the end of the game.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME:  Kallee Chrisp.  Kallee had several really nice saves in both halves of play.  The second half showed just how good she could be saving balls right to left from good angles and closing off balls served from the flanks.