Recap: the view from my bed

Yours truly is somewhat writing impaired this week, but there are photos!

Swaggering Cougar overheard at check-in: “We should have just called in this game.” Apparently several of their players had such confidence, and did not bother to show up. They started with 9

and soon had 10. Tsunami had three subs.

The first half saw Tsunami dominating, but neither team scored.

During the second half, Tsunami had the downhill advantage and Suzanne’s hot foot. Tsunami’s defense was fierce, as well—no Cougar went unchallenged,

and Sammi stopped all their shots. Suzanne scored from the edge of the box early in the half. Then she scored from closer in, rocketing a drone plane that weaved through a half dozen defenders before landing in the lower left corner:

Leslie put in the third and final goal with her head. Someone (Suzanne again?) had sent a ball that was going to just graze the far post, but Leslie speared it and sent it into the net.

Cougar Express had planned to take home the “champion” shirts. Their rough play intensified as the second half progressed and victory slipped further from their grasp. Tsunami went home victorious, but bruised—I don’t think they spared anyone.

Run Sharie, run

See Sharie run. Run Sharie, run. Sharie hurts all over. Stop Sharie, stop. And so it came to pass that Sharie played in the goal during the second half of Tsunami’s game against (909) United.

But that’s jumping ahead. Here’s how it started:

By the coin toss, both teams had garnered the minimum number of players—7. As we took the field, both teams were up to 8. During the first few minutes, Tsunami struggled with the discombobulation of unfamiliar positions—Sharie at fullback, for example. 909 U exploited our discomfort with a few early runs on our goal. Sharie, Stacie and Belinda kept most of the shooters on the outside, and Pam stopped the early shots.

You work with what you have: soon everyone was settled in the lineup and Tsunami was flowing with its usual elan. There were some amazing defensive plays: Pam sacrificed her body to the turf and several 909 U feet. Once when she was down, Belinda scooted into the net and blocked a shot with an unknown but legal body part. With her speed, Staci prevented the “shot” part of many 909U fast breaks.

The defense successfully wafted the ball into 909U territory to set up several Tsunami fast breaks. Leslie and Brittney ran down these balls as they landed deep in 909U territory, only to shoot high, wide, over, around. Neither could buy a goal, leaving it to Staci and her speed (and footwork). Dribbling forward from her fullback position, Staci left everyone from both teams in her wake as she motored towards the goal. Her shot from about 30 yards out sailed over the goalie's head and into the net, putting us on the board.

Shamed, the offense went to work, and worked the ball closer to the goal with some good passing. Suzanne had arrived, as had 909U’s 9^th player. By shooting lower balls from closer in, Tsunami set up rebound opportunities, which Diane exploited for two more goals. 3-0 and there was still time. With no subs and lots of back-and-forth runs, the teams showed signs of fatigue, and lapsed back into relying on the defense to launch missiles from the backfield into 909U’s side. Leslie still had a few big runs in her: chasing a deep left kick from Pam, she sprinted under it, headed it to herself, crossed it to herself, and fired a strong grounder through the goalie’s legs.

The second half saw more good passing by Tsunami players, but 909U was passing more effectively as well. Neither team was making it to striking range with enough oomph left to execute strong shots. As time wound down, Sharie fielded a goal-ward ball and moved to the edge of the box to kick it. Her kick was a tad shallow and—not having spent much time in the goal—she forgot to run back into the net from the edge of the box. 909U got an easy pop fly into the net, right over Sharie’s arms.

Soon after, 909U got off a real shot, and scored again. Oh no!

Tsunami rallied to defend the 4-2 score, and gave them no more chances. We had a few chances but were thwarted, and the team focused on defense. Thus it ended, the two teams tied for third place had sorted themselves out into third (Tsunami) and 4^th ((909)U).

Stay tuned for Diane’s email about next week’s semifinal game (surely against our nemesis Gang Green).

the good fight

Gang Green and Tsunami brought equal desire for a victory to last night’s game. Tsunami kept the lame knee ladies on the sidelines (Shari, Steph and yours truly) on the edges of our seats for an hour and a half of back-and-forth battle.

Gang Green dominated the first quarter, keeping Sammi and the defense busy. Sammi stopped a break-away only to have Gang Green quickly regain possession and have a chance at the goal—but there stood Leslie, who swatted the ball clear with a powerful kick. Eventually Gang Green got a shot off from near the right corner flag. It just cleared the upper left corner of the goal and put them on the scoreboard. After GG’s goal, Tsunami took possession of the game, and gave them very few additional chances in the first half. Tsunami had many chances, including a spectacular long shot from Brittney that almost went into the upper left corner (but ricocheted off the outside of the corner and out). Suzanne would have scored on a beautifully arced corner shot—but GG’s goalie grabbed it.

Tsunami dominated possession during the second half, and GG had very few shots on goal. Leslie, Patti, Belinda and Sara made it difficult for GG to get set up for any shots , and the few they got off were handily stopped by Sammi. Leslie won several foot races with GG’s forwards, averting breakaway shots. The ball seemed often in the middle in a frenzied scrum involving variously Sara, Rachel, Laura, Suzanne and Pam being shoved a lot as they scrapped to move the ball west and GG struggled eastward. Tsunami most often prevailed, and Rachel, Britteny, Diane, Suzanne and Aime had lots of shots. Unfortunately, constant double- and triple-teams inhibited Suzanne, preventing the launch of her typical rocket shots. Nonetheless, Tsunami hammered the goal.

Pam passed the ball down the line to Aime, setting up one of the best chances in the second half. Aime dribbled into open space, then crossed a perfect ball towards the goal, where someone got a foot on it (Brittney?), then Diane--standing on the goal line--almost got a head on it. But the goalie snatched it. The second best chance of the half came when the GG goalie fouled one our forwards in the box, giving us a free kick at close range. Suzanne got a good shot over their wall, but the GG goalie grabbed it.

So we left empty-handed, but not without a calorie-draining fight (over 600 calories burned, according to B’s device). Next week we meet (909) United at 8:15. The good news, however, is that Gang Green meets Cougar Express (at 4:45).

ghu

Morgue bound

Tsunami’s 9-0 slaughter of ER Bound on 29 August provided opportunities for all to shine. In baseball, a designated hitter bats in place of the pitcher in the rotation. Thus, the DH bats only as many times as the team goes through the rotation, thereby distributing the DH’s “at bats” evenly through the game. In Tsunami soccer, we have the DS, or designated scorer, aka Suzanne. Suzanne can show up for a mere half, score a couple goals, then go home to ensure her kids make their school-night bed time. At home she’s probably the DE, or designated enforcer.

On 29 August, we had eleven to start—Diane, Leslie, Rachel, Sammi, Belinda, Shari, Pam, Suzanne, Staci, Patti and Brittney. We got off to a fast start with Suzanne socking one in from the key. This was followed by a goal with some nice passing—finally put in by Brittney (I think). Suzanne scored another, and a fourth goal made it 4-0 at the half. ER Bound’s offense never gave up, so both sides of the field saw action, albeit less on defense than offense, and Sammi had very little to do during the half. Suzanne and Belinda left, leaving us with nine for the second half. Leslie took over the net, allowing Sammi to warm up in the prematurely wintery night air.

Tsunami had gravity on its side in the second half, and it was a wild ride for ER bound’s defenders. Five more goals were scored by several members of the team, the last couple with little resistance from the goalie, who finally switched positions and let someone else deal with the relentless Rachel and Diane and Brittney, being fed by Staci, Pam, Shari, Patti and Sammi. ER bound? Morgue bound seems more apt.

Tonight we meet Gang Green. They hold second place with a record of 5-1-2. We are in third with a record of 5-2-1. Let’s knock them out of second place! Be there for the 6:30 game. I hope our DS will stay for both halves.

If you haven’t registered for next season, bring your $63 to sign up.

and then there were six

Sunday's kickoff came, and there was Tsunami with but eight players on the field against 909 united's 10. Several rays of good luck shined on us though:

• we won the toss;
  
• even though it was the early game, it was not so hot; and
• we had extra fans--Laura brought a friend and Brittney's mom came.

Very soon after kickoff, 909U had a full team, with subs. Nevertheless, Tsunami was moving the ball into scoring range and the defense kept the goal area clear most of the time--sometimes the defense was off supporting the offense, and a couple threats came into the zone, but they were not serious.

About half way into the half, a 909 player got the ball into close range. Although the defense was contesting, she managed to get a shot off towards the top right corner. When the goalie (yours truly) leaped for it, her knee crumpled and the ball sailed into the net. Sammi changed her shirt, donned her gloves, and began tending the goal. Without her on defense, she got to be busier in the goal than yours truly had been, and Staci and Sarah were really hustling to cover the back. Eventually 909U scored.

The game became more lopsided--nonetheless Tsunami never gives up. With few players to support offensive play, the mode of attack shifted to the forwards chasing long balls sent by Staci and Sammi. Brittney and Diane had some great runs. Laura and Amy were everywhere--they would have burned up Belinda's calorie counter. Not content to just overwhelm us with numbers, however, 909U resorted to decking our designated "punching bag," Diane. This earned us a PK, which Staci aced.

As halftime approached, it was 1-1, and 909U surged on our goal. Sammi stretch to block a hard shot, and came down hard. The ball hit the post and bounced to the ground, where Sammi scrambled to cover it before the 909U player's foot reached it for the tap in. Success! It remained 1-1, but a new problem cropped up over by the 909U bench. Laura was down, and not getting up. Her knee, too, had failed her.

... so they all rolled over and one fell out there were six on the field and the little ref said "game over...."

Game over, and from a 1-1 tie the record shows instead a loss.

ghu

Power of ten redux: 1 August 2010

“I’m old, I don’t slide.”

Pam, after being taken out by a Gang Green player, who then accused her of sliding.

There we were again—counting each other as we arrived, and satisfied when our numbers reached ten. Eleven is good, but ten is way better than nine, especially when Tsunami faces an opponent like Gang Green, which has rebuilt with the addition of several new youngish players with skills and attitude. Happily, two among our ten were new, youngish and attitude-free teammates Sammi and Brittany.* Gang Green had thirteen, but in a feat of puffery, made it look like they had 15 or 16 by substituting every 3 minutes.

The game got off to a fast start, and the first half saw both squads logging many miles running up, down, across and over the field. We got on the board first when Suzanne (I think, although it could have been Brittany) controlled the ball near the left side, then crossed it to Diane, who was perfectly positioned in front of the right side of the goal. Diane kept it low and to the right, beating the goalie who still anticipated a high shot from the left. Suzanne tried to set up a couple more similar plays, launching bigger crosses to our “11th man” who stood alone in the right corner—all alone as in on vacation, where all our 11th women were this week.

Sammi served first in the goal, and it’s a good thing she did—Gang Green threatened numerous times during the first half, and Sammi showed gymnastic form in repelling shot after shot. One of her athletic blocks got picked up as a rebound, however, and the Tsunami defense couldn’t react quickly enough to stop Gang Green from scoring. The half continued apace—the score stayed 1-1—but not for lack of trying by both sides. As halftime approached, Diane got mixed up with a Gang Green player, and ended up with a bloody nose and had to leave the field. The ref stopped the game and resumed with a drop ball. Pam took the drop, anticipating the usual courtesy tap on the part of the Gang Green player, who instead tried to score from the drop. We held on with nine players for the remaining minute or so, leaving it 1-1 at halftime.

During the second half Tsunami dominated possession, but could not get the ball into the net. When Gang Green did get possession, they often just sent it goal-ward; yours truly felt lucky to have her job resemble shagging more than gymnastics. Several times everyone except the GG player with the ball were confident that that ball handler was off sides, and left the lone GG player heading for the goal solo. Too often the refs and linesmen did not share this opinion and did not blow their whistles or swish their flags. The shagging became more urgent! Finally, Gang Green backed up one of these players and we were unable to stop the goal. The score became 2-1, with very few minutes left.

The power of ten: Belinda had burned most of her 688 calories by then; Pam had been kicked so hard she was hobbling; Stephanie had a pulled muscle in her back or shoulder and appeared unable to move her right (?) arm. Amy, Laura, Britanny and Diane had made so many sprints from the half line to the corners that their cleats were wearing thin. Power? Sammi, Pam and Suzanne got the ball into the GG half. Suzanne launched one of her missiles goalward. The GG goalie got a hand on it, but did not control it. Britanny was there! Score! 2-2. Everyone had just enough calories left to expend to keep GG at bay during the remaining seconds. Call it a tie, but the ten limping off the field (correction--Sammi and Brittany were not limping) felt like winners, every one.

See you next week for 909-united at 4:45. Get ready for Cougar Express the following week, also at 4:45.

ghu

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* What is attitude and why is it bad? Imagine you are playing forward. You take off to receive an anticipated pass. The pass arrives, and you have it all to yourself with a clear line to the goal. You run with it, but then hear the whistle. Alas, you were off sides. An attitude-free player taps the ball to the opposing defensive player who sets up for the awarded free kick. If you are one of Gang Green’s attitude-embued new players, you turn your back on the ball and walk away from it, so the other team has to retrieve it. Soccer values sportsmanship and forbids players from taunting and other ugly social practices. The rules don’t explicitly require common courtesy, but isn’t it an implicit expectation?

bound to win

Poor ER-Bound. Bound to lose with only 8 players showing to battle a full-force Tsunami, fortified three subs! To their credit, ERB did not surrender—they kept trying to mount an attack. Tsunami kept fresh legs on the field, however, and given our numerical advantage our defense was able to swarm whichever ERB player got the ball. The goalie(s) relaxed and even the defensive line had time to plan their week. On offense we enjoyed robust passing, as there were always a couple players wide open.

Left forward Diane excelled at being open during the first half, and was rewarded with a hat trick. First she received a nice crossing pass from Sarah, and popped it into the goal. Next Patti made a brilliant crossing grounder directly in front of the goal, but out of their goalie’s reach. Diane stood on-sides and ready and popped another one in. Later in the half Diane brought the goal within range on her own and scored for a third time. (I believe we ended the half 3-0, but as I was on the field, less of my brain was available to remember. Yes—on the field, while our new keeper Sammi sweated with the sun in her eyes at the other end. I promise I didn’t know which side we’d have when I suggested Sammi play in the goal first!)

During the second half, ERB put one of their best players into the goal, and she made some great saves. Unfortunately for her, ERB probably needed her more on the field, especially towards the end when many of their players were spent. Tsunami passed the ball around and tried not to be greedy, but there were just so many opportunities. Tessa scored first, on a perfect through ball from Sammi. It ended 8-0, and I believe the rest of the goals were scored by Tessa (again), Laura, Suzanne and Patti. But I could be wrong—apologies if I missed you in this enumeration of goals.

Next week we play Gang Green at 8:15. When they bring a full team, they can give us trouble. BE THERE!