The Force U12 Girls Purple team opened their fall 2011 season in Indianapolis, Indiana. The girls finished their first 11 v. 11 tournament (playing "up" in a U13 division) at 1-1-1. Please take a look at the game write-up, check out the spectacular photos by Pam (link below), and consider posting a comment.
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The tournament opened for the Force Saturday AM on a bright, sunny day as they took on the Fusion Navy-X U13 team. The girls applied tremendous pressure early on as Christina, Rhea, and Sawyer put together nice combination passes up front leading to seemingly continuous runs. The Fusion goalie stayed busy most of the first half -- and the Force front line surprisingly found themselves gasping for breath trying to keep up with their own offensive ingenuity.
The dam finally burst when Zoe stepped up from her defensive mid spot and provided Sawyer with a perfect pass that the Force "target" drilled into the upper corner. The Fusion mounted a bit of a comeback late in the first half as parents -- tired from a 5 hour drive the night before, confused by more stretches of mini-malls then most had ever seen, and unused to 35 minute halves -- sweated for a whistle.
Zoe's generosity revved up the scoring early in the second half when she set up Lauren (who was electric for most of the weekend) for a great strike. Kyra came next in line for a present from game one's "Zoe Claus." This third goal put the game out of reach and both teams went into a bit of lull in the hot sun of Hoosier corn fields.
Good passing is contagious, however, and Lauren delivered a great ball to Sawyer who finished the game where she started it: by jamming the ball into the back of the net.
The Force offense looked less spectacular after lunch against eventual tourney champ Zionsville Youth Soccer 99. The Force looked weary and had to contend with a physically imposing squad. Annabelle, often overmatched by 4 or more inches and 20 pounds, turned away Zionsville's repeated runs down the right side. But one too many shots from that angle came Kate's way and the Force went down 1-0 early in the second half. A brilliant, individual effort by a Zionsville forward put the game away 2-0 and ended the Force's bid for the tournament championship game.
A good dinner and rare moment of leniency by taskmaster Coach Cookie ("you can go in the pool for 30 minutes") didn't seem to help much. Sunday's 8AM game found many parents underdressed for the chilly morning. (All world Team Manager Alice Currier had thought of pretty much everything to help a rather hapless group of parents through the weekend, but she forgot to remind them to bring sweaters! When Alice doesn't provide Force parents direction it is very much like watching a 6 v 6 side without a midfield; when the texts come regularly from her we look like Barcelona.)
The girls, like their parents on the sidelines, struggled on the pitch. The bigger, stronger defenders from Carmel FC99 kept the Force at midfield most of the first half. Mighty mite Jill, however, taking a turn in the middle of the field, held tough. And early in the second half she delivered a terrific lead pass to Sawyer who had been artfully hovering onside on the Force side of the field. The weekend's leading goalscorer raced past Carmel's long-legged defenders to snag the ball for a breakaway. She peeked up at just the right movement to see the Carmel keeper step up and give up the right side of the goal. In doing so she topped the ball a bit and didn't hit it cleanly but, having picked the right spot before the strike, found the corner of the net just as Tournament officials decided to release a set of blue (purple?) and white balloons.
Force pressure turned up a few corner kicks and it looked for a while as if the girls might knock in the second goal. But the Force took a penalty in the last 8 minutes. The ensuing shot put the ball near the goal and set up a scrum in front. The game ended in a 1-1 tie.
Overall, though, a wonderful weekend -- and a great preview for next weekend's Force Invitational Tournament!
