The Golden 5 minutes

As Coach Cookie often has said there is a "Golden 5" minutes after a goal when the scoring team is particularly vulnerable to counter-attack. There is also, it seems, a "Golden 5" minutes after a team has been scored against when they are particularly vulnerable to giving up a second quick goal. It was this 2nd Golden 5 minutes that really hurt the Force today as they gave up a heartbreaker, 2-1, to Vardar East.

For the second straight week the Force played well enough to win and, in fact, were up 1-0 with less than 7 minutes left. A Vardar forward took Sophie into the corner and managed to get a cross into the 18. Zoe had dropped from mid to cover but a Vardar player artfully managed to bounce one over Kate just as she was ready to snag the ball on the ground. This goal seemed to break the girls' focus. Two minutes later Vardar took the ball deep on the other side of Kate. A high clear from Jill (who is just solid, solid) got lost in the bright lights of the dome and dropped just outside the box where a strong Varder player struck from distance. From the sidelines the shot seemed to go wide -- so there was much parental confusion when Kate was seen digging the ball out of the net.

Up to that point things had gone very well. Vardar was a quick, aggressive team and applied pressure early but the Force held tough and went into their possession game. Rhea distributed 3 beautiful long balls in the first five minutes, but the Force couldn't finish. Sawyer had the best chance from the keeper's left and got off a great strike. Zoe took umpteen balls out the air and maintained control at midfield. Emmi, still playing with a cast, stepped up a number of times as center defender to make plays and break up the attack. Sophie, on the right defender spot, won balls at midfield and delivered nice passes into the offensive end.

The Force goal came of this ball possession. Kyra, always hustling around the net, gained control in the box, but with her shoulders square to the sideline. She sent a nice centering pass to Sawyer who softly found the corner. Other than the late game breakdown Vardar had few opportunities. Kate bravely slid out to take a chance away from a charging Vardar forward, but that was about it.

One odd note on officiating: To my mind, the Force rarely get a break when it comes to officiating. They are small, quick, and skilled and don't fair well against physical team or (hyper) physical teams like the Novi Jags. Today, though, they got the benefit of some calls. I have seen Jill sent sailing by girls in the 150-180 pound range with a official never picking up his whistle. Rhea has been flattened in the penalty box at least 3 times this year and our girls still have no idea how to take a penalty kick (no chances -- if you don't do something routinely you don't learn it). Today, though, much closer calls went our way on a number of instances. Go figure.

This blogger will miss next week. Zoe's mom and Jill's mom have volunteered to co-write the post for the 7AM game. No word yet from Sawyer's Dad.