Victory in Indianapolis - Game Three!!

We tend to say that storms end or that storms pass. This is not  accurate. Storms and their consequences last.

Fortunately, one event that can follow a storm is a brilliant sunny, windy morning, either in spring and fall.

So it was Sunday morning, as the girls woke to play in the after effects of Saturday night's horrific weather. Going in to the morning's game the girls knew that if they won they would stay to play in the 330 PM Championship game. And parents knew that if the girls won everyone would be getting home close to 10 or 11 PM on a Sunday. Yikes, says the philosophical Buddha, there is never good without bad, or bad without good.

We know we shouldn't, but we take much for granted. For the soccer team, for example, it has gotten easy to take Annabelle's defensive abilities for granted. She is just there, getting to every ball, making a play, and, more recently, waiting patiently as opponents attack only to choose a moment, focus on the ball, and touch it way. This deadly defensive deftness can demoralize a team, he whispered alliteratively. And it it happened twice right away. Equally quiet in her efficiency is Zoe. Early in this game she moved from sideline to sideline, anticipating ball movement, passing with precision, and effortlessly stepping behind (and thus in) for outside defenders when they stepped up.

This game was never really in doubt.

At about the ten minute mark Sawyer gave a great a effort from the left corner. She began by pressuring a defender and stealing the ball before eluding the next defender to create an opportunity in front. Minutes later, in almost a duplicate play, she pressured, bumped off a defender, and nudged the ball to Jazzy -- who knows where that net is -- who jammed it home. A word about Jazzy: what an addition! The Force had its share of skilled and very quick forwards. What they lacked was an offensive threat who can distribute from midfield (without getting bumped off the ball) and who can take a touch in front, turn, and score (without getting bumped off the ball). It is like Red Wings General Manager Kenny Holland went out and found just the right player for the mix.

Following Jazzy's goal the Force applied almost continual pressure in an around the 18. Unfortunately, these mad scrambles only generated the best parental noise of the season as parents -- almost in chorus -- grunted, groaned, and harrumphed. The best term for this kind of communication, perhaps, is "pre-verbal" and it perhaps gives a glimpse of how language originated in our hominid ancestors. That is, collectively a group vocalized a desire for something they wanted but just could not get.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um8KxsXq4TA

This kind of pressure actually generated some defensive lapses. And it was Grace, she of the perfect offensive touches, who, like Kyra, showed a great expansiveness to her game. From midfield she tracked back constantly, finding the right spot and the right mark to thwart counter-attacks.

But, for the most part, the ball was in the offensive end. And Sawyer -- having reluctantly agreed to roll in the mud the afternoon before -- did the necessary dirty work in the corner. She passed to Jazzy who gave a great pass to Stasia who drilled in her second goal of the tourney. 2-0. Ellie, stepping in to help out the squad in this U13 division, worked hard (more on Ellie's intensity to come) and rewarded Sawyer for her own hard work with a pass that Sawyer gently tapped into an open left corner.

3-0 and off to the Championship Game!. The parents had to struggle with a decision -- go have lunch and pack or head off for more Soccer opportunities at Butler -- but one way or another we would be back on the pitch at 330! (or a bit earlier, apparently some not fully committed to soccer in America were starting games early, perhaps to get back home)