Saturday, November 15, 2014

BC 15nov2014

Championship game! BC won their league (New England East) and we won our league (New England West), so this game was for awarding an automatic berth to next year's Regional Tournament. We expected BC to be good based on how well they did versus Tufts and Northeastern (we tied Tufts and lost to Northeastern).

Sunny, 0C/32F! But the field was in perfect condition. Fans included Christyn's folks and Claire's grandmother!

We spoke about making the simple close passes, and we looked sharp with Shelby getting off the first shot. But BC also had a couple good chances early in the match. They put high pressure on us, but we put good passes together just as we had in practice.

In the 21st minute, Claire made a cross that was blocked for a corner. Sophie was in just the right spot in front of the far post to control the ball and slot it into the BC net for the first goal of the game.

BC had a free kick and a shot wide in the 23rd minute and Caroline V got off a shot that was saved in the 26th minute. 

We were lucky to have Julia Dressel back in net since Hannah was not available, and she made a save in the 28th minute. BC continued to threaten and were awarded a penalty kick in the 32nd minute, evening up the score.

Three minutes later, BC was awarded a free kick from 25-30 meters out that drifted into the upper left corner of our net to put them ahead 1:2. After that. they got another free kick and a shot that Julia D saved. 

In the 42nd minute, Leah did her magic up the left side of the field and got off a shot that was blocked by the BC defense. Right after that, Julia D made another crucial save for a corner.

Rose put a free kick on target for a BC save just before the half. We spoke about getting our passes off quicker in light of the high BC pressure. We also noted that BC did not seem unbeatable. 

Claire set up Sophie for what seemed like a certain goal, but the BC goalkeeper did well to put it out for a corner taken by Christine. In the 50th minute, BC put a shot over our crossbar, then they slotted a through ball in behind our defense to put them up another goal 1:3. 

Usually teams have trouble coming back from being down two goals, but we kept working and believed we could rally. Claire got a shot off in the 53rd minute, but it sailed wide. BC had a free kick and two shots wide of our goal.

In the 60th minute, Claire's corner kick found Christyn at the far post, but her shot was just wide of the BC goal. BC got another free kick in the 64th minute.

In the 68th minute, Claire broke loose of the BC defense on the left side of the field to put a shot/cross from an acute angle in front of the BC net. The ball could have gone any direction with so many players in front of the net. It bounced off a BC player into the net to put us at 2:3. 

Leah set up Claire right after that, but her shot went wide. Christine had a free kick in the 74th minute. BC got dangerously close to scoring four minutes later when their shot hit and bounced off the upright. 

Rose made a perfectly chipped pass into the path Claire was taking to the BC goal in the 81st minute. Claire chested the ball down and one-timed it into the BC net, but the goal was disallowed due to offsides.

Julia D made another crucial save in the 82nd minute, and five minutes later Shelby had a great chance -- but her shot was saved. 

Two minutes before 'time' Claire sprang loose again in the same fashion as before, putting a dangerous ball in front of the BC net from a difficult angle. A BC player was the last one to touch it before it landed in the BC net to tie the score.

In the 90th minute, Rose almost got us the win with her shot that sailed over the BC crossbar. 

The two teams huddled and gave the ref's their decision to play two 5-minute periods of extra time, followed by penalty kicks if needed. Which ever team scored first in the extra time would be declared the sudden-victory winner.

BC got off a shot in the 92nd minute, but it was wide of our goal. In the last minute of the first 5-minute overtime period, Claire sent a pass to the far post for Shelby to collect before calmly slotting into the narrow space between the post and the BC goalkeeper. 

It was astonishing to see a team come back like that, and BC was in a state of shock -- rightfully so! What an incredible way to celebrate the seniors' last fall game and to put Regionals solidly on next fall's schedule!

GK: Julia D
CD: Lindsay+Tessa, Caroline V, Elise
OD: Annie+Christine, Rose, Julia D
CM: Shelby+Julia, Caroline V+Elise
F: Claire+Caroline G, Mel+Allison

Shots 16:18  Saves 4:4

2 Shelby shot over
7 BC shot over
8 BC shot wide
21 Claire cross blocked for a corner
    Sophie two-touch --> 1:0
23 BC free kick
     BC shot wide
26 Caroline V shot saved
28 BC shot saved
32 Tessa tackle got ball+leg
    BC pk --> 1:1
35 BC free kick into top left corner --> 1:2
41 BC free kick
    BC shot saved
42 Leah shot blocked
43 BC shot saved for a corner
45 Rose free kick saved
46 Claire cross to Sophie
     Sophie shot saved for a corner
50 BC shot over
52 BC through pass --> 1:3
53 Claire shot wide
55 BC free kick, shot wide
57 BC shot wide
60 Claire corner
     Christyn shot wide
64 BC free kick
68 Claire shot/cross BC own goal --> 2:3
73 Leah to Claire shot wide
74 Christine free kick
78 BC shot hit the upright
81 Rose chip over BC defense to Claire
    Claire chest-trap, shot into net disallowed offsides
82 BC shot saved
87 Shelby shot saved
88 Claire shot/cross BC own goal --> 3:3
90 Rose shot over

Extra time
2 BC shot wide
5 Claire pass to Shelby, slotted in near post --> 4:3 

Saturday, November 1, 2014

Tufts 1Nov2014

Rainy, cloudy, cold 40F/5C, but fans came to see our game with Tufts: Julia S's parents, Claire's grandmother, Hannah's mom+dad+sisters, Shelby's mom, many others!

Since the pitch was so wet, we spoke about making quick ground passes, as we had worked on in practice. Last year we drew 3:3 with Tufts, so we expected them to be a strong side that would provide a good game. It appeared that Tufts might have had more players at our field than we did!

We took early control of the game, and after Mel's shot on target was saved, Claire broke away to score in the 4th minute. Hannah made a critical save in the 11th minute, and Tufts had shots over the bar and one that hit the cross-bar. 

Julia S had a shot saved in the 16th minute, then Claire's shot from the left side of the field hit the side-netting. Claire had another shot over the bar in the 27th minute. 

Leah made a piercing dribble in the 35th minute into the middle of the field, fiercely tackled at the Tufts 18 yard box, awarding us a free kick taken by Rose. The Tufts GK saved Rose's kick, and Leah got her head on the rebound but it sailed over the bar.

Hannah made two more saves before the half, when we spoke about keeping it a little more simple by making the easy, close-range passes in order to keep possession.

During the first minutes of the second half, it appeared that we were doing exactly that -- we kept possession as we switched the ball across the field. Shelby got off a great shot in the 51st minute that was saved by the Tufts GK.

Amanda FC made a crucial tackle soon after that, but the tussle left her in agony with a twist to her left knee. Sarah kindly took her to DHMC. It was the last thing we wanted to have happen!

Claire took over for FC in our flat-back formation, next to Tessa, and Summer went up top where Claire was. Mel and Julia S had great shots, with one of Mel's hitting the cross-bar after Hannah made another crucial save in the 63rd minute.

Tessa made a critical tackle in the 70th minute before Mel and Shelby made excellent shots that were saved. It looked like we were the stronger team and would score again, but Tufts seemed to get new energy around the 80th minute. 

The officials awarded Tufts a free kick for a tackle we thought Tessa made legally by getting the ball first with her feet. Hannah punched the Tufts free kick out but they put the rebound into our net for the equalizer. 

After that, Tufts hit a shot off our cross-bar, and Hannah made another key save to keep us even. Rose had a shot saved in the 87th minute, and just before full time Hannah made another save, bringing her total to 6 vs Tufts 8 saves.

At 15 shots for both teams, it was a very busy game. Credit to Tufts to keep working deep into the second half, giving us a great game that we could have won, given all of our chances. But they had good chances, too. Thanks to Amanda FC, Tessa, Claire and Hannah for keeping us level!

Shelby's mom's carrot cake and the Nolans' cookies were great treats after the game! Our possibly last game of the season seemed marred by the injury to Amanda FC, jarring not only because she is such a strong player but also because we already had suffered Sarah's injury at Yale. Our thoughts went with her as she joked about how strong Rose was in carrying her off the field.

GK: Hannah
CD: FC+Tessa, Claire
OD: Julia C + Christine, Amanda W
CM: Shelby + Julia S, Elise, Summer
OM: Christyn+Sophie, Leah+Natalie
  F:  Mel+Claire, Rose, Caroline G

Shots 15:15  Saves: 6:8

3 Mel shot saved
4 Claire breakaway --> 1:0
5 Christine corner
11 Tufts shot saved
12 Tufts corner, shot over
13 Tufts shot hit cross-bar
16 Julia C shot saved
20 Claire shot side-net
22 Tufts corner
27 Claire shot over
28 Tufts corner
31 Tufts shot wide
35 Leah dribble, tackled for a free kick taken by Rose
    rebound to Leah header over
41 Tufts free kick saved for a corner
44 Tufts cross(shot?) saved
51 Shelby shot saved
54 Tufts corner, header over
55 Mel shot wide
58 Mel shot saved, Julia S shot over
63 Tufts shot saved
64 Tufts corner
67 Mel shot hit cross-bar
68 Christine corner
70 Tessa blocked a shot for a Tufts corner
72 Mel shot saved for a Christine corner
74 Shelby shot saved for a corner
78 Tufts cross, shot wide
79 Tufts shot over
80 Tufts free kick saved but scored on rebound --> 1:1
84 Tufts shot hit cross-bar, Tufts corner
86 Tufts free kick saved
87 Rose shot saved
88 Tessa blocked a shot for a Tufts corner, shot saved