Saturday, October 29, 2016

UVM 29Oct2016

Harvard had said they would come here since their football team would be here for our Homecoming game, but they backed out when they thought they might get into Regionals. We had no plans to attend Regionals even if we had qualified because we would not like to miss Homecoming!

We heard that families were coming to see a game and in the past many of our team's former players have come to see us play, so we were determined to find a team to play! Sarah Latilupe tried hard to find another team to play, but no one expressed interest. 

On sort of a lark, I wrote to UVM after we played there Oct 15th to thank them for a great game and to see if they had any interest in a 2nd game here. They are always competitive and love to play, so there have been several falls when we have played them both home and away.

UVM said they wanted to play but were saving their travel funds for Nationals in Alabama later in November. At first I was resigned to the idea that we might not have a game (!!!), but pretty quickly I decided that I would just offer to pay for their transportation in UVM vans. They accepted that offer!

We had a break in the rain for last night's bonfire and were hoping it would hold off during our 11am game -- planned not to conflict with the football game at 1:30. It rained for most of our game but broke at the end for our team photo!

Many many fans! Alumnae! Kate Tomlinson '16, Blythe Butler '13, Liz Hyde '16, Christine Kanoff '15, Hannah Nolan '16, Caroline Gellman '15, Lindsey's folks all the way from Hawaii and Katie's from Washington State, Callie's folks, Lizzie's family, Haley's grandparents and many others I didn't get to meet.

We spoke about keeping the ball moving and putting immediate pressure on them -- knowing that they will pressure us.

Our passing immediately looked expert, and that led to Jenna's getting the first shot in the 5th minute. UVM came back with a really good chance in the 13th minute prevented by Laura for a corner.

UVM had free kick over, a shot wide and a free kick saved before Morgan sent the ball to Lizzie up the right side of the field. Lizzie used her speed to beat her defender and slotted a powerful low shot into the far left side of the UVM net for the game's only goal in the 26th minute.

UVM had two more shots in the 33rd minute -- one saved and one wide -- before Laura came out to grab the ball off the foot of a UVM attacker in the 35th minute. Very brave!

Haley got a shot off that went wide and Laura saved another UVM shot just before the 1st 40-minute half ended.

We spoke at half-time about pretending that we don't have a goal -- to keep our energy high, keep working hard and move as a unit (all attacking and all defending).

UVM kept attacking, but Laura made three more saves, and Maria squashed one of their shots in front of our goal in the 68th minute. Sarah A took a corner kick right after that, and Elise earned a free kick in the 71st minute. 

Our defense was solid and Laura was quick to prevent all of the UVM opportunities. Our five midfielders and one target player all worked well together to get the ball and keep it -- everyone kept working hard to the end. 

It was great to get the win from such a strong team -- especially in front of so many fans!

Shots 3:14  Saves 9:0

G: Laura
CD: Mari+Christina, Izzy
OD: Izzy+Katie, Morgan+Callie, Elise, Maria
CM: Lindsey+Sarah L+Maria, Christyn+Elise+Namya, Mel
OM: Meredith+Jenna, Mel+Julia, Haley+Sarah A, Nat
F: Lizzie, Rose

5 Jenna shot wide
13 UVM shot saved for a corner
14 UVM free kick over
20 UVM shot wide
24 UVM free kick saved
26 Morgan pass to Lizzie shot slotted low far left --> 1:0
33 UVM shot saved, UVM shot wide
35 Laura came out to grab a ball off the foot of a UVM attacker
36 Haley shot wide
40 UVM shot saved
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43 UVM free kick wide
53 UVM free kick wide
55 UVM shot saved
57 UVM free kick saved
59 UVM shot wide
68 UVM shot saved, a 2nd shot blocked by Maria
69 Sarah A corner
71 Elise earned and took a free kick


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