The last time I visited BU's field at Danehy Park in Cambridge, I was coaching U12 or U14's from Needham in the '90s. The forecast for game time was 5C/40F and 30% chance of few showers. When we arrived it was just beginning to sprinkle.
Emily Niehaus, who was in Boston before the game, found that the Red line T was out of service so she had quite an adventure finding us! The BU team took cabs.
As we warmed up we found a squishy, bumpy field with a very small fraction of grass. The ball slid, skidded and bounced unpredictably. It started to rain heavily. It felt like we were crossing the Atlantic in a storm. The ref said we would play 40-minute halves.
Both teams seemed pretty happy to be playing. Movement kept the players warm. Being on the sidelines required a lot of extra gear. When we tried to go up the middle we had a lot of trouble keeping possession, but when we went wide and made diagonal passes we were more successful.
Both teams had trouble with the field, but we seemed to learn more quickly how to string enough passes together to get close to their net. We dominated in shooting and finally on Jenn's corner in the 30th minute Molly got the rebound from Courntey's attempt on goal.
At half-time we were about to move to the nearby turf field, but the ref said we should stop playing because the BU GK was shaking and could not feel her hands!
Devoted families battled the weather, too! Bri's parents, Shelby's dad, Molly's parents, Courntney's family brought cookies, Katherine's dad took more photos!
The drive home was TENSE, including a near-encounter with a swimming Subaru just ahead of us a little north of Concord! The snow was very wet and covered the pavement from just north of Concord until we got to Hanover. We might have averaged 35mph! Thanks to Emily Niehaus for amazing driving! We were very happy to be home at 7pm!
F: Emily N + Bri, Courtney+Caroline
OM: Jenn+Mila, Ginny+Katherine
CM: Molly+Julia, Shelby+Laura
OD: Blythe+Liz, Annie O+Tessa
CD: Ally+Annie
G: Hannah
Shots 7:1 Saves 0:3
8 Molly free kick saved
13 Mila shot wide
16 Emily shot wide
17 BU shot wide
23 Dartmouth corner, shot wide
25 Shelby shot wide
30 Jenn's corner reached Courtney, Molly got the rebound --> 1:0
35 Jenn shot wide
36 Mila shot saved
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