Assumption 26Sep2021

Since we traveled to Worcester for our game with Assumption two years ago, they agreed to visit us this fall. Sunny and comfortably warm, Sachem field offered a perfect soccer day, complete with fans, including Katie Reisman’s and Sophia Greszczuk’s parents, Abby and Kalyn’s (student) booster club (!!), and perhaps others?

We spoke before the game about trying to make more diagonal runs and passes.

Claire got off our first shot (saved) in the second minute, then Zanna chipped their keeper a minute later for our first goal. Then Zanna had a shot go wide before Lizzy earned two corners and had  shot go wide.

After Zanna’s shot overmtheir cross-bar in the 7th minute, Mudia had a shot saved for a corner taken by Zanna; Caitlin was there to head in the ball, but their keeper saved it. After an Assumption free kick, Kalā made a wonderful field-length dribble and almost scored with a barely-wide shot.

Alison had a shot go over in the 14th minute before we almost scored on a scramble in front of their net. Then Alison placed a powerful shot just left of center for our second goal in the 19th minute.

Only a minute later, our corner bounced odd their keeper into their net. Then Zanna had her shot go barely wide and Alison had a shot go over their cross-bar.

Abby rocketed a shot into their net in the 26th minute before Assumption sent a long pass over our defense for their forward to slot her rolling shot into our net.

Nathalie made a perfect cross for Kalyn to tap in, but it was saved in the 30th minute; Alison had a shot go over. Abby’s shot was saved for a corner, and our shot was blocked.

Nathalie had a shot go over in the 32nd minute, then immediately afterward Kalā set up Kalyn’s shot that bounced out for Zanna to fire into their net. After an Assumption free kick, Kalā had a shot saved forma corner taken by Lana.

Nathalie and Kalyn both scored in the next two minutes to finish the half.

We discussed making more diagonal passes and continuing to play our usual good-passing game. 

After Mudia’s shot was saved, she dribbled down the right side of the field and then cut inside her defender - a wonderful move to give her time and space to make a cross that Zanna allowed to pass her (dummy-pass) so that Lizzy could tap it in.

Sophia had two shot saved before Lizzy selflessly sent the ball to Mudia so she could score in the 43rd minute. Seconds later, Mudia made another cross for Sophia to tap in. After Assumption’s corner kick Caitlin set up Abby for our 11th goal, then she did the same for Lizzy whose shot went wide. Lizzy returned the favor and sent Caitlin a cross, whose shot went wide.

During this period, we were making more use of diagonal passes!

Mudia scored another beautiful goal with a shot over their keeper in the 53rd minute before Kalyn earned a free kick for Lana to take, Nathalie had a shot blocked, Alison had a shot saved, Mudia had a shot go over and Caitlin earned another corner kick.

In the 66th minute, Nathalie via Kalyn set up Lizzy for her second goal, Alison’s shot went wide, Sophia earned two corner kicks for Lizzy, Katie earned a free kick for Abby, and Kelly saved an Assumption free kick before Kate’s long distance (30m) goal a minute before the whistle blew to end our game.

Nine of our players scored! We were happy with our style of play, and are eager to see what we can do with UMass A and UVM in our last two division league games!

G Kelly Rutherford

CD Kalā Harman+Molly Knox, Claire Meli+Lana Kanno

OD Lana+Katie Reisman, Kate Clark

CM Sophia Greszczuk+Claire Meli, Alison Sasaki+Abby Burgess

OM Caitlin Evers+Lizzy Strapp, Nathalie Maffei

F Mudia Ikoba+Zanna Stutz, Kalyn Dawes

Shots 38:2  Saves 1:13

2 Claire shot saved

3 Zanna’s chip shot over their GK -> 1:0

4 Zanna shot wide

5 Lizzy earned 2 corners, shot wide

7 Zanna shot over

9 Mudia shot saved for a corner taken by Zanna

   Caitlin’s header saved

11 Assumption free kick from mid-field

12 Kalā field-long dribble, shot barely wide

14 Alison shot over

18 scramble in front of the Assumption goal, Dartmouth shot saved

19 Alison line-drive left of center -> 2:0

20 Dartmouth corner scored after hitting their GK (OG) -> 3:0

24 Zanna shot hit outer side netting, just wide

25 Alison shot over

26 Abby’s rocket shot -> 4:0

27 Assumption counter-attack long-ball pass in behind us -> 4:1

30 Nathalie beautiful cross for Kalyn to tap in saved

31 Abby shot saved for a corner, our shot blocked

32 Nathalie shot over, Kalā set up Kalyn’s shot (blocked), 

     Zanna got the rebound -> 5:1

35 Assumption free kick

36 Kalā shot saved for corner taken by Lana

37 Nathalie -> 6:1

38 Kalyn shot to upper left -> 7:1

39 Mudia shot saved

40 Mudia dribble right side, cut inside, cross to Lizzy (Zanna dummy) tap in -> 8:1

41 Sophia two shots saved

43 Lizzy unselfish pass to Mudia -> 9:1

     Mudia cross to Sophia tap-in -> 10:1

45 Assumption corner off a deflection 

46 Caitlin to Abby -> 11:1

49 Caitlin to Lizzy shot wide

     Lizzy cross to Caitlin shot wide

53 Mudia from the right side rocket over their GK -> 12:1

54 Kalyn earned free kick taken by Lana

55 Nathalie shot blocked

56 Alison shot saved, Mudia shot over

58 Caitlin earned a corner

66 Nathalie to Kalyn to Lizzy -> 13:1

67 Alison shot wide

68 Sophia earned corner taken by Lizzy

    Katie earned free kick taken by Abby

69 Sophia earned a corner taken by Lizzy

71 Assumption free kick in our third saved by Kelly

73 Kate from 30m out -> 14:1

74 Claire free kick

At UMass B 25Sep2021

We returned to Amherst to play UMass B “Minutewomen” after two years, but instead of playing on grass as we did last time we found them on a new turf field behind the (American) football stadium. Turf is abrasive on bodies and about 10 degrees F warmer, so we prefer grass. It was sunny and 75+F/25+C but felt much warmer. 

Fans came! Caitlin Evers’ dad who extremely helpfully fetched water for the players at half-time, Katie Reisman’s parents who brought cookies, Lizzy Strapp’s mom, Kalā’s cousin, perhaps others.

We decided to use the 4-5-1 formation we tried last Sunday, with three center-midfielders and two wing players. With 18 players we were able to sub the mid-field, forward target player and outside backs. We spoke about keeping the ball moving to keep possession and avoid tackles.

After a spell of high-pressure, Nathalie got off our first shot on the 15th minute. Kelly, having her first game in goal since high school, made a huge save from a UMass free kick. After Kate’s excellent corner kick, Eliza had her shot go over the cross-bar.

Kalyn had her shot saved for a corner well taken by Aislinn in the 28th minute, and just after that Caitlin’s shot went wide. Kalyn came up with a huge opportunity in the 30th minute when she wrestled the ball away from a UMass player and fed it to Mudia for her rocket-shot to the right upper-90.

After Lizzy drew a free kick taken by Kalā, UMass in the last minute of the half on a breakaway counter-attack rolled the ball into the right side of our net. 

At the break, players made great suggestions: find feet with ground passes in the midfield, move together as a team, don’t kick and run as UMass was doing, switch the ball to the opposite side to use more width.

After Sara’s shot wide, Zanna had one go over before UMass got a free kick and put a shot over our cross-bar. Julia earned a free kick taken by Kate just before Kelly made another huge save on a UMass shot in the 59th minute.

Kate had a shot go over their cross-bar, and Caitlin had hers go wide before UMass launched another counter-attack that ended with their shot going over. The last few minutes were all in the UMass third, with our four corner kicks, great passes and Zanna’s clinic on cuts to open up space.

It was clear we played really well and were the better team with more shots and scoring opportunities, so the score didn’t tell the whole story. The division rankings show us tied in points with them, so we are eager to see what we can do with the other UMass team and UVM!

G Kelly Rutherford 

CD Kalā Harman+Molly Knox, Rachel Horne

OD Aislinn Mitcham+Katie Reisman, Sara Pickrell+Kate Clark, Rachel

CM Kalyn Dawes+Lizzy Strapp+Krista Schemitsch, Abby Burgess, Eliza Durbin

OM Caitlin Evers+Zanna Stutz, Nathalie Maffei

F Mudia Ikoba, Julia Gottschalk

Shots 9:5  Saves 2:2

15 Nathalie shot saved

17 UMass free kick, Kelly save

19 Dartmouth corner taken by Kate

25 Eliza shot over

28 Kalyn shot saved for a corner taken by Aislinn

     Caitlin shot wide

30 Kalyn wrestled the ball away from UMass, 

     set up Mudia’s rocket upper right 90 -> 1:0

38 Lizzy drew a free kick taken by Kalā

40 UMass counter-attack grounder shot -> 1:1

46 Sara shot wide

51 Zanna shot over

55 UMass free kick, shot over

56 Julia earned free kick taken by Kate

59 UMass corner, shot saved by Kelly

64 Kate shot over, Caitlin shot wide

68 UMass counter-attack, shot over

72 Kate won and took two more corners, Ais took a 3rd

77 UMass free kick in their third

79 Julia earned a corner

At WPI and Holy Cross 19Sep2021

 Our first games after selecting 12 new players a few days ago, we found Worcester bathed in sunshine and balmy 70+F/20+C! Today’s fans included Sophia’s parents from Stow, MA, who brought cider, donuts and apples, Lizzy’s parents from CT, Claire’s mom, and Abby’s parents from Boston. Our club president, Caroline Collins-Pisano, had arranged for us to play both WPI and Holy Cross today since they are both in Worcester.

We warmed up on a corner of the turf field above a parking garage at 1pm, and we remembered how physical and pressuring WPI has been in the past. So the advice was not to hold the ball very long, to have fun and “smile at least once”, per Mudia.

Most of the play was in WPI’s half, and Lizzy wasted no time in getting off the first shot. Mudia followed that 10 minutes before Julia was able to sail the ball over their keeper for our first goal. 

WPI got a shot off in the 34th minute, but it was wide. Lizzy and Kelly had several corner kicks, Kelly had a shot go over the cross-bar and Kalyn had a shot go wide.

In the second half, Mudia and Kalyn had shots go wide and saved before Julia had two saved and one wide. There was a goal disallowed when their keeper couldn’t hold onto the ball but seemed to be injured somehow as we put it in their net. She was replaced and WPI retained possession of the ball. 

Julia made the best of a scramble in front of their goal and scored a very opportunistic second goal - a brace, as they say. Mudia and Abby had shots prevented late in the game.

At Holy Cross, we were impressed by how well they pressed us and created the first chance, which Caris squashed handily. Kalyn’s shot in the 10th minute was saved for a corner taken by Ella, and Eliza had a shot saved.

After Zanna’s shot went wide in the 24th minute, Caris made another save before Eliza and Julia had shots saved. Immediately after that, in the 37th minute, Ella fired an extremely powerful and unstoppable shot that gave us the lead. Holy Cross had a shot go wide just before half-time.

Caris made a wonderful suggestion to change our formation to 4-5-1 or 4-3-3 with three center-midfielders and wingers that help in midfield as well, based on how flat our structure looked her. It worked really well, and the players responded very well to it!

After Claire got a shot off, Alison scored our second goal in the 58th minute. Caris made another heroic save by coming out strongly to squash another shot for a corner. In the 70th minute, Mudia set up Zanna for our third goal. Our passing had improved as the game progressed! Near the end of the game we had 4 corner kicks when, Caitlin and Ella had shots saved.

It was a joyous time for us to be playing again and to play so well without much preparation!

G Caris White
CD Kalā Harman+Molly Knox
OD Aislin Mitcham+Katie Reisman, Kate Clark+Sara Pickrell, Kelly Rutherford
CM Sophia Greszczuk+Claire Meli, Abby Burgess+Alison Sasaki, Ella Steinhilber

OM Kelly Rutherford+Lizzy Strapp, Eliza Durbin, Kalyn Dawes, Nathalie Maffei

F Mudia Ikoba+Zanna Stutz, Julia Gottschalk+Caitlin Evers, Kalyn Dawes, Nathalie Maffei

At WPI

Shots 13:1

6 Lizzy shot wide

7 Mudia shot over 

17 Julia chipped their keeper -> 1:0

21 D corner

34 WPI shot wide

38 Lizzy corner

     Kelly corner headed out

40 Lizzy corner, Kelly shot over

     Kalyn shot wide

43 Mudia shot wide

51 Ais corner

54 Kalyn shot saved

64 Julia shot saved

66 Julia shot wide

68 Julia shot saved

69 Lizzy corner

70 Julia scored -> 2:0

72 Lizzy corner

78 Mudia shot blocked

79 Abby shot saved

At Holy Cross

Shots 11:4

9 Caris came to block a shot

10 Kalyn shot saved for a corner taken by Ella

19 Eliza shot saved

24 Zanna shot wide

25 Caris saved another shot

27 Eliza shot saved

30 Claire free kick

36 Julia shot saved

37 Ella rocket-shot -> 1:0

40 Holy Cross shot wide

44 D corner

51 Claire shot wide 

58 Alison scored -> 2:0

59 Caris huge save coming out strongly

65 Holy Cross corner

70 Mudia assisted Zanna’s goal -> 3:0

75 D corner

76 Caitlin shot saved for a corner

78 Ella shot saved for a corner taken by Zanna

   two more D corners