The end of the season is here; a two-day tournament to close things out. Two games on Saturday, two on Sunday, and if we do well enough semi-finals and finals Sunday afternoon.
Game 1: A 11-0 blasting of Walled Lake.
Picture 1 of 8: This starts how many of Cpher’s plays do….he is in there, digging for the ball. I talked about how Matthew’s play has improved; this guy is so much more confident with the ball when he has the ball now and does such a good job of fending off balls that are coming in (he kicked one today out of the way; it went about 30 feet!)
Picture 2 of 8: And after achieving his goal of grabbing the ball and heading over midfield early this year, Cpher is more than willing to grab the ball and head upfield….
Picture 3 of 8: And he is a load to stop; he has that big stick, and that helps, but, he does a great job of cradling the ball like you should.
Picture 4 of 8: Against a weak team like this, the big chance is here, let’s get our first shot on goal!
Pictures 5 and 6 of 8: It takes some serious effort to get him from behind….these guys aren’t going to get it done….
Picture 7 of 8: Might be the first picture that I’ve ever taken of Cpher where you can see the goal in front of him. This defender is coming out to challenge him, but, he is too late. Cpher takes the shot!
Picture 8 of 8: And scores! First shot, first goal! (you can see the goalie turning around to retrieve the ball). The boy is incredibly happy about all of this. Suzanne and I really enjoyed watching Matthew congratulate him when he finally came off the field
As you might guess, in an 11-0 slaughter, this kid had his chances too…..
but needs to remember a very important lax lesson. SHOOT LOW!!!!
Like when I see him taking faceoffs….am sure the results here will be better next year…
It goes well enough though…most kids don’t get clean wins against Matthew and this one ended with us in possession after all the other kids rushed in.
…another rush upfield….
…and another shot. High! Shoot Low!!!!
…another rush upfield!…..
…..getting ready to shoot….
and another shot high!…..SHOOT LOW!
Game 2: Beat Caledonia 5-3. Raced out to a 5-1 lead and hold on for the 5-3 win. Not many pictures here, it started to rain, but, these four of Matthew show something I haven’t talked about before
The kids is good on defense. Because this kid has the ball….
and now he doesn’t. Both stick and body….good things happen when you use both.
This same kid has the ball again…..
and now he doesn’t (you can see it coming out). Matthew spent some time in the penalty box for a cross-check (he swears he didn’t do anything!) and another kid spent a minute in the box for what was most likely Matthew’s 2nd cross-check of the game (the other Dad swears he saw Matthew even jump into it). But I will maintain if you’re going to go to the penalty box, at least put enough of a hit on the kid so that he remembers you….and you get your money’s worth from the penalty!
Probably only one win (out of two games tomorrow) will move us into the playoffs. Matthew and I will miss the two morning games for soccer but hope to drive back out for the semi-finals and finals in the afternoon.
Cpher and Mom stayed down there (Oxford, 90 minutes away) since the first game is at 8 am. Cpher is always a sucker for a dinner at Rainforest Café!
