So, Chill, new for this year, offered participation in the Super Y league. That’s a national league, the team can be made up from kids from multiple ‘normal’ clubs, and you play 8-10 games in June and July.
The decision to participate was pretty easy; we’d rather have Matthew do summer soccer than summer lax (and that was the way we were heading), he would rather do summer soccer than summer lax, and the cost was right, for about the cost of one week of soccer camp we got 8 weeks of training (5 hours a week) plus the games.
Turns out that seven of the ten games were here at home; making the whole deal even better. And 14 of the 16 kids playing on the team were from our team….hopefully that means we’ll be more than ready for the Fall.
Game 1 – Waza: 1-0 Win
I heard some of our parents say after this game that we were lucky to win. I don’t think I agree with that; they controlled possession, but, that happens sometimes. What we did, and they didn’t, is we buried one of our chances (and they were about equal) and they were wild on their finishing. A good way to start the year.
Game 2 – Liberty: 6-0 Win
These guys were overmatched from the start but we were only ahead 1-0 at the half and buried them in the second half.
Game 3 – Waza: 4-0 Loss
Although it is not listed that way on the schedule this game actually happened right after the Liberty game. So we were tired, it was hot, and while the game was close after one half (we were down 1-0 on a late goal) they buried us in the second half. If people thought a 1-0 win by us wasn’t fair I’d argue a 4-0 win by them wasn’t fair either.
Game 4 – RSC: 1-1 Tie
This was probably the most disappointing game of the year; we had 90% of the ball and should have scored and needed a last-minute goal to salvage a tie. I’ve talked about this team and how they crumble under pressure….they also have the uncanny habit of looking over and seeing a bunch of smaller kids and getting over-confident. A strange combination of very poor attitudes towards the game that just doesn’t translate well to results.
Game 5 – Force: 4-2 Win
On the complete opposite of the RSC game, we entered this game without four of our better players….and we gave up a quick goal but then dominated them for a 4-2 win. Matthew has an assist here and I’ll talk more about his performance at the end.
Game 6 – Liberty: 3-1 Win
Ho hum. We can beat this team 10 times out of 10. They are supposedly one of the better Ohio teams too.
Game 7 – PSG: 4-2 Loss
The prize for this league is if you finish in the top 2 in our division you go to Bradenton Florida for the national championships. And so, we need to win against the league leaders (who we play twice in one day). And we don’t win the first game. They are small and quick and they are one of the few teams I’ve seen that I would sit there and say “I wish Matthew’s team would play like that”. Because they are always playing pressure defense and forcing mistakes. They go up 2-0, we tie it right before the half (the second goal is a 30 yard bomb from Matthew) and then we give up two quick stupid goals early in the second half and that’s that.
Game 8 – PSG: 2-1 Loss
This game was even worse than the first….we legitimately had assists from our kids for their goals! But that’s how they play….they pressure and pressure and force mistakes. And too often our pace of play is slow slow slow…..
Game 9 – RSC: 2-1 Win
So after a day of losing to PSG it was nice to beat RSC like we should have. Except we really didn’t. I’d say a 2-1 loss is a victory for that team….some of our ‘failure to finish’ problems occurred again. Matthew gets his 2nd goal of the year, again, another 30 yard bomb that pushed the goalie into the goal and the AR called it good. This shot was better than the one against PSG; that first goal happened because he caught the goalie out of position. This goal would have been difficult for any goalie.
Game 10 – Force: 2-1 Win
And Matthew picks up his first yellow card ever in this game…..a kid made a run at him and completely juked him and he stuck his foot out and tripped him. I think he stuck his foot out late and the trip was incidental, but, still, I think it’s a yellow card 9 out of 10 times when that happens. The ref let other stuff go later in the game and that had Matthew complaining that his shouldn’t have been a yellow either.
A few Matthew takeaways:
- Almost always played at center attacking mid. Did a fine job there.
- The Super Y training, along with some additional strength and conditioning, has him in good shape. Hope he stays that way (cross-country is coming…that will help!).
- A lot of Matthew complaining about going to practice and doing things this summer. Has been disappointing from someone who I thought was self motivating.
- He has been practicing the shot that he scored on for a while; glad he finally broke through with some goals
- He was named to the Super Y Regional Scouting Series….apparently the other coach nominates one or two players from our team after each game. We figure it was for how he played in the first PSG game (he scored, he was everywhere and was a big physical presence). We’re not going to the RSS because the cost is crazy for a 2 1/2 day thing.
- We finished 3rd; no trip to Florida for us. I’m okay with that…it would have been fun but we really didn’t need to take the time away from school and work.
