Quote:
Originally Posted by Regs  Congrats to the SU Ladies!
I only saw the OT and the game seemed very good.
Nutmegs with the clincher on a clinical finish.
Good luck at Nationals! |
Thanks Regs!! Maybe I'll even splurge on a
TTP membership after that compliment! I can't believe I'm gonna beat Conductor to the game report!
The game was a battle and congrats to Westside for giving it everything they had. It was a story of two completely different games - the first 25-30 minutes Westside rarely got over half, we had them pinned in their end and developed a ton of chances but couldn't bury them. I scored the first goal of the game at about the 25 minute mark on a nice cross from Sharon and I somehow managed to out-jump the keeper and a defender to just flick it over the line (despite a good clearance attempt by the other Westside defender). We then had a few more glorious chances before half-time (including a sitter that I should have buried) but we kept putting everything over the bar or just wide.
1-0 at halftime and it should have been more which would have made it a different second half. But Westside came out hard after half and created good scoring chances and we didn't handle the pressure well and got away from our game that was going so well in the first half. Westside tied it with about 20 minutes to go after we cleared the ball to half but failed to move out quickly and one long ball back into their forward (Sara T) gave her a partial breakaway that she finished - much to the delight of the very-partisan crowd (guess people were cheering for the underdog). Both teams had scoring chances near the end of the game to win it but no finish and off to extra time it went.
In OT, play was relatively back and forth with no real clear-cut scoring chances until Sharon subbed back in at about 10 minutes and scored a nice left-footed chip shot just over the goalie. Second OT period saw SU just try to keep possession of the ball while Westside had a few counterattack chances to score. I scored the third with less than five to go after repeatedly holding the ball in the corner and getting throws. Finally on one throw I faked as if I was going to the corner but carried into the 18 went around their last defender and chipped it over the sliding goalie. It felt great and I haven't scored a goal like that in a while.
So the "Drive For Five" is complete (even though it took 120 minutes). I'm so proud of all the veterans on our team who just "refuse to lose" - Ger Donnelly with one of the best slide tackles ever near the end of OT! And as I said earlier, congrats to Westside for one helluva game - it was a battle and they never quit - lots of heart on that team.
Back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back - I think that might just qualify as a dynasty!
