Women's Premier 2009/10

[Gooner21]

Surrey - 2 Canadians - 1
Agree with FB's comment above that the intensity level has ramped up since the break and probably even more so in this match as we had beaten Surrey before Christmas so they surely wanted to even that up against the Burnaby newbies. Possession and run of play was pretty even with Surrey having a couple more corners and did get in behind our back 4 a couple more times than we could muster. We did miss at least 3 sitters in the box and they hit a post and crossbar so the score could've been any combination possible if things bounced a couple inches different on those for either team. A total "shape" breakdown by our CB's let them get behind for a semi-breakaway goal 5 minutes in...we levelled with a great 25 yard Rustad left footer to the far post at the 15 minute mark. Surrey applied some intense pressure after the break and our back line resorted to our former ugly September form looking scattered and their second goal was more or less a tap in after some shoddy defending. Ref was OK but he let at least 6 hard tackles from behind go without a yellow or even a warning for 80 mins (4 by them, 2 by us)....and 3 of those on Knaacks' kiddo alone who mistakenly thought it was a rugby match at times. Then he gave us a yellow for a late tackle at the end...man I hate when refs don't show consistency throughout. What's worse is he had to ask the line-o if it was a yellow and then be told from a Surrey player which number player it was on our team....not great credibility that he was on the ball even though it was a foul/card...I just wanted some consistency.
Anyways, good news is we didn't play the best we can and are competing well with the big-boys....bad news is Surrey looked good and we play them again in a fortnight.

 

[Captain Shamrock]

It's okay, Gooner.....you should have an easy one next week.

 

[Gooner21]

It's okay, Gooner.....you should have an easy one next week.

Did you play your match tonight against NCU?

 

[knaacks]

Hey Gooner, you are right about the rough and tumble affair at Cloverdale but hey, that's footy at the best level. Both teams gave as good as they got and what about the no-call on the breakaway in the first half ? Should have been last man pro foul, and a booking at the least. Sai la vie. I talked to the Ref and his explanation was that he saw the defender come from the side and on the last foul from your team , he did not see what happened and only looked back to see Kate on the ground. So to check with the lino is only prudent. Lets let this one go and focus on the cup match in 2 weeks! By the way, your keeper played very well for you. She should have been MOTM for your squad. See you in a couple weeks.....

 

[Gooner21]

Funny you mention our keeper...I thought she got caught in no man's land on your first goal and didn't know whether to come, stay, or drop...and ended up doing nothing and chipped too easily. Mr. Busby even came over after the game and asked me what she was doing on that play! But she is young, as are most of our players, so I fully expect the odd blip here and there. She should be the starter at UBC next year after red-shirting at SFU this past season. My comments on the officiating were just about in-consistency....I did say we committed a couple hard fouls too that got us yellows in other games, so to all of a sudden find a ref that lets everything go uncarded was a change, but then to get one given in the end was salt in the wound.
Don't worry about us...we're young and inexperienced but can take the "veteran hits". Thought overall it was a pretty even and competitive match.

 

[knaacks]

Well said and the rubber match should be a cracker !! Talk to you later....

 

[knaacks]

Surrey United 1 North Shore Renegades 0 Friday night at Cloverdale. Good game both ways with SU holding NS in their own end for quite a bit of the first half. Missed chance after chance for a good 20 min. 0-0 at the half. Battles all over the field in the 2nd produced limited opportunites for both sides but some strong work on the left side By Ally and Katie enabled Coco to slot in the winner off the far post . NS had some chances late but the defence did a great job tonight of clearing any danger. Off to bed........

 

[Captain Shamrock]

Well done, Knaacks. How come you changed to a Friday night game this week?

 

[knaacks]

We were to have another bye week and NS was going to have to play a home game away from home, so we asked if they wanted to play our game early and Friday worked for us both.

 

[Gooner21]

Cup result: Canadians 3, Richmond 1
We totally lost the midfield battle in this match, but finished a few nice goals to make up for our lackluster effort in the middle of the park. Zoller, Frazao, and Jensen with quality finishes. We gave away 3 or 4 free kicks from the 20-25 yard range and Richmond made us pay on one of them and could've had a couple more....we got lucky on this day.

 

[Captain Shamrock]

I agree somewhat with Gooner in regards to the midfield but we really struggled once we got to the final 3rd....our final pass was just off, which often lead to counter-attacks. Burnaby's direct style with playing 3 forwards high makes them a very dangerous team especially with speed like they have out wide. Overall, I was happy with our teams performance and it was good battle without too much of the cheap stuff. Burnaby will certainly be a force over the next couple of years for the top 3 teams. We should be competitive as long as we battle like we did yesterday. Well done to Burnaby for win.......now hopefully we're out of this league cup. I want to finish the league games and hopefully get ready for the Provincial Cup along with a favorable draw.

 

[Gooner21]

Captain, you make us sound like a Pellerud team with a "direct style"! haha
I did tell my girls at half time that we were lucky your girls hadn't linked your midfield to one of your strikers very well or we'd have been done a couple times. Our intensity did drop from our last two matches against Surrey and Westside which I wasn't happy about, but we'll need to raise it again this coming weekend back in Cloverland.
It was interesting to see Surrey play with 3 up front against us too....

 

[Captain Shamrock]

Gooner, whatever works go with it. That is where your team had most success yesterday was looking to spring your outside strikers in particular. As you mentioned, I thought our midfield did a good job of neutralizing yours(last game your midfield killed us) so we countered with 5 midfielders in the first half. Second half we went tor a traditional 4 - 4 - 2 but with more of a rotation defensively. Overall, as I mentioned, I was pleased with it. You're definitely one of the 4 dangerous teams on the attack. It is something that we have lacked this season but I hope it will get better over the next month. BTW, does anyone know when the Provincial Cup is supposed to start?

 

[Gooner21]

"now hopefully we're out of this league cup."

Captain, looking at the cup standings, you may not be out of it yet! I believe 8 teams make the quarters and I see White Rock and you guys both have -7 on GD. So the last spot will come to a tie-breaker but not sure if it's GF or GA that decides?
BTW, provincial cup finals are listed on the BCSA site as May 15/16 on the island and I've heard that first round matches start April 10/11 but I haven't seen anything concrete yet....

 

[Fat Bastard]

I saw the May 15/16 date as well. What a joke? We have been pushing to move it earlier, so what do they do? Push it back further into May. There's no reason this can't be done on May 1/2 weekend.

And on the Island too? Nice.

 

[Gooner21]

Finals this year run deeper into Caps pre-season too, which might affect Surrey most I am guessing....

 

[nutmegs]

Finals this year run deeper into Caps pre-season too, which might affect Surrey most I am guessing....

You are hoping.....

At the most, we would have 3-4 players training with the Caps during provincials but we have never had to worry about any of them missing games (as they are very dedicated Surrey girls). And they are even fitter at this point than they are earlier in the season....

 

[Captain Shamrock]

When does the Pacific Coast League start?

April 11.......is a really late start

 

[Gooner21]

"very dedicated Surrey girls"


There are lots of jokes there.....

I've actually already made my provincial final prediction off the record and here it is on: Surrey vs Caps U18 team. Vets vs Young'uns....

 

[knaacks]

You seriously think the Caps girls will make the finals? What about your own team? Do you think they wlill roll over the top teams in our league? I'm not convinced just yet, I'll let you know after Thursday night.