Walnut Creek Six-a-Side Summer Tournament 6/28

When: June 28, 2008

Where: Walnut Creek

Team Fee (by May 29): $250.00

This one day tournament is designed to be fast paced, exciting, and high scoring. Players will receive more touches on the ball and shots in a fun environment than a regular outdoor game. Each team will be guaranteed three games with a possibility of a fourth game.

There are a few rules that are different than USSF rules. There is no offside, substitutions are 'on the fly', penalty kicks are taken at any angle 12 yards from goal, there are goalie throws instead of goal kicks or punts, among others rule changes. The complete list of rules is on the tournament website.

Devils coaches will be tallying interest in this tournament at the end of year party on 5/31. Please be prepared to provide an indication of if you will be participating.

2008 Fall Registration on Saturday 5/31

Courtney's mom will be collecting fees for "Fall Registration" at the Pool Party on Saturday at Coach Brad's house. Please bring a check of $170 (payable to SASC). Registration forms must be filled out at the party.

Upcoming Practice Schedule

Thursday 5/22: 5:00 - 6:30pm

Tuesday 5/27: No Practice

Thursday 5/29: 5:00 - 6:30pm

5/17 Game Recap (1-1 Tie)

Hi Devils Parents and Players,

Sorry for the delay in getting out the recap on one of our more exciting games this past weekend. We tied the game 1-1. The score certainly did not reflect the many exciting "almost" shots on goal. Congrats to Courtney for putting one in! Courtney has been our consistent goal scorer this season.

We had several almost shots, especially in the first half. Our team played especially well in the first half...we dominant ed much of the time.

We are very proud of how the girls played as a team. Of note were several strings of passes up field, shutting down their fast forwards, and many balls played out of the air.

Christene, Akayla, and Kelly created many opportunities by doing a quick throw and having a forward ready on the line. This is something we have been working on all season, so it was thrilling to see it in action.

Kelly and Courtney made a very "heads up" play on our indirect kick on goal that almost came out a goal.

Maanasa and Kelly took turns controlling the middle and making passes out to our forwards. Well done.

Our defenders, Sammie, Karsyn, Lindsay, Shivani and Ruhi did a tremendous job in marking players and mostly shutting down their offense. Did you see that fake that Ruhi did on the field? She swears she just slipped, but it looked awesome.

Shivani and Marlene stepped into goal, and did a great job making stops. We have not focused much at all on goal tending this season, but I have been very impressed with the girl's ability to step into goal and do a great job.

No game this Saturday. We will have our last game on May 31st at Challenger at 11am. End of the season party to follow at Coach Brad's place. We will be handling registration paperwork at the party.

Information to come on what to bring.

Note: We will have practice this Thursday. No practice on Tuesday, May 27th due to West Valley's open house. Last regular practice for the season will be Thursday, May 29th.

Coach Sonya

End of Year Party

The end of year party will be on May 31 at 1 PM at Lindsay's house. It is one hour after our last game.

It will be a swim party and the girls should bring swimming gear and
towels.

Please RSVP with the number that will attend.

See you there,

Coach Sonya and Brad

Alert: 5/15 Practice

Just wanted to let everyone know that we know it will be very hot today. We are still holding practice, but we will keep the running to a minimum today and focus on skills. Please make sure your kids drink lots of water before practice and bring double the amount of water as usual. We will get in the shade as much as possible and give lots of water breaks. If you have any additional concerns, please let me know either at practice or give me a call.

Coach Sonya

Game 7 Photos

[Click here] for a slideshow

[Click here] for all photos

5/10 Game Recap (3-2 Loss)

Happy Mother's Day! I hope all the Devils players showed their moms how much they appreciate them today.

We had a tough loss on Saturday with a 2-3 loss to Rampage. The score, though, did not reflect the great playing effort of the Devils. We knew that we were going to have a tough game against this team since we played them earlier in the season. The first time around, the girls were taken by surprise by the physical play of girls who were much bigger. This time around we tried hard to prepare through a special
clinic with Coach Tom in which he covered shielding the ball, and a bumping drill that Coach Brad put together (and lots of talk about not backing down and being aggresive). When we scrimmaged the boys this week I even told them to do a little extra pushing against the girls just to give them a taste of what Saturday would be like. :)

I am extremely proud of how the girls played, especially in the first half. The other team came out pushing as we knew they would, but this time, I felt the girls stepped up to the play. Thanks to Jessica who agreed to stay in goal. She played a great game the first half, and was showing terrific timing going to the ball, so we kept her in.

Of special note were the playing efforts of Akayla, Christene, and Lindsay. As I said, the entire team put out a great effort, but these three girls put out that extra effort on Saturday. Akayla not only was able to play back physically, she also had several great head balls during the game. Christene showed us what her foot is made of on the left hand side. She showed speed and determination. Lindsay was our hard core defensive specialist. She stopped many drives, and was able to turn the ball up the line.

Our two goals were made by Christene and Courtney. Christene's was an excellent loft shot right over the goalie's head. Courtney, who continues to put herself in the exact right spot on offensive drives, also put one in the goal. Way to go girls!

All the girls played extremely hard on Saturday. Again, we were very proud of them.

This week, one of the things we will be working on is the basics...kicking, throwing, receiving, etc. We had several throw ins overturned on Saturday, so we
need to get back to the easy stuff.

See everyone on Tuesday.

Coach Sonya (and Coach Brad)

May 10th Game - Location Change

Attention all Devils Parents. The May 10th game vs the Orchard Valley Rampage has been moved to a new location in Morgan Hill. The game will now be played at
Nordstrom Elementary School, East Dunne Ave., MH,95037.

Here is a Map & Driving Directions

The field is located in the very back of school. The parking lot is typically locked so visitors will need to park on the street. There are no facilities at the field (just a port-a-potty).

The game will also be played at 1:00pm

Stanford Tournament Photos

[Click here] for a slideshow

[Click here] for all photos

Special Practice on Tuesday (5/6)

Special Practice on Tuesday! We will be having a special clinic on Tuesday (yes, this Tuesday). Practice will start at 4:30!! The girls will have a special session with Tom Brough. They will be working on stepping up their physical play in preparation for Saturdays game. The cost for the session is $8. Please bring the money to practice that day. The clinic will go from 4:30 to 5:30 and then the coaches will have the girls scrimmage until 6:00pm, so we will end 1/2 hour early. Please respond to coach Sonya via e-mail so that she knows you received the information.

Stanford Tourney Recap

Just back from the tournament at Stanford. We had a great time...I think I speak for parents and players alike. We had a tougher morning, but the girls played every team hard. The afternoon was a lot more rewarding for the players as far as being able to win two and tie one. Every game was great to watch.

The highlight of the day (at least for us parents) was the impromtu lunchtime game with the girls versus Coach Allen, Coach Hackson, Coach Sundaram, Coach Buddharaju, Coach Lee (Mike) and me. Oh yeah, and our sometimes goalie, Ryan. Brad and I decided that this was the turning point in the day for the girls, and they really understood the idea of getting open and marking after that. :)

Everyone mark your calanders for the first weekend in May next year. We will try to get in earlier so that we can take two teams and get more play time. It is a well organized event, and lots of fun.

I will see you all on Tuesday.

Coach Sonya (and Coach Brad)

5/3 Game Recap (3-0 Loss)

6 games down and 3 to go. We had a tough game today with a 0-3 loss. I will keep it short and sweet tonight since we are on to the tournament tomorrow.

Our goalies really hung tough today. It was a hard game to be in there, but they made some nice stops. Both Maanasa and Akayla used amazing drop kicks to clear the ball up the field.

On the field the players I saw working extra hard today were Shivani, Courtney, and Ruhi. Lindsay and Christine were our big time runners today. I will bet they sleep great.

I saw several of the girls make use of the "Adios" drill during the game by going to the ball before the bounce or playing it out of the air on a high bounce. Even when it gets by them, I can appreciate the effort to try and make the play (that includes you Kelly...I was actually impressed).

For those girls playing in the tournament, they get to go out and play some more soccer tomorrow. I am looking forward to seeing them in the 4 v 4 format.

I will see everyone on Tuesday and Thursday for practice!

Go Devils!

Coach Sonya (and Coach Brad)