9/19/09 Game Recap (1-0 Win)

Audrey dribbles through traffic

The Devils played their first home game of the 2009 Fall season on Saturday at the Sunnyvale Soccer Complex, taking a close 1-0 decision over Santa Clara Sporting. The 4:30pm start time provided some relief from the scalding Bay Are heat on Saturday, but the it still seemed to take a toll on the girls.

It took both teams a few minutes to feel out their opponent in order to gauge what type of game it was going to be. The Devils tried to take the initiative early by pressing on offense. An early salvo of shots by the Devils was defended well by Sporting’s defense.

Courtney tried sending a pooch shot in form 15 feet in the game’s opening, but the attempt fell short of the goal line. Grace would follow that up with a blast from 25 feet at the 9 minute mark, but the shot was deftly handled by Sporting’s goal keeper.

Grace turns the corner

Santa Clara would get their best chance of the opening half 15 minutes into the contest with a breakaway that Christene, the Devils keeper, had to deflect by jumping up in the air to deflect the high lofting shot.

The Devils tried again to jump on the Santa Clara defense early in the 2nd half. Christene narrowly missed on a crossing attempt that slipped under her boot in the 32nd minute.

Audrey would follow that up with a shot 10 minute later that was once again gloved by the Sporting keeper.

Marlene appeared to score at the game’s 45th minute, but the Devils were whistled off-sides.

Courtney get congratulated

Courtney would remedy that 5 minutes later by punching home a shot from a severe angle. Grabbing a feed up the right side, she whipped the ball from right to left, beating the keeper with a shot to the low left corner.

One of the prettiest plays of the game came with 5 minutes to play. Audrey and Akayla teamed up for a pretty give-and-go on the left wing, that ended with a nice shot on goal.

Game Positives—

Unselfish Play: The girls are beginning to trust each other with each game they play, and that has resulted in some fantastic passing sequences and team work in an attempt to move the ball and setup scoring chances.

Shooting: Everyone is beginning to open up a bit offensively, which is resulting in more shots on goal. The girls are taking more chances offensively and are slowly working out of the pass first mentality that tends to bog down the offense. This was especially evident from the forwards that are choosing to shot from a variety of angles.

Team Defense: What can you say about back-to-back shutouts? The girls that have been tasked with holding the back line are holding up against some very good offensive teams. There were two very strong legs opposing them on Saturday and they kept the ball out of their own net by clogging up shooting lanes all day long.

Development Areas—

Initiative: Not sure if the heat had anything to do with it, but we struggled with beating the opponent to the ball. The girls were out-played in the initiative department on several occasions early on, which made it difficult to generate much offense.

Kickball: There has been a tendency of late to boot the ball out of a 1-on-1 or 1-on-none situation, which almost always turns into a turnover. Rather than punting the ball forward for the sake of clearing it safely, we like to see more attempts at ball-handling in order to make more accurate passes later on in the play.