This morning’s game was the first and only early morning game of the year for the Crush. It was extremely overcast and pretty chilly, but once the girls started the game, I’m sure they appreciated the weather. Especially considering we were missing three of our players for this game (Julia Guesnon, Victoria Gaither, and Isabela Escalante), so we only had two reserves for the entire game. Things got even tougher later in the game when both Judy Kang and Caitlin Weber had to come out due to injury.

Because of this lack of reserves, many of the girls had to play the entire game. I was very proud of them, because they never quit even when many of them were tired.

This game was mostly dominated by the Crush, with the ball mostly in the Conquest’s side of the field. We took many shots on goal, of few of them just missing. But, we did manage to get one ball in the back of the net, and that turned out all we needed to win the game, as our defense was stout once again. After two games, we’ve allowed zero goals and really only two shots on goal.

Last week, Korah Rose scored her first goal ever in her first game. This week, Hannah Skrentny scored her first goal ever as well. I find this hard to believe, but Hannah has been playing since around Kindergarten and this was her first real goal in a game. Way to go Hannah!

Korah had a few shots on goal that didn’t quite make it past the goalie, but she played a great game at right forward, where she played the entire game without a break. I’m pretty sure that the goal we saw last week is not going to be Korah’s last of the season. Korah’s tough play helped earn her the star of the game patch. Dawn Ye, playing in just her second game ever, almost scored as well, shooting just wide.

Like last week, the play of the week was a tough defensive play which helped to preserve the win. This play happened immediately after Hannah’s goal. On the kick-off, the Conquest kicked the ball downfield and Caitlin Weber attempted to kick it in the air and swung and missed the ball completely. The Conquest was able to kick the ball again and there was a deja vu moment when Vidhi Sachdeva tried to kick it in the air and swung and missed the ball completely. At this point, the Conquest forward was able to run down the ball and it was a foot race between her and our goalie Adrienne Lampo to the ball. Luckily for us, Adrienne is fast and fearless! Adrienne came out of goal and pressured the forward, which made her shoot wide and away from danger. Nice job Adrienne!

I was able to get more video this time around, so make sure to check out the videos section. Both Kaitlyn Tran and Meenakshi Pandiarajan got some nice passes caught on video. Check ‘em out.

Patch Distribution:
Victory patch: The entire Crush team
Goal patch: Hannah Skrentny
Assist patch: Korah Rose & Adrienne Lampo
Defender of the game patch: Emma Young
Hustle patch: Adrienne Lampo & Makena Woon
Star of the game: Korah Rose

Samantha Denton - Caitlin Weber & Julia Guesnon
Jillian Weber - Judy Kang
Brittany Jimena - Korah Rose
Sydney Place - Vidhi Sachdeva
Megan Hooks - Adrienne Lampo
Rachel Menziuso - Emily Ball
Claudia Menziuso - Hannah Skrentny
Erika Shen - Makena Woon
Victoria Karlson - Jeanina Farmer
Isabella DeSanti - Isabela Escalante & Kaitlyn Tran
Kaitlin Lord - Emma Young & Meenakshi Pandiarajan
Alicia Seronio - Dawn Ye
Vidhi’s little sister - Victoria Gaither

Welcome to my first blog entry for the U12G Crush.

Although this was the second week of the season, the Crush played their first game this Saturday. The Crush started out a little tentative and the first five minutes of the game was spent on our defensive side of the field. But, our defense held tight and never gave the Cyclones any clear looks at the goal. Once the Crush started warming up, they played the Cyclones evenly throughout the rest of the first half. Judy Kang took a great shot late in the first half that was just wide of the goal, which was the closest either team got to scoring in the first 30 minutes. Victoria Gaither played a very solid half at left defender and pushed all Cyclone attackers to the outside and never let them near the goal. Considering this was the first real game that Korah Rose, starting at right defender, Dawn Ye, playing left midfielder, and Makena Woon, playing at center midfielder, have ever played, I was very happy to go into half time with a 0-0 tie.

To start the second half, Korah Rose moved from defender to right forward, and brought a new intensity to the Crush’s attack that was very obvious to see from the sidelines. Adrienne Lampo moved from goalie, where she did a nice job in the first half, to the important center midfielder position where she played with hustle and fearlessness. Emma Young was called for being offside twice early in the second half, and one of those calls negated a very pretty goal that Emma shot past the goalie. Just a little while later, though, Emma sent a nice pass to Korah, who finished with a shot that just made it by the goalie for the one and only goal of the game. As mentioned before, this was Korah’s first ever organized soccer game, so this was especially impressive for a new player to get a goal in her very first game. Way to go Korah!

The rest of the second half, the Crush managed to keep the Cyclones from scoring, but there was one play in particular in which they very nearly had a clear shot on goal. Late in the second half, the Cyclones had a midfielder make it past our right defender, Jeanina Farmer. The midfielder passed it up to a forward who dribbled the ball all the way down to Victoria Gaither, our second-half stopper. As Victoria went to challenge the forward, Vidhi Sachdeva came to help out, but the forward managed to get by both of them. All that was left between this forward and the goal was the second-half goalie, Caitlin Weber. An instance before the forward took the shot, out of nowhere, Judy Kang, who was playing in the stopper position, flew in and kicked the ball away. That play most likely saved the win for the Crush, and was definitely the play of the game. Check out the play in the videos section. Check out Judy throwing her arms up in triumph after she kicks the ball away! Very funny! Korah’s goal is kind of in the videos section as well. Unfortunately, the video wasn’t too great, but you can see the aftermath of Korah’s score.

Patch Distribution:
Victory patch: The entire Crush team
Goal patch: Korah Rose
Assist patch: Emma Young
Defender of the game patch: Victoria Gaither
Hustle patch: Dawn Ye & Makena Woon
Star of the game: Judy Kang

Crush Families,

While on a 22 mile skate this morning, I had plenty of time to think, as you may imagine, and I thought of something that might be kind of fun for both of my teams. Both my girls are part of a summer swim team called the Aqua Bears. One of their favorite things about the Aqua Bears is that they get to have a little buddy (or a big buddy if you are a younger swimmer). I realized that I could easily create something similar since I’m coaching both my U9 and U12 teams on the same days back-to-back. So, my thought was to pick at least one day (maybe more if the girls really like it) where the U9 girls stay after practice an extra 15 minutes and the U12 girls come to practice 15 minutes early. I can then have the girls meet their buddies and spend some time getting to know each other. I talked to both of my daughters and they thought it would be a fun thing. They were both coming up with pairings that they thought would go together well.

So, I would like to find out from you all how many of the Crush would be willing to come early one day (probably Thursday Sept. 25th if there is enough interest) in order to meet their little buddies. I have 12 little girls and 16 big girls, so some of the big girls might have to share, but I don’t think that will be a problem.

So, what do you think? If we’re going to do this, I’ll probably have the little girls bring a sports drink for their big buddy and have the big girls bring a snack of some sorts for their little buddy. If you are interested in participating, please let me know what kind of sport drink your daughter likes so I can let their little buddy know. Thanks.