The Earthquakes played their final game of 2008 at 2:00pm today in the mist and the rain. The Earthquakes knew going in that if they won the game, they would win the U9G San Ramon Championship, and they clearly played like they wanted to win that championship.

The extremely vocal coach of the Explosion screamed at his girls to double team Jillian Weber, who was playing the center-mid position, but less than 10 minutes into the game Jillian got the ball in the center of the field with most of the Explosion team on the left hand side of the field. Jillian then drove to the right and had probably the most impressive goal of the season with a strong blast up and over the goalie’s head with authority. Wow!

Soon afterwards, Megan Hooks scored her second goal of the season finishing off a ball that Samantha Denton brought down near the Explosion’s goal, who earned an Assist patch. Megan did a great job of running right to the ball between two defenders and taking it directly to the goal. She didn’t hesitate or try to make any fancy moves, either of which would have resulted with the defender stealing the ball from her. It was a very impressive goal for little Meg. Nice job!

There was no more scoring in the first half, thanks in part to the Earthquakes tough defense. Victoria Karlson did a nice job at goalie, stopping all shots and getting some nice punts off. Both Brittany Jimena and Erika Shen played the entire first half at defense and were a big reason why the Explosion were shut out in the first half. Both girls have proven to be my most reliable defenders this year and I truly appreciate all their hard work. Defender isn’t always the most fun position to play, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s the most important.

In the second half, Sydney Place knocked in her second goal in as many games. Sydney lurked behind the goal box waiting for the Explosion’s goalie goal kick. As soon as the ball made it out of the goal box, Sydney came up and kicked it in for a goal.

A little while later, Victoria Karlson brought the ball deep down into the Explosion’s territory and Samantha Denton, playing center-mid perfectly, ran down to help in the attack and when the ball popped out in the open, she aggressively went for the ball and made a nice goal, which added to her impressive goal total for the year. Sam’s goal rounded out the Earthquakes scoring for the game.

Late in the second half, the Explosion got behind the Earthquakes defense and took a shot that got by the second half goalie Megan Hooks. The shot wasn’t very strong and Megan dove at the ball in hopes of keeping it from going past the goal line. She almost made it, but the ball squirted out from under Megan for the Explosion’s first score. Megan got a little banged up so we needed to make a goalie change. Kaitlin Lord volunteered to play goalie, and although she hadn’t had much experience at goalie against a good team, I figured that with a 4-1 lead and the game almost over, it wouldn’t be too dangerous to have Kaitlin back there.

Not liking the fact that the Explosion just scored a goal, Jillian Weber almost demanded to play center-mid in hopes of getting that goal back. Well, in almost no time at all, the Explosion got beyond the midfielders and took another shot on goal that went straight to Kaitlin, who seemed to stop it, but somehow the ball bounced off her and into the goal. Just like that, the score was now 4-2. Jillian then informed us all that she was going back to the Stopper position.

Kaitlin was obviously not comfortable playing goalie, but I decided to leave her in there. As it turned out, she didn’t allow any further goals, but it wasn’t without some nervous moments. Kaitlin was a good sport about it and I’m glad she was able to finish out the game at goalie. Final score was 4-2 with the Earthquakes holding on for the win.

All in all, this was a great game and an even better season. I couldn’t be prouder of our girls and how they have progressed this year. They are all good girls and I thank you for letting me have the chance to get to know them. I’ll see you all at the little jamboree next Saturday from 1:00-3:00pm and then at the end of season party at 6:30pm at the Crow Canyon Round Table Pizza.

Patch awards
Victory Patch: the entire Earthquakes team
Goal Patches: Jillian Weber, Megan Hooks, Sydney Place, Samantha Denton
Assist Patches: Samantha Denton (for Megan Hooks’ goal)
Blood Patches: Isabella DeSanti & Megan Hooks
Defender of the Game: Erika Shen & Brittany Jimena
Hustle Patch: Alicia Seronio
Star of the Game: Jillian Weber, Erika Shen, & Kaitlin Lord