A Loss and A Victory

Two weekends ago my little girls were badly defeated 5-1. This was an "easy" game and we should have won. Sure it was an early game and it was raining (almost pouring in the second half), but this was the same for the other team. This loss hurt a lot more than our pre-season loss of 4-0. The girls had come out like a whole new team and we had a win and a tie in two very exciting games at the beginning of the season. The girls had shown that they could play hard and aggressively, and they were starting to come together as a team. Thus, to lose so badly in the third game of the season to a team we should have beat (at least according to standings), I felt a little let down and helpless. The girls didn't lose because they didn't have the skill to match the other team, they just didn't have the desire to play nor the fire to win. At half time all I told them was that if they wanted to play hard and win, they could still come back from a 3-0 deficit and win the game. They played a better second half but it wasn't enough.

This weekend we won 3-0. It was a great game to watch. The first quarter was spent on our defensive half, but after a while the girls stepped it up and the goals started to come. This was definitely an exciting game to watch and to coach. I was happy with a 2-0 lead so I started moving the girls around to different positions. We have 14 players on the team and if I want to have no one sit out more than 1 quarter, only 2 players get to play the whole game. And as much as I would want to play my super strong players (especially the defensive ones) the full game, every game, I need to rotate which 2 players play the full game.

Go team!