Game 3: vs. Lee's Summit North

29 March at STA, 2nd Round of Mo-Kan vs. Lee's Summit North (0-1)

Well, here is the good news. We were much, much better tonight. We played a legit Top 50 team in the country, and we played well against them.

We looked as if we were heading into the second shootout in this year's Mo-Kan, but we fell prey to a late attack where our depth on a punt went south. One bounce seemed to catch 3 of us flatfooted and not prepared to tackle. It was one nice punt, but we just can't let it bounce. And then . . .

But the best part of the night saw the improvement in the middle of the field with one less center midfielder. Denning, Sesti, Galley and Loughman divided time pretty evenly, and they all did such a nice job of first winning the ball, then moving it forward and to the outside of the field frequently. 

Woltering just owned that outside midfield spot. She had a game.

Yes, we need to generate even more than we did tonight, but seeing how we just threw a new formation at the girls on GroupMe, then just played it without a second of practice—that does bode well.

We did not generate that much more than we did last night on the stat sheet, but we controlled possession of the match, and we created dangerous situations. We had 4-5 times when we almost scored, 2-3 where we should have scored. So, very positive.

BWhite is staying with his go-to Player of the Match as he once again names Caroline Romme as the BWhite Player of the Match. He does give a shoutout for both Moss and Woltering with an asterisk on the second half that Denning put in. But hey we got great play from so many tonight.

Onward!

STATS: First Half:

STA: Shots: 5 (3) (Klanke 2, Woltering, Moss Loughman) Corners: 1 (M. Heying)

LSN: Shots: 4 (2) Corners: 0

Second Half:

STA: Shots: 5 (1) (Klanke 2, Moss, Galley, Romme) Corners: 2 (Klanke, Pigott)

LSN: Shots: 2 (2) Corners: 3

2:41 Palmentere (takes the through ball beating our DCM and our Centerbacks before placing it near post.

Game 2: Mo-Kan Round 1

28 March at STA vs. Sion (0-0 with Saints losing in PK's 3-2)

Well, it has been a long time since we slid into the loser's bracket of Mo-Kan, but there we rest after a tough loss in a match in which we held Sion scoreless.

We did find a very good back line during the match with the move of Caroline Romme and Hania Crow to centerback, and we also found out that Alex Moss can play that defensive center midfield spot. In fact, BWhite named Romme as the BWhite Player of the Match. She moved to the back, and she played well there.

But in the front half of the field, we really struggled.  By moving Romme to the back, we left our outside swing position unsettled.  And we have to get better play in the middle of the field both at regular center midfield and at the top of the diamond. We created only 3 corners for the game with only 8 shots for the match. We did not attack the width as we discussed in pre game. 

Sion was as hardworking as we expected them to be.  We also helped them generate some offense, creating 3 corner kicks for them. They did get a couple of other balls into the front third, one right in front of the goal with about 3 minutes left in the match. Thankfully the shot found sky. 

Probably the most disappointing part of the match was the shootout in that Sion only cashed 3 PK's.  We missed on our first 3 opportunities, yet the match still came down to the final kicker. And she blistered it, leaving no doubt. Hats off to Nicole McEnroe for a nice PK save to keep us alive in the shootout. And both Mallory and Kristina hit their PK's. 

With a similar result in the first game of the day, we now find ourselves playing #26 in the country, Lee's Summit North (another Top 50 Team), tomorrow in the loser's bracket. So we will get a chance to earn a quality win, and we will get a chance to show some growth in the front third of the field. We know this year will be a marathon, not a sprint as we are not even settled in a starting lineup yet. We know we must be a lot better on set pieces as well. It's our trademark. We will get this figured out. We have enough talent. 

STATS: 

First Half

Saints: Shots: 4 (3) (Klanke 3, Moss) Corners: 1 (Romme)

Sion: Shots: 2 (1) Corners: 1

Second Half: Shots: 4 (3) (Klanke, Galley, Linder, K. Heying) Corners: 3 (Klanke, Crow, K. Heying)

Sion: Shots: 1 (1) Corners: 2 

STA Shootout: Klanke, post, Denning saved, Sesti saved, M Heying, goal, Colling, goal. 

Sion Shootout: Goal, Goal, Saved, Wide left, Goal. 

The Shootout

Game 1: Gardner

23-24 March at Gardner (3-0)

This first match of the year began one day and ended the next. We traded 42-mile-an-hour wind for 17 and freezing temperatures. I guess we came out ahead. 

This did have all the trappings of a first game.  We were flush with opportunities, but a little off on our shots, our framing, and our runs.  We also need to be way more productive on deadballs.

For the most part, Gardner lacked any real opportunities to score. They did have a deadball from the top of the box, but the shot went right to Allyiah. We also provided them with a corner kick.

For us the match became a lot of us getting acquainted with one another and our tendencies. We start 6 new players with some of our returning starters playing different positions: Hania is playing defensive center midfield, and Marge is playing regular center midfield. So that is like 8 new starters.

BWhite named Marge Pigott as the BWhite Player of the Match as she was our most steady influence at center midfield.  Just watch that first goal to see how she turns away from pressure on the weak-side ball rotation before perfectly finding Mallory's feet.

And what a nice debut for our freshman forward. Hallie found twine twice, and she got the assist on the other goal. She was part of all 3 goals. She got 11 shots off, almost half our shots for the match. We will take that.

Freshman Kyli Jackson also had a nice varsity debut, playing most of the match at left back and centerback. She hit feet, making good decisions with the ball on her foot. Alex Moss did a good job of communicating with her new back line with Colling and Linder playing well back there too. 

Coach Cochran is doing a great job with that Gardner program as they are much improved. Good luck to them this season.

STATS:

STA: Shots: 25 (11) (Klanke 11, Loughman 4, Pigott 3, M. Heying 2) Corners: 6 (Romme 3, M. Heying 2, Pigott)

1:18 Klanke (tremendous ball rotation starting with Moss to Loughman to Pigott who turns beautifully before finding M. Heying)

37:25 Klanke (Loughman wins 50-50 ball dribbles through before slotting Klanke on the left)

10:31 Romme (Marge finds Klanke down the line allowing her a air cross to the back post that benefits greatly from Sesti's going up in the air to compete with the defender)

Gardner: Shots: 2 (2) Corners: 1

Game 0: Blue-Gold 1, 10 March

10 March for Blue-Gold 1 (Saints 2, JV 0)

Well, we finally launched 2016 with our six new starters surrounded by many other new faces coming off the bench. The BWhite Player of the Match was one of our returning starters, but she was playing in a different position for us in much of the second half.  

Hania Crow, ALL EKL, center back off last year's state title team opened the second half at defensive center midfield, and that was a pretty nice stretch of 10 minutes where we held possession, and attacked the goal, finally putting two into the net.

Freshman forward, Hallie Klanke was part of both of those goals.  After another strong throw-in from Mallory Heying that Hania Crow found her feet on, she slipped a ball to senior Mary Sesti, who then grounded a nice shot home to the back post. Moments later, on another one of her bursts into the box, she got fouled just outside of it. She drilled the dead ball, bending it towards front post. Quite a goal.

JV did give us a pretty good battle, especially in their midfield where Dalinghause, McCormick, and JV freshman, McGilliard, had some standout performances. Also Chyna's presence in the center of the defense with her bodying up on our central players thwarted many an opportunity. Speaking of standout performances, freshman Natasha Crow just gets better and better every day in the goal.

Although we did not score during that first 10 minutes of the entire game, we did offer up some very nice possession that moved us as a team forward. We attacked the baseline well, creating a couple of balls off the post and a beautiful Romme t-ball into a dummy and a Denning goal that was called off for us being slightly over the end line.

We will try Blue-Gold 2 after the nice long break. But that Wednesday we open, with the Monday after that, starting the Bob Durig Mo-Kan.

STATS:

Varsity: Shots: 21 (7) Corners: 7 (Linder, Colling, Woltering, Romme, Klanke, Geiger, & Loughman)


Sesti: 37:47 (M. Heying's long throw gets played back in from Crow to Klanke who traps, turns and finds Sesti moving towards goal)

Klanke: 35:16 Romme finds Klanke on the Throw-in, but she is fouled just outside the box.

JV: Did create a corner, and did launch a shot, one that Allyiah made quite a save on.

First Half. No shots, no corners

Second Half: 1 shot (Chalabi),  1 corner

STAT Worthy Notes: of our 12 T-balls, Klanke create half of them; Hallie also got 4 shots off, as did Loughman and Mallory Heying; Addie hit the post twice and then scored on another shot that was called off because the crosser had gone over the endline.

Sort of an over-celebration for a 2-0 Blue-Gold Win