Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Hinckley History!!

Tonight the Ladies Reapers did battle with the Hinckley Royals and what a game it was!  When this program first started, Hinckley was our first game ever.  We lost to them that night 0-14.  Since then we lost to them every time but large amounts.  Tonight we tied them 0-0!  This was awesome.  Our defense as a team was simply fantastic.  We were communicating as a team.  We also were able to present ourselves as an offensive threat to Hinckley which has never happened before.  Our goalie came up big tonight making some great saves, sometimes in one on one situations.  Very very proud of our team tonight on this historic night.  When the game ended the ladies felt like they had won the game, and in a sense they did.  They were able to prove to themselves and this team that they do have what it takes to compete.  I see a lot of potential in this team.  We still have a lot of work to do, but tonight we enjoy our hard work.

Monday, April 4, 2011

Mendota Recap

Tonight the Lady Reapers battled Mendota.  It was a very windy, very cold match.  Last year, Mendota beat us 0-7.  We knew they were a good team, but the team really relied on one key player for their offense.  Tonight Mendota's play again filtered through their key player, which we had a hard time shutting down.  The final score of the match was 0-5, and that one player was responsible for 4 of their goals.  However, despite the score, I walked away from this game proud of our girls because we possessed the ball tonight.  We were intentional about passing and creating offensive possession.  I saw a lot of good things that I had not seen from our girls in prior matches which really got me excited.  So, girls, do get down, be proud of the progress we made tonight.  The girls worked very hard and I am proud of their efforts tonight.

The JV battled on to a victory, beating Mendota 1-0 in their match.  Again the jv were able to create many good opportunities on the offense which allowed Claudia Macias to put one in the back of the net.  Way to go girls!!

First Game Week Recap

During the past week the Lady Reapers began their competitive play.  The varsity played three matches as well as the jv team.  The weather was very cold and somewhat windy throughout the entire week, not exactly the best soccer weather.  Despite that the ladies did pretty well.  Varsity lost to both Grant Park and ACC 0-2.  In these games our defense was very good, but we struggled to create offensive opportunities.  Against Yorkville, a 1-1 tie, we were able to play much better offensively.  We were able to create several scoring opportunities and finally able to capitalize on one of them with Amanda Corral scoring the season's first goal. 

The jv team also saw some good things.  They also lost to Grant Park and Yorkville, but again we saw some good things there.  Passing and possession were pretty strong in these matches.  The jv team picked up their first win of the season on Saturday as they played Spring Valley Hall.  They won 3-2.  All three goals were scored in the 2nd half, 2 by Claudia Macias and 1 by Mara K. 

Both the varsity and the jv team's have a lot of inexperienced players on them.  However, what we have seen in the past week makes us hopefully for the rest of the season. There are many good things that we can build upon in the weeks that follow.