Day 3 and beyond....

It's good to be back home but it's much earlier than we planned. Wednesday's game was bright and early, 8am kickoff. Pleasant temps and no wind.

The girls faced off against the Clash, and even before kickoff we had a little oopsie, as one of our girls left their jersey back at the hotel... Fortunately the Clash pulled out their jailbird jerseys and problem solved.

The girls seemed pretty focused and we kept the ball on their end of the field for the majority of the time. Pretty much an anticlimatic game, we got on the board with a free kick that the keeper misplayed, it went through her hands... ouch... The second goal was off a corner that a few girls put their bodies on, in the end it was really hard to determine who put it in as it seemed to dribble across the line.

We did get a scare near the end of the second half as Tara was streaking down the sideline with a defender on her hip, feet got tangled and they both went down hard. With both on the ground, coaches huddling over them, the paramedics visited the field. Fortunately neither one was hurt, just some hard knocks.

After the game everyone kicked in the alternate plans, flights home, rebooking hotels in LA and the like.

It was good seeing the State Champs play one last time together, now it's time to roll up the sleeves and get ready for a new season!

Day 2 notes...

The second biggest gripe I've got about this event, after the location (Lancaster, why Lancaster????) is T-shirts. The souvenier t-shirts go for $20, but they don't seem to have enough, even on the 1st day. We were warned about getting them early as they sell out. They weren't kidding. Stupid money grubbers....

Lancaster is in the middle of the scrublands. As Megan and Jordan will testify... watch out for the prickly bushes!

Day 2

arrghh.... 10:00am game, the girls looked a step behind. Ended up dropping game 2 to Las Vegas Premier, 0-2. The game started with some inital promise, with a couple looks at the goal, Rachel has a nice header toward goal, but the Nevada keeper makes a nice stop to prevent the goal.

Maddie had a nice shot on goal but hits the cross bar. Nevada starts shooting at our goal a few times and things are getting nervous. They finally get on the board on a 2v2 attack, our keeper tried to clear the ball but it's blocked by the Nevada player and she dribbles it in for the goal.

The second goal was scored on a nicely placed free kick by Nevada, upper right corner. On the play Sarah gets a card, but it really looked like it was a 50-50 ball, just the collision looked pretty spectacular.

In the second half we start pressing hard but the Nevada team keeps putting the ball up over the top, hoping to put us away...

Nevada ends day two with 2 wins, 6 points, Cal North ends a win and a tie 4 points, so we're pretty much out of it.

Monday PM - end of the 1st day

The EFC teams had a good day, the G96R, B94R and the B92R all won their first games. The G95R team tied 0-0 vs. Mustang Fury.

A quick recap from a few of the players:

Today’s game was tough: the wind was strong, the ref had challenges, and Mustang was physical and violent. Plus, they won Regionals last year so, as you can guess, they had some skills. But, we hung in there despite #11… (see pic)
Anyways, the defense stepped up and we ended up with a tie. So, ya, that’s it…The End.

From our defense:
They were very feisty players, and how the ref didn’t see all the cleating and shoving from the back I have no idea… ha. #11 slid cleats up into our goalie and the ref didn’t call it, even though it was inside our box. Plus, the ref ejected our coach for getting a little bit mad about how one girl on Fury kicked our defender in the face.

update: (ed comment - not sure what exactly happened with coach, but the girls will be ready for tomorrow's game with or without the coach)

The game started out in the sun but the cloud cover quickly blew in by mid-1st half. The temperature dropped, or so it seemed, we were all bundling up on the sidelines.

The wind seemed to really carry the ball, on throw-ins and

on the punts especially. The 1st half the wind was in our favor but we never got a good look at the Fury's goal. Mid field play and the defense of both teams limited the number of looks.

The second half we were working against the wind, the girls continued to work hard but the Mustangs seemed to have several quality looks but fortunately their shots seemed to get carried away by the wind. A big push by the Mustangs in the last 5 minutes and a spectacular save by Corey to prevent a shot blasted to the right post preserved the draw.

Monday - EFC G96R

Up early Monday morning, the '96 girls played at 8a vs. WSA, the Washington Wildcard. They fell behind 0-1 mid-way through the first half, but 2 quick goals in the final 5 minutes of the half to surge ahead. The second half they pressured hard and were rewarded with two more goals. 4-1 final.

Last notes from Sunday

Thanks to the foraging capabilities of some of the mom's dinner was held on the patio, but with the disappearing sun and wind chased everyone indoors.

Arrival

We're here in Lancaster. Acutally Palmdale. The team join several other teams in the club that travelled down to Far West Regionals. We sort of took over the Hilton in Palmdale.

Weather is pretty nice, a contrast to the nasty stories about the heat. With the breeze conditions, it feels like the mid-70's.

We took a brief view of the fields, a brisk 20mph wind was blowing across the fields, making it feel colder than it really was.

The girls were greeted back at the hotel with some swag, the best thing was the energy bar.

Dinner is being held "al fresco", with of course salad to start with..

Countdown to Lancaster

The countdown continues for our fun filled, no-expense paid trip to Lancaster, CA to the Far West Regionals. The team, after winning the state title, has been cruising along. Club tryouts provided a test of everyone's will as the team formation changed a bit from the one that won the 2009 Championship. But everyone that was on the State Finals roster is making the trip to Lancaster. Hurray!

When we proudly boast, "We won State and now are going to Regionals in Lancaster."

The retort is, "Where the heck is Lancaster?"

Weeellll.... it's here: http://www.cityoflancasterca.org/

For us not in the know, there is an excellent soccer facility hosting Regionals http://www.lancastersoccercenter.com/

As of today, the weather forecast is for moderate temps. Good news for us.

There will be a bit of down time between games (we're schedule for one a day... lots of down time). I've created this blog to help those that were unable to make the trip. This blog combined with a few photos will keep those interested up-to-date.

So what's there to do in Lancaster/Palmdale? Doing a quick Google... fishing the LA Aquaduct sounds fun.... huge striped bass. I guess there's the obligatory trip to In-N-Out Burger. Catch a few movies.