Well, it was another hard battle for the u12 Wildcat Warriors this week against Johnston.That the first half of this game was some of the best soccer I have seen, not just from this team but from this age group, period. The Warriors were passing well, communicating on the field, and were staying spread out and playing positions.The team went down 2-0 early, but woke up after that. Kelsey McCaughey went on a nice solo run and answered with an unassisted goal to bring the Warriors within one early in the half. Johnston put in another goal not long after, to make it 3-1, but again the girls rallied together.Nicole Darling gave a well-placed assist to Natalie Harter who finished nicely with a one-touch redirection, and just like that it was 2-3 at halftime.
The second half was another story, The idea of winning this game set in and the Warriors forgot to play the team game it had been working on in practice. Johnston’s powerful shooters seemed to get just enough room every time they were in the box to put a hard, low shot on our goal.On offense, the Carlisle side couldn’t seem to string together those well-placed passes that were allowing chances in the first half. Also, the players stopped playing their positions and went back to bunching up and crowding the ball. The game with a 2-8 loss.
Positives in the game were first-half passing and communication on the field. Also, goal keeper Elyse Overton had another strong showing, managing to save two penalty kicks in the game, one that flew over the goal and another that she was able to deflect from her line. "I am excited to see what happens when the Wildcat Warriors play two consecutive halves like the first one from this week," said coach Manny Garcia. "it will be a sight to see!"
On Sunday it was a tough U12 matchup on the pitch between the Carlisle Strikers (right) and the team from Southwest Iowa.The job of goaltender for the whole game was led by Connor Hage. He played an outstanding game in net, only letting one get by him in the first half and two were able to sneak by him in the second half. The defensive attack was led by the two “iron men,” Dylan Reed and Alex Benhart. Dylan, aka Energizer Bunny, never stopped hustling the whole game. He used his great foot skill and speed to get the ball down to the forwards. Alex had several great defensive steals from their forwards to get the ball down to the offense. He hustled after everything to keep the ball from getting close to his goal.
The Strikers’ offensive attack was outstanding with several players showing lots of foot skill and passing to the open man to get shots on goal. Bradley Thorpe led the offensive attack with several shots on goal with two of them going in the net. Kobi Sadler also used lots of skill in making good passes, one of them to Bradley to assist on his goal. Kobi also got several shots on goal with one going into the net. He was assisted by Bradley who made a great cross pass to Kobi to put the ball in the back of the net. Also showing great foot skills and speed to get some great shots on goal was Ryan Dille. Konnor Fisher also showed hustle and foot skills to keep the ball on the offensive end. Also on the offensive attack were Tyler Baker and Jack Van Veen who made some great passes and ball movement down the field. Skylar Morris showed his great speed on offense getting past the defenders to make some great passes and shots.
The final score of 3-3 showed what a hard fought game it was by both teams. It was a great first game by our U12 Strikers.
The u9 Thunder Cats hit the field at home, wielding a balanced offensive attack against Soccer South on Sunday. The ‘Cats got on the board quickly with Carson True scoring off a beautiful cross from Jonathan Kamerick.Carson scored two more including an outside right foot shot and a solo run from midfield. Soccer South came back to score two more goals of the foot of their skillful forward. Michael Comstock put another one in the back of the net off a deflected shot by Hunter Oppedahl. Soccer South slipped another shot past keeper Nate Rowray before the half. In the second half, Hunter placed another shot into the goal off a short cross from Carson before the Southside team scored another. Jack Wilson scored the final goal for the ‘Cats off a touch vertical pass up the middle from Wyatt Kruse. The Thunder Cats yielded two more goals before the end of the game, despite some hard nosed defense by Zach Hoagland, who continued to display a deft touch in the defensive third of the field, and Samuel Overton, who quietly shut down several attacks. The ‘Cats will work on their defense again this week in training sessions so they can lock down the star attacker they seem to face week in and week out.
The u13 Crush played a home game against Ankeny. It was an unusual game for the girls as they had a slow start, letting their opponent beat them in nearly all aspects of the game. Kaleigh Haus would spark the team late in the half as she took advantage of weak coverage in the middle of the field and scored on a break away goal. The team woke up and started to pass, out hustle and be more physical than their opponent.
The team carried the new confidence into the second half and started to dominate the game. Katy Rick would put another ball in the back of the net from a loose ball in the box. Then Kaleigh would score another, with her back to the goal, off a volley shot perfectly placed over the keeper. The CRUSH would also put one in the back of the net for the other team off an unlucky defensive clear before the half would end. Though not the prettiest game the CRUSH would play, they where able to regroup to put the Ankeny offense off balance and put one in the win column with a 3-1 victory. Players of the game included Morgan Fox for outstanding shoulder tackles and physical play; Kaleigh Haus for outstanding touch on the ball and situational awareness; and Sierra Andreas for consistently taking the ball to space and amazing speed.