| Mid January and the temperature was 70 with barely a breath of wind – seemed hotter than summer in Monterey! Before the Christmas break we were struggling to stay warm, now we were baking on the sidelines! The heat seemed to have the Cougars in a fugue – passing without looking, not communicating, and ball watching and reacting – not anticipating. The back four of Isabelle, Jess, Seaira and Ashley had a lot of work to do, even if most of the Greenfield through balls were easily dealt with by Sarah Griffith. After 10 shots on the Greenfield goal, the Cougars finally opened the scoring in the 26th minute when Jackie delivered the ball to Kate; a step to the right, a cut to the left – in the back of the net! Minutes later, a hand ball in the area yielded a PK - Kate struck well, but the Greenfield goalie read it for a great save. The momentum continued for the Cougars; Daniela struck off a deep penetrating pass from Isabelle in the 29th, again Daniela found the back of the net in the 31st minute off a ball from Jackie. Kate made it 4-0 at the half from Vita’s midfield support in the 32nd minute. The Cougars opened the second half wanting to play good soccer! Working the right wing, and later up top, Sarah Morris emphasized the fact that size means little in the game of soccer – the bigger they are, the harder they fall! Ashley continued to impress with her second Varsity game. Isabelle took charge of the counter attack out of the back with 2 attempts on goal and 4 assists! Something set Jackie on fire in the 65th minute when she went on a 4 goal scoring spree! Despite spending a lot of time on the bench in the second half Kate and Daniela both raised their goal tally to 4 each for the game. Freshmen Genevieve and Sarah Morris both had opportunities to score denied with a Greenfield defense pulling nine players back behind the ball on every Cougar attack. Seaira, Eliza, Mary and Kellee rounded out a great performance from the Cougars. The game began with 3 starters out due to injury or illness, and finished with 3 of this game’s starters on the bench allowing developing Varsity players the opportunity to play. It’s not a great statistic to beat an opponent 12 – 1, but we train to score goals and pounce upon any opportunity. To approach a game in any other frame of mind would be counter-intuitive to our training and counter –productive for competing against our major opponents in league and CCS. GO COUGARS! |