| The Scotts Valley Falcons girls varsity soccer team continued their play at the Tri Valley Soccer Tournament on Tuesday, December 20th with their second game of the day. The fourth scheduled game of the tournament was going to be another challenging test for our team because we were now fighting the adversity of several key injuries to starters. Our opponent was against the Amador Valley Dons from Pleasanton, California. The Dons have a student enrollment of 2600 and had a 2011 preseason record of 2 wins, 3 losses and 0 ties going into the tournament. The Dons final record in 2010-11 was 7 wins, 11 losses and 4 ties. The Dons have a very good girls varsity soccer program and played extremely well in the tournament against some well respected and talented opponents. The first half had the Falcons coming out and competing with the Dons. The Falcons were playing good defense but the Dons were very patient with their building an attack. The Falcon midfielders played well battling for the ball and trying to manage the middle of the field. The Falcon injuries had taken a toll on the offense and defense. In the 38th minute of the first half the Dons scored on a solid shot from approximately 15 yards out on a ball that was freely bouncing across the front of the Falcon goal. The half ended shortly there after with the Falcons having 4 shots on goal while the Dons had 4 shots on goal. The first half ended with the score being, Falcons 0 to the Dons 1. The second half had the Falcons trying to defend against the ball control and management of the Dons. The Falcons worked hard at trying to maintain their formation and intensity. The Falcons were able to keep the Dons from scoring when they put another 4 shots on goal in the half. The Falcons managed to add another 2 shots on goal in the half. The final score ended up being, Dons 1 to the Falcons 0. Falcons having a good game were goalkeeper junior captain Emily Johnson. Also playing very well was sweeper junior Rachel DuBridge, stopper senior captain Kalynn Morano and forward junior Kacey Lilly. Having a good game at the midfield positions were junior captain Madison Black, senior Ranae Maloney and sophomore Lena Gustafsson. Forward senior Sonja Gustafsson also had a good game. I want to thank the Tri Valley Classic Tournament and our opponents for the excellent competition. The competition challenged our skill, fitness, mental state and physical state. We faced adversity that improved our character. We competed with some talented teams with energy, skill, effort, heart and perseverance. We look forward to regrouping, making some adjustments, more training and preparing for our conference games after the first of the year. I want to thank all the players for competing like Falcons and giving a good effort. This learning experience will only make us better and wiser in future games. |