Tonight we celebrated our seniors and their commitment & achievements within our program. The conditions were far from ideal but we persevered and got a late win. It was great to celebrate our kids with a game against a local school, Villa Joe has been incredibly successful under Rich Finneyfrock, and it was a pleasure to play them again tonight, as expected it was a very competitive game.
I thought our first half was pretty good tonight, but a combination of conditions and decision making meant we couldn't find the final pass or finish to take advantage of our play. I don't think either team really tested the GK in the first 40 minutes. I did think we were more dangerous with the ball and at half time we stressed to the girls to be patient and continue to try and keep possession to find the openings. In the beginning of the second half VJM had more possession and more territory but as the half went on I felt like we were starting to gain momentum. In the last 10-15 minutes we created a couple of opportunities, most notably with a few minutes left when Mia Cairone hit a low near post shot that forced the VJM keeper into a great save. With less than 30 seconds left we got a free kick at midfield that Danielle Eden hit long, Kate Thomson was able to flick on to Mia Cairone who got through a crowd and lifted the ball over the keeper for the win.
We are happy with the win, but more importantly we got an opportunity to celebrate our seniors, Jayne Bogle, Danielle Eden, Ella McAleer, Ella Needham, Caitlin Peiritsch, Emma Ralston, Kate Thomson & Alyssa Tyler are all 4 year players in the program. Their commitment over the 4 years has been superb, as coaches we have seen first hand the benefits of their leadership with our younger players this year. We wish them good luck next year, but we would like to play a lot more games this year first!
Aside from our seniors tonight I was really impressed with Tavi Copestick, we lost on Friday v CB East but Tavi was excellent, and tonight she was very good too. Her toughness and willingness to do what was needed is very noticeable in tight games.
As we get back into league play in the final 1/3 of the season I think we have learnt a lot on what is necessary for us to be successful, our losses have been close and we've also been able to pull out a couple of close wins. These experiences will hopefully give us confidence as we head into the final stretch before playoffs.