A gutsy win tonight against a tough opponent. It was a game of two halves really, WC were much better than us in the first half but after the break I thought we were much improved and were the better side.
They started aggressively and played some really good soccer, their ball movement at times was excellent and we struggled with their movement, they scored mid way through the first half and they fully deserved to be leading at half time.
During the break we talked a lot about our communication and how we needed to be more aggressive in the second half. The girls took that on board and were a different team, we pressed higher, won more 50/50s and we were much more dangerous going forward.
Sydney Linus served a great corner kick and Audrey Rogan was able to head home to tie the game, we had a couple more opportunities from set pieces but we couldn't quite finish them.
I felt like we had the momentum going into OT and with 2 mins left in the first OT Rogan was able to find Mia Cairone who quickly turned, beat two defenders and slotted home the winner. This was Mia's 50th goal for CRN in less than 60 games, a great achievement for our program. We're hoping she gets a lot more too!
We played 18 girls tonight, we have some injuries to manage so utilizing all those players is a plus for us, and the contribution we got from all 18 was excellent. A few girls stood out in their performance this evening, Isabel Diaz was excellent on the outside for us, she covers so much ground, and is a real threat as an attacker. Amber Yuan was asked to play a completely different role in midfield in the second half, she played great and looked like she'd been playing there forever. Alexa Pikul had to sub on quickly after a yellow card and did a really solid job in the back instantly.
Wining the opening game of the season is always pleasing, but I think we were happy tonight in the adjustments the girls made and the grit and determination they showed in the second half of the game to get us there.