We are very happy with the game today. It's been a slow start to the season with only having played 3 games and the outcomes have been disappointing for us. We made some lineup changes this week and tried to help simplify our ideas. While today was far from perfect it was our best team performance so far. Our back line of Sara Tyler, Riley Hamilton, Morgan McCaffery & Kyra Delsignore were very solid, Danielle Eden in goal was excellent and they were heavily supported by Kate Thomson & Lexi Fischer off the bench.
VJM are always a tough game, especially in the middle of the field, Lindsey Bennett and Maddy Crozier are both excellent players, but today I thought Marlena Ries & Ella Needham matched up really well in there, competing for every ball and keeping their offense off balance.
Both teams had half chances throughout the game, some dangerous set piece moments, but the wining goal came when Jayne Bogle beat her defender on the outside, served a cross that just missed a header, then Taylor Brennan managed to chase it down a serve it again for Mia Cairone to flick a header over the keeper. With only 5 mins left we still had to defend well, and the girls did a great job of seeing the final seconds out.
A number of girls today gave us a spark and quality minutes in the heat, Delaney McCaffery & Shannon Liedl did well and I thought Alyssa Tyler was excellent up top. Our slow start means that we now have a tough run of games coming up, we relish the challenge this presents and I know the depth of our roster will be tested.