Week Six Highlights.

The U4 Slime had a great game with very good play from everyone. Maddox lead the way early by picking up a rebound off of someone else's shot and putting it in for a goal. Very smart play there. He also did some excellent work playing defense in this game. Ashley had two goals, a season high for her, and Diego had a pair of goals and two assists as well. Abby had her first big kick in a game and I hope that's just the start for her.

The Sharks were really fired up for their match against Nico and the Black team but unlike their last meeting the Sharks didn't allow their excitement to take them out of their game. They played with the same poise and teamwork that we've seen in the previous three games and the result was an overwhelming barrage of goals. Austin was leading the way again and has developed a new level of speed with the ball that is amazing. On his first goal he was approaching from the right corner and ran into at least two defenders. When he got past them along the wall he took four or five incredibly quick steps and was on top of the goalie in a second. From there it was an easy shot. Sam E. had a goal later on that was a beautiful example of anticipation as he came streaking in from the center to put in the rebound of a shot Jackson took from the left side. What's amazing is that Sam just barely managed to be the first Shark to get there as Austin and Elizabeth both saw the same play developing and were both headed for the same spot. That was Jackson's second assist of the game. He and Austin and Elizabeth have really gotten the hang of how to take the ball wide then come back to the center as a kind of set play.
Everyone else played well too with lots of great work in defense and a lot of very confident dribbling and passing. The starting line-up of Brandon, Braiden, Aiden, Ryland, Kendall and Luke threatened to score repeatedly and did great work keeping Nico and his fellows out of our goal. I think next week we'll change the line-ups to try to get some of our players a bit more time with the ball.

The Wave was playing their toughest opponent and that seemed to get into their heads even before kick-off. I should have seen that coming and tried to prevent them from conceding the game before the whistle even blew but I didn't. They practiced so well last week and so many of the players have shown great development of their individual skills that I thought they'd be coming into this game with a new confidence. But while there were some good moments in the game and some smart play there was also a lot of panicked play. I hate to see that but it happens and I admit I don't really know how to get them past it other than to just keep working in practice on their fundamental skills and try to build their confidence.