U13 A v Craigclowan

A lot of our training time this week has focused on dodging and on catching the ball high in the air and landing without footwork faults. We have worked hard at this and I think it was probably the clincher for us in a tough game against Craigclowan this afternoon.

Craigclowan came out strongly taking us a little by surprise. Although, we moved the ball well using square and straight passes to our D, the first 2 goals did not go our way. However, Tunrayo and Esme soon got into a rhythm with Esme positioning herself under the post ready for the ball. We ended the first quarter at 6 goals each.

In the second quater we swapped on Miranda and moved Esme into GA. Anna directed the game from the Centre. She was having to play a high game with lots of leaping and against a really feisty Craigclowan Centre but she kept her cool and played exceptionally well. Miranda found her feet and shot 3 goals this quarter. At the other end our defence was doing great work in frustrating some extremely tall shooters. Lucy, Maddie and Anika worked well as a team and crucially reacted fast to get the ball away from the goal once they had possession. We started to edge ahead.

In the third quarter, Judith came on with Tunrayo to shoot and was unflappable staying focused and making some incredible shots. In the final quarter we knew that we had everything to play for. It was amazing to watch how focused the girls were and also how supportive they were of each other. No one tried to dominate and everyone played as a team. Miranda, her confidence up managed 5 super goals.

At the end, none of the players knew who had won. It had been a tightly fought contest. Everyone played their best game and it was a real team effort.

Final score Cargilfield 27, Craigclowan 25