5A Powers Battle

 Game 8: (6-1-1)
28 September vs. Southwest at Saint Thomas Aquinas (1-2 in 2 OT's)

Obviously the result is disappointing for several reasons: 1) we were a man up throughout the overtimes. 2) we had a bunch of clean looks at the goal and did not finish 3) we got to play this match on our field. But it was a great match between two very talented teams. And we will meet again when it will mean a lot more. So

We thought it would be quite a battle in the middle of the field, and it really was. Both teams can put 3 big-time center midfielders on the field.

We were looking for someone to step up at outside midfield/wing forward, and Joey Pollock really did. He played hard, won balls and put us in position to score a couple.

We did cash a corner kick on our put-back secondary ball—but overall we are not dangerous enough on our set pieces. We are going to have to put in some work on those for the second half of the season.

Although, I will say that our final corner resulted in a perfect headball by Welsh to the back post where the Timberwolves's got a nice save by their post defender. And then less than a minute before the match ended, Kitts just missed scoring on a give-and-go with Young that ended with a Young back-heel that put Kitts into the 6-box before a great keeper save.

And so often those near-misses lead to chances going the other way. SW mounted their final attack from the middle of their right side with Peterson finding a beautiful through ball that blindsided our left centerback. Muck couldn't quite get there in time to stop the quick shot by Diggs. 

Their first goal was more down their right side as I remember and looked a lot like a T-ball. We will have to look at the video to see what need to shore up! But that final goal was pretty nice execution by them, and they were a man down at the time. Near misses and great execution—that's soccer.

The first half of the season is officially over as we go 6-1-1.  Obviously, we would take that in the second half, but that will be quite a tall order as you look at what we have in front of us—beginning immediately with our Thursday trip to Burlington for a National tourney where we open against pre-season number 3 in the country Naperville North.

STATS:

First Half:

Saints:  Shots: 8 (3)  Corners: 2 (Konnesky 2)

Timbers: Shots: 3 (1) Corners: 3

Second Half/Overtime:

Saints: Shots: 17 (8) Corners: 6 (Young 4, Ryan, Welsh)

37:25 Young (Garcia plays the corner back-on)

Timbers: Shots: 9 (5) Corners: 3

31:20 Peterson (Patel slides the ball)

5:30 2 OT Pechar (Peterson through)