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Monday, 01 June 2009 07:22 |
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SJA Community: Wow. Lady Thunder capped an extremely long and rugged season by taking the 5A - 1A state crown on Saturday in a 2-1 win over Aquinas (here is the link to the media site in the SJA girl's soccer website, if you want to read all of the articles from day one of 2009, through the state championship: http://www.sjakeepingfaith.org/thunder-in-media). My guess is this rematch has been quietly building in a lot of people's minds since our early season matchup. The only thing both the early game and the final proved is that there were two great teams battling it out, trying to exploit each other's weaknesses, finish their chances, and not make mistakes. I thought we played tremendous defensively, and challenged everything in the midfield, limiting any dangerous opportunities, especially in the first half and down the stretch second half. It's just a fact that Aquinas will pressure the corners and get their corner kick opportunities, nobody does it better. We weathered the storms wonderfully in both halves, from a corner kick perspective. I knew we would hit a point in the second half where Aquinas would make their push, which usually begins with their strong midfield trying to establish control...which I thought they did for the first 15 - 20 minutes of the second half. I thought the play leveled off for the rest of the game, but not without Aquinas creating some great chances. Washburn hit a cannon of a free kick to make it 2-1, and missed a close range head ball in the last few minutes that could have changed everything. At the same time, we had a number of great chances to extend the lead, which would have helped me from a health standpoint. We had a number of opportunities in the first half, Rachel scoring two. I had hoped for four, knowing the talent on the other side. Senior leadership was huge...Rachel's relentless pressure and finishing was as good as it gets Saturday. Nia was phenomenal, all over the midfield, Bloweys were as steady as ever, all over the defense, and Erin...she was just all over every where we needed her. The keys to our win: Bend but don't break, don't give the ball away at midfield, keep legs fresh, capitalize on opponent mishaps, finish chances...Great win against a great team! We'll continue the senior love fest (all eleven players/ managers), and also celebrate the accomplishments of the rest of the Lady Thunder soon at the end of year banquet! Your support this year has been incredible...On behalf of my amazing coaching staff...thank you thank you, thank you! God Bless, Coach Enna
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