I was hoping this might be win #2. The bad news is that it wasn't. The good news is that it could have been... if we had played perfectly (the score was only 4-2 at the half).
The good: Before I get to what needs work, let's review what we're good at:
1. Running. Lydia, Courtney, and Megan can pretty much run through an entire team all the way down the field (probably Margaret and Taylor too, though they haven't had as many opportunities). Not the best strategy, but it's nice to have those abilities available.
2. Defense. It's more or less impossible to get past Rachel Mollard. Jenna covers pretty much every cutter in the 8m arc. Chloe is quick and has good instincts. The core of our zone defense is pretty darn good.
What needs work:
1. Passing. I liked the fact that we did more passing than ever before in this game. A few times the ball moved down the field very quickly. This is good. But about two dozen passes were cleanly intercepted by AvPark. Right out of the air. This is because the passes were weak (slow, high arc) and telegraphed (the other team knew where they were going or our player wasn't open).
Also -- all those fast people I mentioned above ... if you run the ball all the way down the field and a teammate is open, PASS TO THEM.
2. Catching. Dropping the ball kills the attack. This happened to us a number of times. This is something you can be working on during any free time you have. Find a wall and throw and catch. The only way to get better in this area is to train your muscles through repetition.
3. Ground ball pickups. Av Park got the ball more than we did. We kept overrunning the ball and not getting low. We need to sprint to the ball, slow down, box out the defender with our bodies, and then get low and pick up the ball (stick is parallel to the ground, drive the back hand through).
Player of the Game: Mackenzie was aggressive and on the ball all game. She took a charge (as part of a wall with Rachel Mollard), had a couple takeaways on D, played her position well in the zone, and was constantly moving the ball from the D side to the attack.
Next stop: Bethlehem
