I went to Colonie expecting to win. We had a good practice Thursday and I thought we were ready. Then the game started, and it was clear to me that we weren't ready. Our intensity level was again low and our throwing, catching, and ground ball pickups were just plain bad. The only reason we stayed in the game the first half was excellent defense by Amy at the top of the zone and good play by the entire defense when they got the zone set up (as opposed to when we were in transition running back to play defense).
The second half was much better. Catherine made a lot of good saves, she cleared the ball well, and Amy went back on offense and helped move the ball up the field consistently. Daniella did a good job running the offense and ran 3 plays that we hadn't even praticed yet (I explained them to a few attack players on the bus ride over to Colonie).
It is worth mentioning that both of the refs were new (they told me this when I went to talk to them at halftime) and had only a beginner's understanding of the game (so far this year we have had good, experienced refs). They missed 2 propelling calls which would have erased 2 Colonie goals and given us the ball. They failed to call shooting space on Colonie numerous times (which would have given us free positions on the 8m arc each time). They failed to give Jordan her free position shot at the end of the first half because they didn't undertsand that the clock stops on every whistle when there are 2 minutes or less left in each half. When you add all this up we get close to a tie game if the game had been properly officiated.
What we need to work on: intensity, clearing the ball, getting the ball down the field to our offense as quickly as possible, a more structured attack.
