Weekend Review

An interuption in my daily blog after spending 2 days in bed sick I thought i'd give a brief weekend update to keep you all up to speed on the latest goings on.

Well lets start on Friday and the opening game of the regular season.  Despite not sleeping well and waking at 5am in part to my beautiful kids who were obviously as nervous as I was the day would bring my first career win and a winning start to the season which we haven't done for many years. The build up to the game went well and 2 hours before kick off I had the realization that I needed to calm down and know that everything we had prepared for was in place and now it was a matter of letting the players go out on the field and do their best. 

What a game!! I felt that the first half we allowed LIU to dicate the tempo of the game and the constant stalling was not helping us get any rhythm and consistency in our game.  There were not any clear cut chances for either team and despite us having the greater possession they had the edge in shots on goal.  After a goalless 90 minutes we went into overtime and by this time I felt we had established a grip on the game but still could not get the breakthrough we needed.  That being said we were also worried that a counter attack from LIU could give them the breakthrough and so it was a very nervous overtime.  The first period saw good chances to end the game for LIU and us but 10 minutes went by and we were now into double overtime.  At this point I had tried many different things to try and get that elusive goal but all had come up short and so the introduction of Holleran was the last straw ans we wanted a natural left footed player on the left to hopefully get some better service.  The rest is history as they say, the breakthrough came and a golden goal from Ranalli and assist by Holleran saw us get the win and finally the game was over.

I have to admit I wasn't really sure what to do when the ball went in.  I looked to the scorer table just to make sure it was still golden goal, then the referee to see if he signalled the end of the game and lastly to the bench which had cleared so then it finally hit me we had won.  For my first career win it couldn't have been anymore dramatic.  Moving forward I hope we don't have too many games that we take into double overtime otherwise my hair color will start to resemble Coach Lidster's. I can't say enough about the players and how hard they worked throughout the game.  The contributions of players coming off the bench the support from players on the bench and the resilience they showed to get the first win.  Congratulations is thoroughly deserved.

Saturday
Practice in the morning went well and we got the chance to spent time with Alum Bruce Heon and his u13 Mount Laurel Unitd Boys team who were at the game Friday and spent some time with the players on Saturday as they took some PK's on Almodovar, most scored, and we showed them the great facilities at Mount Vernon.  Thanks for the signed T-Shirt and good luck for the season.

Saturday Afternoon saw the whole team helping with move in on the Foggy Bottom Campus welcoming new and returning students back to school.

Sunday
Despite spending the previous afternoon and evening in bed sick I was able to make the practice which Coaches Felix and Irizarry ran but was quick to get out away from the players as I returned home to go back to bed for the rest of the day and night.  Maybe the stress of the job finally got to me but I hope to be ready for practice Tuesday as we plan for Mason on Thursday.

Here are some links for more info on the weekend you can also visit www.GWsports.com
http://www.gwsports.com/sports/m-soccer/recaps/082412aab.html

Magic Moment of the Day/Weekend
Golden Goal Winner by Team Captain Ranalli