Saturday, November 3, 2012

Thank You Seniors and Post Game Thoughts

This evenings game was the last game of our Fall season and we hoped that we could end with a win but unfortunately it wasn't to be.  With Charlotte needing to win to claim the regular season A10 title we were not going to give it up that easy after winning it last year.  I thought our dreaded curse had hit again when Higgins and Ross colliding in the pre game warm up but luckily they both recovered to start the game.

We started slow which put us under pressure from the start.  Just under five minutes and we had given away another silly free kick and we paid the price from the resulting restart to go down 1-0.  After still being under pressure the players showed a resilience that has not been there in many games to absorb the pressure and finally get a rhythm of our own.  I felt the penalty decision was well deserved after a spell of attacking pressure from ourselves and Rudolph playing his final college game slotted the ball into the back of the net after sending the keeper the wrong way on the PK.

Second half was more of a defensive display and occasionally playing quickly on the break and looking for set play situations that had caused so many problems for them in the first half.  It seemed that the game would be heading into overtime when Charlotte found the back of the net to take the lead and see them to victory with less than 5 minutes to go.  OUCH!

A disappointing end to the season but I was very proud of how the guys played today and thought we at least deserved a tie.  It was unfortunately the last game for our seniors, Rudolph, Abaie. Almodovar and Ripperger-Suhler and a big thank you goes out to them for all their efforts throughout their careers at GW.  I am already looking forward to playing with them next year in the alumni game and I hope they have enjoyed being part of the program.

Now its time for our 7 hour bus ride home, lots of movies and hopefully a nap

Magic Moment of the Day
Our seniors!!!!

Friday, November 2, 2012

Back on the Road and Movember

With Coach Pasquinelli not able to be at practice on Thursday due to a broken toe (so he says) I was able to work with the GK's for the first part of the session and dedicated the majority of the time too working on crosses.  An area where I think all our keepers have struggled with this season and an area where we need improvement for the game Saturday.  With Almodovar back in the mix we have 4 goalkeepers fit which is almost as many as the outfield players.

During and after practice today (Friday) the number of players fit for a short moment had increased by one but by the end of the short session we had lost a keeper with Farrell not being able to shrug off the injury that kept him out last week, Aberiajn pulling out due to a hamstring injury that will see him remain at home and Khan is still out after last Fridays injury.   We did get Sandland back so the final score is
Fit GK's 3 -  Injured GK's 1
Fit Players 14 - Injured Players 6
For these last few weeks I have changed the definition of fit otherwise we would only have ten 100% Fit field players:
"FIT"
 -someone who could possibly play for longer than 15 minutes
- has an injury but is going to try and play anyway.

Onto something else as I'm sure you're fed up of hearing me complain.  I have finally gone for it.  With it being Movember I have decided to become a MoBro for the month and try and grow a moustache to raise awareness of prostate and testicular cancer and mens health issues.  I hope to give you photo updates every couple of days so you can see my progress and hopefully make a small donation.
DONATE NOW!!

We have just got back on the bus from another top drawer restaurant choice by Coach Irizarry called Darryls.  As we finish the ride down to Charlotte with an over full belly I write this Blog on the bus I cannot tell you after last week how happy I am that this is our last away trip.  I am disappointed for the players and myself that this will be our last game as it means we have not been successful in achieving some of our goals and playing in the post season but I believe we have achieved many goals and we will build on that moving forward.

Magic Moment of the Day
Holleran putting the moves on Coach Irizarry, he has recovered and I have to commend him on his choice of restaurant for dinner.