Rochester Pride - RSC Lightning '96

(late submission) Another outstanding effort and strong showing from this Thunder’90 team during the Global Tournament last week. Friday nights game matched us against Novi Jaguars. Out of the 3 matches this weekend, this was the one we’d like back. Novi were on us quick and scored twice before we really began to hit stride. Once we did settle into the match we did a nice job of staying with them but still had trouble creating much for ourselves. . . that is until the 2nd half, when Emily stepped onto the field. Emily stepped onto the pitch with purpose and fire and determination and came one foot away from scoring a goal 30 seconds after she stepped on. She really lit a fire under the team and the intensity and level of play increased dramatically for the remainder of the match – and Novi knew they were in a game. Unfortunately, it was just a bit too late. 2-0 Novi, which is not a bad result against this quality premier team. But it just feels like one we could have taken... not should have, necessarily – but could have. It felt like one that got away. We need to find that fire in the 1st minute of play, not the 45th. Saturday, we seemed to learn our lesson and came out strong against North Macomb Fireballs from the start. And while we carried play for the 1st half, the match remained scoreless into the half. During the 2nd half, we were able to pick it up a notch. The opening goal started with a brilliant piece of individual hustle by Meredith to save a ball that would have been a throw-in for the opponent. Then to Kelly, then to DC who took it down the length of the field, beat her defender and crossed the ball. Hillary got the ball at the back post area, but without a shot available to her put it back across the face of the goal again, where DC got on the end of it and tucked it away. The second goal began back at our own 18-yd area. Kelly won a 50-50 ball and played it wide to Hannah on the left. Hannah then played a great weak side ball over Olivia, Hillary and DC into space on the right. Meredith stepped up to take the ball and carried it down the length of the field and put her cross perfectly into the red zone. Meanwhile, Hillary, Hannah, DC and Olivia were busy making runs and had the goal perfectly framed just as Meredith’s cross was arriving. Olivia put the 1-timer on for the finish. An excellent match by everybody. Sunday, came another strong test in the form of Canton Quest. Quest is another premier team and we knew that we must be perfect defensively and pick our spots for counter attacks because if we got lazy or unfocused even for a second, Quest is one of those teams who will take advantage of those sorts of mistakes quickly and make us pay. Canton pressured hard all match long, as we knew they would. We had a few decent chances of our own but weren’t able to capitalize. It was a tense, hard fought, well played match the whole way through and Thunder’90 were every bit up to the task! We were focused and alert and hard working and sharp. And Jessica and Emily were stellar in each of their halves as goalkeeper. Christina, Kelly and Hannah were brilliant in the back. All the mids did GREAT work getting back and not allowing any unmarked players to run through. The result was a scoreless draw and a simply outstanding showing against a very high quality opponent! Thunder, you have passed all test this weekend with flying colors! Now, we stay focused, pick it up even more and get ready to step into the league-season in top form. You look fantastic right now. Think of everything you’ve put into your season so far. Let’s not let all that work go to waste by taking our eye off the ball just as we’re about to begin the most important part of the year. 3½ weeks to go. 8 games in those 3½ weeks. You’ve worked SO hard to get to this point. Do not let up, girls. Not for one day. Not for one minute. Not for another 3½ weeks.