Rochester Pride - RSC Lightning '96

RSSC Lightning 3 – GPSA Breakers 1 Grosse Point Breaker and Lightning both entered the match today undefeated so this promised to be an exciting game and great competition. That proved to be the case through the 1st half as both team created their own chances but neither was able to break the ice. The 1st half highlight came when Breakers were awarded a penalty kick halfway through the half. Bella was in goal and settled onto her line to face the shot. There was nothing half-way about the Breaker player’s shot. It was driven well and with force. But Bella was equal to the task, getting both hand up and behind the ball to deflect it up and over the bar to deny Grosse Pointe the early lead. The half ended in a scoreless tie. That great save was only the harbinger of the amazing day Bella was to have. Early in the 2nd half coming out of the back, KK spotted her with space up the right side of the field and fed her the ball. A couple of touches into space and then Bella took the shot from outside the penalty area and bent it over the keeper into the far side panel. Her second goal came several minutes later. Grosse Pointe continued to press and made it a one-goal game with about twelve minutes left. Shannon was then assigned to man-mark the Braekers’ go-to player and deny her any further opportunity to possess the ball or get shots on goal. She performed the task to perfection. With that particular need addressed, Lightning began to have a bit more success again with ball possession and movement. Then with about 5 minutes left, the insurance goal sealed the deal as Bella completed her hat trick to top off a milestone performance. Great Job everybody. Defense, your rock solid outings are the catalyst behind our ability to attack with force. And all of you, you keep getting better game by game in all aspects. The ball movement and vision you are playing with this spring is at an entirely different level than even last fall. Your communication is great and it is all resulting in you playing the best team soccer yet. Keep up the great work. .

RSSC Lightning 5 – FYSC Flash 2 It was a lean and trim Lightning roster that traveled to Fraser this weekend with 5 players out either sick or with previous commitments. But that did not rattle the team in the least. With Carley K back in goal for Lighting, Shannon, Bella, Kari, Maria, Taylor and KK took care of business on the field. Rotating the single sub every 2 & 3 minutes to keep everybody fresh, the team played with exceptional focus, creativity, and a wonderful combination of toughness and fineness. Use of support, switching the field, quick combination play, team communication – all these aspects of the game that make a team play great, were in evidence today. It was Carley K, with excellent shot stopping and an uncanny accuracy in distribution (only 1 punt over half-field), it was KK patrolling the back with skill and confidence all game long, It was Bella, Kari & Maria partnering up with KK on defense in their turn and making the defense rock solid. And then those three with Shannon and Taylor up front passing, combining, attacking and creating havoc for the Flash defense and keeper. Goals resulted in abundance and Flash seemed like they didn’t know what hit them. Two of my three favorite moments of the match though had nothing to do with the goals. The first was and amazing combination sequence started from KK in the back and then continued between Bella & Maria all the way up the right flank as they tic-tac-toed their way through the Flash defense – I think coach Sandi & I counted 6 one-touch & two-touch passing movements in that sequence which resulted in a corned kick for us. The second was Kari’s goal and the reason I loved that one so much was because of the pass that led to it – from way out to the right of goal near the endline and the ball was beautifully played at a back angle (just the way we worked on it last week!) and Kari, correctly in a great position was able to one-time it home thanks to that great pass. (I cannot remember who mad the pass though – let me know so I can write it here). But the single most memorable moment of the day (possibly the season so far) was when a Fraser player tried to send a long ball into our end but hit Kari square in the face from only 4 yards away (the ball was hit so hard that it rebounded 6 yards the other way!). If I had had more than an instant to digest the moment, I’m sure I would have began to wonder how badly she was hurt and asked the ref for permission to enter the field and check on her. But I didn’t have that amount of time to worry because even as the ball was bouncing off her face and heading the other way, Kari just started LAUGHING. And then she went and collected the ball and passed it across the goal. Coach Sandi (who is a plenty tough player herself) just looked at me in amazement and said “Wow – now that’s tough.” Yeah. Tough, creative, skilled, finessed, focused, technically strong, tactically solid, communicative – you girls were all that stuff today and more. I cannot praise you more highly for such a great outing. All I know it this: If I were the Fraser team, here’s what I’d be thinking… “Geez! If that’s only half their team, how in the world are we ganna be able to play against their entire team!?” Well, we don’t need to worry about answering that question for another few weeks. Just for now, let’s keep up the fantastic work and get ready for this weekend’s homestand against Lobos and Grosse Pointe. See you on the training fields. .

RSSC Lightning 2 – BYSC 1 Lightning took a well-earned victory from Berkley today to complete the home & home sweep. It was a tighter match today than last week’s wide open lots-of-goals affair. Lighting opened up the scoring with a laser of a shot that grazed off the crossbar and was redirected almost straight down to the ground… BUT it did cross the endline to count for the goal. Berkley came back to tie it with a very nice goal of their own. Lightning once again carried play throughout the match and created numerous scoring chances, many of which went just wide – a function of those tiny little hockey-sized goals. The game winner came from a converted PK. Carley K., playing as a passcard guest from Coach Dani’s team, chalks up her first win in her first appearance as Goalkeeper for Lightning White. Two goals to take the victory today. Two strong wins to open up your season and take the spring series against Berkley. Fantastic Job Girls! Tomorrow we’re back home against Bay Area. Can't wait. .

RSSC Lightning 5 – BYSC 3 Lightning opened up the spring season with a convincing win over Berkley Storm. Passing was sharp, and the Lightning attack was potent. Defense was solid while the primary defenders were taking care of business. Once we started switching things around however, Berkley broke through to tie up the score 3-3. Fortunately, once adjusting back to the roles best suited for the players, Rochester put the hammer down and finished the deal with two more goals and no more quality chances allowed to the opponent. Great Job girls. Way to open the season up. .

RSSC Lightning '97: 4 - Rush Swoosh (Northville): 1 RSSC Lightning '97: 4 - Birmingham Springboks Green: 1 RSSC Lightning '97: 2 - Plymouth Lightning 97 Green: 1 RSSC Lightning '97: 4 - Birmingham Springbok Black: 0 (Semi-Final Match) RSSC Lightning '97: 7 - Plymouth Lightning 97 Green: 0 (Championship Match) Rochester's U-10 girls soccer team, RSSC Lightning '97, won the Autumn Blast Soccer Tournament in Petoskey, Michigan over the September 9, 2006 weekend. They started the tournament of the 12-team field on Saturday with a 4-1 victory over Rush Swoosh (Northville, MI). Their momentum and enthusiasm carried over to later that day as Lightning beat Birmingham Springboks Green 4-1. They came out charged on Sunday as they defeating Plymouth Lightning 2-1 in a closely conteted match, and Birmingham Springboks Black 4-0. RSSC girls won the championship game later that day in a rematch against Plymouth Lightning 7-0. I am so proud of you girls. You played absolutely beautiful soccer this weekend. It was great fun to watch and I know it must have been great fun to create. All your hard work is showing. Your work ethic, your intensity, your individual skills, your team movement ?all of it were spot on all weekend long. I think?no, I KNOW a big reason for your victory in that last match was your fitness level. This is where your daily individual work is paying off. Now (I hope) you can see where all that bouncing comes into play. Your strength, endurance, touch and concentration (all factors that are being worked on if you are doing your homework as suggested) all stayed very sharp as the opponent's faded. That Plymouth team is a pretty good team, as they showed in our first match-up. But by the time that 3rd game of the day came around, I'm certain that fatigue was a major factor in their difficulties keeping pace with us. But because you are dedicating the 15-30 minutes every day to your touches and skills, your fitness came into play and you were prepared and were able to stay far more fresh and alert as the minutes piled up. There is not a whole lot more to say, except keep it up. I love coaching you and I am very proud of you. See you later this week.