Rochester Pride - RSC Lightning '96

RSSC Lightning'97 6 - LOBOS 2 Lightning opened up the league season on the road with a very strong showing against LOBOS. Constant pressure and take one skills produced a 6-2 result. Goals and assists came from all over the roster and Bella & Carly shared goalkeeper duties.

Lightning packed their bags and took their show on the road this weekend to the beautiful Michigan North. With great determination and heart, Lightning’97 fought and battled against their bigger, older opponents and in the process claimed runner-up standing in a talented u-10 pool. Round-Robin Play: GRASA Magic'96 (Grand Rapids) 8 - RSSC Lightning'97 0 Lightning opened up at 7:30 Saturday morning against an incredibly strong team from Grand Rapids. Magic were to take the championship for the age group. They were a big strong and fast team. To play such a high quality u1-0 team was a very good experience for Lightning so as to see how much we can raise our own level in just the next year. SCOR'96 (Rockford, MI) 2 - RSSC Lightning'97 4 Saturday evening, Lightning played a strong match against Soccer Club Of Rockford and walked off with a convincing 4-2 voctory. RSSC Lightning'97 5 - NSA'96 (Northville) 4 Heading into Sunday’s match against Northville both teams knew that this was a must win either team to advance to the finals. Northville came out strong and scored 2 early goals. This team, however, is learning very quickly all about character and determination. In the second half, Lightning scored 3 unanswered goals to take the lead. Down the stretch, the game was a nailbiter as Northville drew level once, and then again after we scored our 4th goal. Finally, with only about 2 minutes left, Lightning put home the game-winner and claimed a huge upset win against a u-10 Northville team that had assured the Grand Rapids coach that they would see them in the finals. Autumn Blast Championship Game GRASA Magic'96 10 - RSSC Lightning'97 0 Well, what can you say about playing an extremely good team? We walked into a buzz-saw for the Championship. Grand Rapids had only gotten better as the weekend went along, winning their other two round-robin matches 9-0 and 10-0. And they did not lose their focus against us in the least. Magic continued their strong play and rightly won the match. But that is not the story. WE PLAYED GREAT! Against 3 older, bigger and stronger teams we played fantastic all weekend long – even those matches we lost. The Grand Rapids coach had wonderful things to say about you girls. And so do I. I love everything about this team so far. You are playing with great passion. You are putting your growing skills and knowledge to work. You are improving with each outing. And for your efforts look what you’ve accomplished so far: A semi-final showing at Dearborn, being eliminated by the eventual champion. A first place showing at Troy. Even though Troy doesn’t hand out trophies at your age group, yours was still the best performance among 10 teams with a 4-0 record, and 22 goals-for and only 3 goals-against – that’s pretty amazing. And a Runner-Up standing here at Petoskey to claim your first-ever piece of hardware (and outstandingly well-earned at that!). I couldn’t be more proud of you, girls. And the reason I’m so happy for you about this weekend’s result is that you’ve truly earned it. Every player will get to keep the trophy at home for a week (taking a cue from the NHL). After that, we’ll have it placed in the RSSC trophy case. So now we turn our focus to league play. We have Global tourney in two weeks, but before that we have league matches this weekend against Lobos and Star. The tournament have been fun. But let do remember what tournaments are for. They are tools we use to prepare us for the league season. So, yes, we’ve done well. But let’s make sure we put all that good work to use by putting it all together now when it matters. Great job everybody. Let’s keep it up.

Lightning strung four brilliant games together this weekend to claim top standing in their age group at the Troy City Classic. Rochester went 4-0 on the weekend with over half the roster contributing with goals, even more with assists, solid defensive play and great turns in goal taken by five different players. RSSC Lightning 3 – Waza 2 The first contest of the tournament would prove to be Lightning’s strongest. Play was pretty even in the first portion of the game. But as the first half progressed, the girls started hitting stride and tallied two goals. Waza answered with a goal of their own to make it a 2-1 game at halftime. In the second half, Lightning scored early to give themselves a cushion that would prove crucial as Waza scored one more and continued to press in search of the equalizer. But Lightning rose to the task, denying the equalizer and taking away a well-earned 3-2 victory. RSSC Lightning 10 – Bloomfield Force 1 The second match of the afternoon featured a game against our very dear friend Taylor Lambouris and her new team Bloomfield Force. This was an amazing performance because every five or ten minutes of the contest, Lightning seemed to push the level of their play up a notch higher. At the start, it was pretty even as both teams were moving well and working hard to win the ball and move the ball. But after the first goal, thing really seemed to pick up for Rochester and Force seemed to start playing a bit on their heels. Things just snowballed as the game went along and Lighting kept increasing the pressure more and more. As I said, it seemed that every few minutes, as the confidence and awareness of the players continued to grow, the level of play kept rising in kind. It was a masterful showing and very possibly an epiphany game – or what I often refer to as “bicycle moments”. That being the moment where the players make that leap from knowing in their head what can be done only because they seen it done or been told about how it can be done, to really understanding and internalizing the thing and making it a part of them. And just like learning to ride a bike, once learned, it there forever. Time will tell if this is true, but this could be the game I look back on at the end of the year and say “there is where it really started”. RSSC Lightning 5 – Genesee Star 0 Sunday against Genesee Star, Lightning picked up where they left off Saturday offensively, and tightened up their game defensively to walk away from the day with no goals allowed. Five goals and another solid performance put Rochester one game away from a perfect weekend. Passing, individual ball skills, team communication, defensive responsibility – all of it was being put to good use. Lightning carried play the whole way through and the result was never in much doubt. RSSC Lightning 5 – TSC Blue 0 The final match against Troy very much mirrored the previous match with all the same strong work ethic and skill being brought to the field by this special group of players. And as it should be when hard work and good skills are combined with full effort and focused attention, Lighting emerged from this match the winning team again, and with this victory, the top team in the age group. After the tournament, Lightning all gathered at the Cerny home for a cookout and outside theater night. It was the perfect way to wrap up a perfect weekend. Girls, you cannot imagine how pleased and proud I am of how you are coming along. I love the work you are giving at your training sessions. I love the effort you are putting in everyday at home. I love your attitudes and the way you are bringing the lessons from training onto the game-field. I hope you are seeing how much all your hard work pays off. It’s still very early, but keep putting in this sort of effort into everything you do, and I promise this will be an amazing year for you. Great job EVERYBODY!!! Next up – Petoskey.

Lightning opened up their 2005-2006 season in strong fashion at the Dearborn Invitational. On deck for Saturday were 2 games. The first game of the year was against Saline Sting. From the very start Lightning carried play and never relinquished control of the game. Passing was crisp. Communication was great. Players were using take-on moves and ball skills and players were looking to all portions of the field for opportunities. Rochester scored two early goals to establish control before giving one up about halfway through the half. Lightning bounced right back with two additional goals before halftime and sealed the win in the second half with two more. Maria Zandi and Kari Lewis combined in goal for the 6-1 win. Livonia United were next up in the afternoon. Lightning came out a little slow for this match and struggled with the crispness and speed of play displayed in the first match. We had difficulty clearing defensively and it cost us several times. But despite our troubles, we were able to craft some nice attacks in certain stretches of the game and tally 4 more goals to edge out United 4-3. Emary and Bella shared Goalkeeper duties this match. Sunday’s match was exciting because both Lightning and Sunday’s opponent, Livonia Meteors, entered this last round-robin match with two wins and no losses, so we were fighting for the right to move on to the Championship Match later that day. Lightning once again showed that speed and effort displayed in the first match and were matching Meteors step for step as the match progressed. But although we were playing well (and we were), this meteor team was a far strong opponent than we had yet faced… and they were playing well too. Late in the first half, Livonia got their break and broke the scoreless tie to give themselves a 1-0 halftime lead. The second half was just as hard working, just as sharp, and just as exciting as the first. We had our chances, but Livonia were up to the task and kept the scoresheet clean. Livonia popped in their second goal with about 7 minutes left. With five minutes left, coach ken decided to pull Maddie S. back onto the field from her goalkeeping turn in an effort to try to steal a quick goal or two late. During that changeover, Livonia pounced on the chance to score another last goal while we were still getting sorted. The third goal totally counts against the coach, not the team. Kari Lewis and Maddie Schupbach and, late in the match, Maria, each gave outstanding turns in goal. Livonia would go on later that day to win the Championship game. So we lost to eventual champion – that’s not so bad. But even more importantly, we PLAYED very, very well against the eventual champion – and that’s GREAT. We had two brilliant games, and even in the one game we struggled, we found a way to get the job done. Girls, I am so proud of you and the effort you put into this weekend. You’ve been working very hard for a month, and this weekend you put that hard work to use. This is a lot to build on. And if you keep working this hard, and if you keep bringing that work rate and effort to the game field, it is going to be a very special season indeed. Well done all of you. Next weekend: Troy City Classic. Let’s get to work.

Good work this week everybody. Take the weekend off. Coach K