Rochester Pride - RSC Lightning '96

RSSC Thunder 1 - Clawson Strikers 1 In a very tight, very physical match against an excellent Clawson Strikers (5-0-1) team, Thunder earned a hard fought draw, as Hillary Finet coolly converted a 2nd half PK. Lots of bumps and bruises out of this match. The girls were showing them off and comparing them at training Monday and weraring them like badges of honor. This was just an outstanding outing Thunder! I couldn't be more proud of you for the way you played this match and the way you kept your head about you and didn't allow outside influences to distract you from your game. This is the sort of fight and focus that will garner you the most rewarding season possible for yourselves. More details & pics to follow.

River Detroit Poyas 1 – RSSC Thunder 2 Thunder logged a convincing win over River Detroit Poyas Wednesday in convincing fashion. Two early goals were scored early to set the tone for the match and carried play throughout. Meredith James opened up the scoring in the 20th minute with a heads up finish from a scum in the 6 yard box. Olivia Kramer followed up 3 minutes later with a 1-touch finish a she and Meredith were both crashing to finish a cross. Poyas scored late in the match on a quick counter-attack to draw within one, but Thunder tightened it up for the last five minutes and never gave them another opportunity. .

RSSC Thunder 1 - Bay Area Battle 0 Thunder’90 finally stepped onto the field for their long awaited league opener Saturday on a cold and overcast afternoon. All the pre-season preparation paid off as Thunder chalked up a well earned 1-0 win against an undefeated Bay Area Battle (New Baltimore). The 1st ten minutes were very much a feeling out process for both teams. Thunder soon found it’s rhythm and twice threatened to take the early lead. First in the 13th minute when Danielle Cook struck a shot that beat the keeper but caromed off the back post; then again 3 minutes later When Alyssa Zarski took excellent initiative, volleying a lovely cross from Hillary Finet straight out of the air, not allowing the bounce – and therefore not allowing the defense a chance to close her down. The shot went wide, but I’ll take that effort 10 times out of ten!
Meanwhile, the defense was rock solid allowing no shots on goal for Jessica Munson to handle. The back three simply dominated and the wide mids were exemplary in their workrate tracking back and never ignoring their defensive responsibilities when the situation required, and then getting up and wide when the chances presented themselves. The first half ended scoreless.
Play opened up a bit more in the second half and Thunder continued to carry play logging eight shots and a half-dozen quality crosses, as well as some very attractive buildup sequences. The center mids were key during the 2nd half especially, establishing control of the center of the park and making great choices to advance our attack. Three times during the 2nd half Thunder crafted shots at goal after a buildup of six or more passing movements that started from the defensive third of the field and moved through the midfielders before ending with quality scoring chances. Finally, in the 67th minute, Hillary won a goalkick in the attacking third, moved to the left wing and let go a shot from 20 yards out. The ball arched over the reaching keeper and found it’s way home into the side netting of the back post for the first and only goal of the match. Battle (3-1-0) did not go quietly, threatening with two very dangerous breakaway opportunities in the last ten minutes. Emily Liles, now in net, was every bit up to the task. Once she recognized the threat, she was very decisive & quickly off her line to close down the angle. Both threats ended with textbook examples of how a breakaway save is executed, as Emily absolutely stoned the attackers. Excellent job, girls. You came out focused, sharp, disciplined and organized. And your victory today was very well deserved. It’s a nice start. Let’s get back to work in training this week and use this match as a building block for the next match.

Christina, Sandi & Hillary really really really wanted to see the U.S Womens World Cup match against North Korea in Columbus. So they got together some change of clothes, 6 Alan Lomax CD’s, 3 sony walkmans, a map of Ohio, a Johnny Quest Deluxe Pocket Compass, 16 peanut butter sandwiches & a flashlight. They wrapped it all on up in a diaper n' hang ‘em on a stick over their back; took 4 days off of school; and started walking... south. After originally missing their turn and ending up in Dayton, they back tracked and finally found the beautiful Columbus Crew Stadium, the nation’s first major stadium built specifically for soccer. Happily they got there in time for the match and got to see our US Women win 3-0 in a great match among capcity crowd of 22,828 and advance to the quarter finals. It's a good thing they got there in time because otherwise the crowd would not have been full capacity and that would have been a shame. We're glad they had fun and we wish we could have been there to... but the walk back home must have been tough. They all had holes in the bottoms of their shoes when they showd up to practice the next week.

(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.