MATCH REPORT

Women’s DP2 – Saturday July 6, 2002

Vs University

Score: 2-0

As with last week’s match against Commercial, we again faced strong opposition. A hot afternoon greeted the players, so playing the game at our pace and holding the ball was essential. We had a great start to the game with Tonya scoring after 6 minutes. From a sideline hit, Nadine’s square pass found centre half Kym who gave a great early ball which eluded the defense and found Tonya in the circle. We seemed to control the game well, but some of our marking was inept which allowed their playmakers to create good chances. They had some speedy forwards, particularly their left wing who threatened the defense of Shanina and Bronwyn. At times we did not play the easiest ball which lead to turnovers and hence we had to absorb some pressure - our defenders spotted players like Danielle, Susie and Jodie open on the left side, but didn’t use Kym as the outlet to distribute these wide balls. Tonya scored from a well executed corner to double our lead and give us some breathing space leading up to halftime.

In the second period the game was still a close one, with University creating more goal scoring chances than in the first half. We lost left half Nadine to a knee injury which forced a positional reshuffle, but we lost little with Bec making some telling runs down the sideline and one very important save off the line. Bridgit was again outstanding in goals, and inside left Danielle adopted a more defensive role, making some crucial tackles in deep defense and initiating counter attacks. We reduced our turnovers in the second half, and though we often seemed frustrated by the fact that not all was going our way, we persevered (albeit with some positional changes) and held off all of their challenges.

Once again not an overly impressive victory, but at least we can still beat the quality opposition. At right wing Becca played one of her best games so far and all players were defensively sound. We still try to hit the ball up the middle of the field too much. When this happens Tonya is left to attack on her own. If we take the ball wide through the wingers then pass to Tonya, she will have the support players we need to attack in numbers. We looked in control of the game when we were forcing corners at will and holding possession rather than playing dubious long balls.

Goal: Tonya Collins 2

Lee Oliver