SG Soccer: Spartans Dominate in Season Opener

 

So you would expect a lot of disorganization out there, with players and coaches from both teams figuring things out on the fly.

But while Massey did look legitimately confused out there, your Spartans were surprisingly coordinated, led by the veteran presence of Julia and Zoe at the back and Hailey in attack. Julia, in particular, controlled the defence from her centre back position with confidence, assurance, and zero hesitation, while Hailey consistently put her teammates in good offensive positions with her savvy and uncommon ability to distribute the ball.

Another veteran standout was Raf, who launched not 1, not 2, but 3(!) rockets from distance to record one of the most impressive hat tricks I’ve seen, especially given how well the MVR keeper was playing. (I swear, she made at least 4 saves I still have trouble believing!)

But it was not just returning players who shone in this 4-0 victory. Kaitlyn looked comfortable on the right wing, Margot selflessly filled in ably in nets with intelligent clears and booming punts, and Flavie was a ball-dominating force in defensive midfield. Although she occasionally drifted too far forward, no one on the field won more balls than Flavie this game, whose strength and balance on the ball is elite.

Play Of The Game #1: Hailey sends a through ball to Olivia in the corner, who finds Mylee at the top of the 18-yard box, who draws a defender and slips a perfect pass to Raf who takes a touch and hammers in her third goal top left corner from 20 yards out – prettiest goal of the game!

Play Of The Game #2: After an unlucky bounce off a Vikings forward sends the ball rolling away from Margot straight into our empty net, Etsuho magically appears out of nowhere to clear the ball off the line with 2 inches to spare – what a play!

All in all, a fantastic way to kick off the season, with a critical league win despite almost no preparation. But it does not get any easier, with only one practice scheduled before we take on Galt and BCS back to back next week. We’ve got to learn fast if we want to reach our ultimate goal this season – the ETIAC regular season banner. These next two games are heee-yuuuge, especially Galt.

Let’s do this.