U-15s Go 1-1-1 in Texas

Megan Grass Winning in the Air

Hailey Kunkel Putting Dana On Notice that There Will be

Some Slide Tackling Competition in the Back Line

Aubrey Ouellet Setting Her Wall

McHale Perkins Making a Trademark Recovering Run

McHale Perkins Shielding After a Great Recovering Run

Amanda Roberts Flashing a Nice Stepover to Beat a Texas Spirit Defender

U-15s Styling the New COE Uniforms from LEGEA

We await full game reports from Texas, but this much we know -- the U-15 girls had a solid 1-1-1 outing in Dallas. They opened witha 1-0 win over the Texas Football Club, a very organized team that eventually went on to win the tournament. They fell 3-1 to the Texas Spirit and rallied for the thrid game on Saturday taking with a 2-2 draw against Blackwatch Texas.

Until we get more here are some photos from last Saturday's action in Dallas.

U-15s Prepare for Texas Football Club Blue Cup

Steve's Hetherington's rising U-15s have been busy over the last few weeks, training indoors and out and fitting in a handful of chilly friendlies, all in an effort to get ready for competitive play in Dallas, Texas the weekend of December 7 & 8. The team for '07-'08 will consist of 9 of the original 17 from last year with five new additions from last year's U-14 Phantoms team and four new additions coming from the Classics. In a lot of respects the team is an entirely new team and, given the technical ability, athleticism and ambition of the new players, it should be noticeably stronger on the field. It will take some time, however, for the girls to realize their full potential as a group. A lot of tactical work will be needed and the girls need to develop an understanding of each other and their styles of play.

To assure that this is achieved, the players and their families have committed to an ambitious schedule that has included three friendly matches over the past two weekends and a challenging tournament in Dallas in one week's time. The girls hosted the Sachem FC U-16s and FC Vikings U-17s on November 18. Both of these teams are division 1 MAPLE teams that display athleticism, technical ability and the cohesion that one would expect from teams that have battled their way through the MAPLE system to the point that they are playing in division 1.

The girls split the matches beating Sachem FC 2-0 and losing to the Vikings 0-2. There were nice passages of attacking build up and some very solid individual defensive efforts. the new keeper, Aubrey Ouellet looked quick and fearless.

Dana Sailor Battling one of the Vikings' Tough and Fast Strikers

New Girl, Haley Kunkel, Breaking Up a Cross

Astrid Alvarado, Holding off and Laying Off

Shawna Trunca, Attacking the Box

The next weekend, two days after digesting their Thanksgiving feast, the girls took on the Gary Karibian's COE U-17s (last year's state cup winners). The U-15s took a 5-0 thumping but the score line is not entirely fair to the girls. They had good passages of play in which they possessed well, linking up and breaking down the U-17s in the midfield. For all the attractive effort, the girls could not devise ways to get good looks at the U-17s' goal and, when chances did fall to the U-15s, they were not very economical with those opportunities. The U-17s, on the other hand, did not waste their opportunities in the final 18. That's why they are state cup champions and that's why they won 5-0. The U-17s' poise and efficiency was a great example and something to aspire for as the u-15s come together over the coming months.

The U-15s work will continue this weekend and on Monday night. The girls' will travel to Dallas next Friday for a weekend of challenging soccer against teams ranked from #16 to #35 in Texas. It will be the first real chance for the girls to start putting it together for their own state cup campaign coming this spring. The entire club is excited and optimistic about their prospects.

End of Fall Season Wrap Up

Len's U-12s After the Berkshire United Game

The season ended with two home MAPLE games this Sunday at the Nashua Corp Field. The U-10s closed the season with a hard fought battle against the Greater Boston Bolts and Len's U-12s dominated possession and had the great bulk of the attacking chances against Berkshire United but could not break onto the score sheet and had to settle for a 0-0 draw. Both games demonstrated the developmental strides that the girls have been making and highlighted issues that we will need to work on as we go indoors.

The U-10s defended well and alternated between periods of nice link up and possession and long balls played out of the back in hope that someone would get onto one and score. Len's U-12s played a very nice first half. The girls moved the ball in the back and across the midfield from one side to the other. When pressing hard in the final attacking third of the field and with lots of Berkshire United bodies jammed inside the box and behind the ball, our strikers began to lay the ball off to midfielders making nice runs. For the first time in awhile the girls had real width and depth when they got forward and it resulted in some nice chances which the Wanderers were a little unlucky to finish.

The previous weekend, the U-14s and Ryan's U-12s travelled to the Seacoast facility to play in the semi final matches for the GSYSL championship. Ryan's U-12s, a group with a majority of players playing up an age, fell to a strong Classics team 4-0 which ultimately won the championship. The girls had difficulty getting forward but they defended bravely and had good stretches of play in the defensive half. The U-14s fell to Seacoast in a pulsing 3-2 game marked by wide open play and end to end action.

Although the Fall season has ended, COE soccer does not. Len's U-12s and the U-14s are already training indoors at the NH Sportsplex and Ryan's U-12 s and the U-10s will follow them to the NH Sportsplex in January. Plans are afoot organizing indoor tournament play as well as the late winter/early spring outdoor season. Two senior teams have also come together -- the U-15s under Steve Hetherington and the U-17s under Gary Karibian. The U-15s will be travelling to Dallas, Texas in early December for their first serious play and the U-17s, along with the U-15s are now training indoors at the NH Sportsplex as well as outdoors at the Nashua Corp field.

C.O.E. Senior Tryouts

Tryout time is truly the "silly season" for a club like ours. Its "silly" because the movement of players, the players' uncertainties, and the inter club competition always generates some of the most remarkable, often-times comical statements, conversations and interpersonal dealings. Misinformation is everywhere and, sadly, outright defamation rears its ugly head from time to time. The prevailing practice in the New Hampshire club scene compounds all of this by breaking tryout time into two distinct time frames. June for teams U-14 and below and early November for high school age teams (U-15 to U-19). This year's high school age tryout phase is even crazier because of the recent announcement of an "alliance" between the Bedford Classics and the Phantoms. Senior Phantoms and Classics players face the uncertain prospects of what the new merged "A" team will look like, who will be coaching them and whether they will be on that team or some other "B" level "premier " team.

In the midst of all of this, the COE is, of course, holding its senior team tryouts. Which raises the good question that we get asked over and over again during this time of year -- what's so great about the C.O.E.? Why should a girl consider the C.O.E. over the Classics, the Phantoms, Seacoast or a top club in Massachusetts? In some respects, we can't answer the question. None of us has been directly involved in these programs as administrators, coaches or trainers. We certainly know many of the coaches, trainers, players and teams. They are good to excellent and they've been at it here in NH longer than we have. You can't debate the results that the Seacoast teams have achieved in the NH State Cup over the past few years.

And yet, in all of this, Granite FC is closing hard. Why is that? We can certainly speak to what we do and why we believe that, from a developmental perspective, we maximize what our players have to offer. Granite FC has superb trainers and coaches and they are focused intently on structured, year-round training in a team environment. We begin immediately in November and we continue into July. Throughout this time we strive for a 3 to 1 ratio between training time and game time which is optimal for maximizing development of older youth players. We provide each team full-field, non boarded training and playing opportunities even in the coldest and snowiest parts of winter. Each team works together to develop a thorough and disciplined understanding of each other and the systems of play that their coaches want to achieve. The coaches are in control of all important decisions about the players and their teams without interference from the other club officials or parents. The club is not large which means that players do not fall between the cracks. We know each player, as a person and as a player, and training focus is not dissipated through impersonal and diffused pool training.

All of this has created an environment in which our players have made some remarkable achievements. The rising U-18s, our original group, came together a mere four years ago. The group consisted of a group of girls who had been passed over or never noticed by the name programs. Within a year the girls made their way to the State Cup finals climbing over a couple of the programs that had overlooked the girls, in the past. Other teams more newly formed have advanced to the highest levels of the Massachusetts Area Premier League and have achieved notable successes in high level tournaments around the east coast and in Canada. We are optimistic that the growth and achievements will continue. Coming to the C.O.E. will give each player not only great training and playing opportunities but also the chance to be part of achieving results that no one would have thought possible only a couple of years ago. We hope to see lots of new faces at the tryouts that will start in November.

Senior Girls Tryouts for Granite FC Center of Excellence Teams

U-15 (born on or after 8/1/92)11/3 at 10:00 am -- 11/4 at 2:30 pm -- 11/11 at 3:00 pm
U-17 (born on or after 8/1/90)11/1 at 4:15 pm -- 11/3 at 8:00 am -- 11/4 at 1:00 pm
U-18 (born on or after 8/1/89)11/3 at 8:00 am -- 11/4 at 1:00 pm -- 11/11 at 3:00 pm

All tryouts will be held outdoors at the the Nashua Corp field in Merrimack, NH

Questions can be answered by Steve Hetherington at 603.204.9003

Five Year Anniversary -- A Salute to the Original Wanderers

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The First Wanderers at the First of Many

Seaside Classic Visits

The Club is on the cusp of a significant milestone in 2008-- the five year anniversary of the Center of Excellence teams. It all began with in the Fall of 2003 at the old Soccer Dojo facility in the old Best Ford dealership in downtown Nashua. Steve Hetherington brought a group of eleven U-14 girls together from a number of different town clubs to train and play more intensively.The girls first wore their trademark sky blue and black uniforms and played their first games together in session 1 at Rising Stars and in the Rising Stars 2003 Christmas tournament. From these modest beginnings, Steve's original girls developed to the point that they made two consecutive state cup finals appearances and competed in high level tournaments across the Northeast and eastern Canada.

These girls have always been a happy bunch that, despite their occasional loopiness, showed a real commitment to raising the level of their game from town travel play to premier play. They trained three and four times a week each summer and sacrificed many a nice summer weekend to travel to garden spots like Poughkeepsie, NY and Guilford, CT all in an effort to make a big leap forward in their play. Together, with the help of Steve Hetherington, the girls showed that they had pulled it off when, in their first state cup run, they went to the finals and only there succumbed to Seacoast in a 1-0 loss that was marked by end to end action and wide open play. Never again would the girls walk on the field with everyone asking, "who are they and where did they come from?"

This Spring will be the last run out in club soccer for many of the original Wanderers. Of last year's U-17 team, 10 are high school seniors and U-18 players. Hopefully, they will come together one last time as U-18 players to play together the game they first fell in love with as little girls. Tryouts are in three or four weeks and we will see what we have.

Whatever happens, however, every single COE player -- all 100 of them -- owes the original Wanderers a large debt of thanks. These girls showed us how, through a sense of fun and hard work combined with a love for the game and the undivided attention of a coach like Steve Hetherington, local players' level of play can be elevated considerably. Each group of Wanderers since has reaped the benefits that the original eleven sowed back in 2003.

A Prayer for Air

TS, Once Reluctant, Now an Enthusiast!

JC and AW Showing How Dangerous an Air Ball Can Be

Play the ball in the air! Don't let it drop! If you've heard this once you've heard it a thousand times. It an important phase of the game and its one that many female players at the younger ages seem to struggle over. U-12, U-13 and even U-14 girls, even some of the most physically aggressive, shy away from rising to drive away a midfield punt or rocket home a beautifully served cross. Failure to play that ball in the air squanders gift wrapped scoring opportunities -- and at the higher levels of the youth game, we don't see so many of these opportunities that we can be throwing away 10% or 20% of them. The Bangu Tsunami U-13 girls (Minnesota State Cup and Region 3 champions this past year) kept statistics that showed as much as 50% of their goals were scored in the air. Perhaps more importantly, failure to play the ball in the midfield and defending third of the field puts the team under unnecessary and often dangerous defensive pressure.

You will hear a number of purists drip with disdain when the topic of long and lofted balls comes up. We would agree that, over reliance on long balls to target players results in ugly and predictable soccer that good teams can easily read and defend -- the USWNT's recent run in the World Cup is living proof of that. Yet its still part of the game and, much as some of the "blue noses" might like otherwise, its not leaving. A long and lofted attacking ball from a wide and deep position is an incredibly effective attacking option. Moreover, many an opponent will play this way even if your team plays like Arsenal of three years ago -- intricate build up and gorgeous, "play to feet" soccer. In fact, that Arsenal team was not too comfortable in the air and Bolton's coach, Sam Alardyce, chose to attack Arsenal that way back in their Thierry Henry glory days and he and his players had a measure of success against Arsenal when everyone else failed.

So, our girls must be working to add this to their personal bag of skills. We spend time on this phase of the game in training but, just as with foot skills, our players need to work on this at home. Unlike with foot skills, however, they need help from a parent, a sibling or a friend. Drive 50 balls to them a couple of times a week. If you can't kick a ball with accuracy and some power and loft, throw to them 50 times. The important point is to have your daughter getting used to the mechanics of heading and the physics of intersecting with a lofted ball. Also, the practice will get each girl comfortable with the notion that the ball won't hurt them. If your daughter is really fearful of being hurt, you might consider headgear like that sold by Full 90. While there is no evidence that headgear is necessary from a safety standpoint, some very able coaches have observed that it seems to make girls play in the air with greater confidence. Yeah, the likes of Len and Steve frown but they would concede that there is no harm and, if it make an aerialist out of a player who has been shrinking from this part of the game, go for it.

The bottom line is this -- the sooner a young girl gets comfortable with the aerial phase of the game, the sooner she can play effectively at the highest levels available to her.

Why Travel for Tournament Play?

MN and EA celebrating MN's spectacular, game winning

goal against South Central Premier

This weekend Len's U-12s travelled to Rocky Hill, Connecticut to play in the Connecticut Football club Columbus Day Tournament. The question arises many times from many quarters, why travel two hours to play tournament ball when you can stay in town for the Nashua Columbus Day Tournament or go just down the road for the Seacoast tournament? These are good questions and highlight the tension between keeping costs and family time commitment down as much as possible while assuring high quality and interesting play for the girls. We are always trying to balance these competing interests without compromising our core goal -- high level development.

Developing young players to the highest standard of play that they can achieve (some call it premier club soccer -- although we don't like the term) ain't cheap. It requires lots of training sessions, professional training and coaching, a close to year round commitment to training and play, and play against similarly geared teams and programs. On that last score, there simply are not that many teams in our neck of the woods. There's Seacoast, for sure, the Classics, most of the time, and perhaps a dozen or so clubs in eastern Massachusetts. Between state cup, MAPLE and a couple of area tournaments, you begin to see an awful lot of the local rivals. To keep play fresh and to keep exposing the girls to different styles of play and new challenges, some travel is required.

I'm happy to say, the CFC tournament delivered the freshness and new challenge that this team needed. This past weekend, the girls encountered two sides -- CFC Wolves and South Central Premier -- that played in full out attack mode from the first whistle. Both CFC and South Central committed numbers forward in a way that the girls had not seen all Fall. It clearly stunned the girls a bit in the first few minutes of each game. South Central combined the all out attack with clever quick starts on direct kicks and throw ins and rapid short play on corner kicks. CFC had a handful of athletic girls that were extremely well suited to this style.

After the girls' recovered their footing, they began to learn a valuable lesson about playing teams so committed to attack -- they leave themselves exposed at the back. The girls started counterattacking quite well and great scoring chances fell to the girls. They were not as economical with those chances as we might like but the girls saw that they could absorb the pressure, entice their opponents even further forward by being patient with the ball in the deep midfield area and then springing fast counter thrusts.

The result was two very entertaining games with wide open play and end to end action. It was fun to watch and the girls held their own beating South Central 2-1 and then dropping one to CFC 1-2. More important than the results, we saw some passages of play that suggested to us that the girls really are developing. This development is best demonstrated by the second goal scored against South Central. The girls worked a nice series of link ups which ultimately found KS low and in the right corner. She whipped in a gorgeous cross which found two of the girls attacking the box with force -- EA and MN. EA's run drew the keeper and the defenders and left MN alone steaming toward the far post. She attacked the cross on the bounce with her head and drove it convincingly into the upper left corner. The most beautiful goal of the year for the team. Two months ago neither girl would have been making the runs that enabled the goal to happen. That's development!

We Miss The "Happy Warriors"!

The Happy Warriors Sharing a Laugh Before Kickoff

Last year, the club formed a U-14 team (rising to U-15 this year) that had not existed in the year prior. After June tryouts, 15 girls came together in the summer of 2006 from a number of town travel teams - Londonderry, Hollis, Windham, NGSA -- and a couple of higher level programs -- the Classics and the Inter-Bandits. We were a little concerned about our ability to knit together such a diverse bunch at such a late point in the girls' respective development but we had done it once for our now U-17s so we thought we might be able to do it once again. Its a project worth undertaking because it is at this age that many girls in town travel programs begin to realize that they are about to make a big step up in playing intensity and competitiveness when they try out for their respective high school programs. They want and need something more than they have been getting in their original playing settings.

So we started the girls' development as a team with our annual preseason camp at Kimball Union Academy. Right away, we knew we had something quite unusual on our hands. All of these girls loved to have fun. They loved to hang out, joke, laugh and goof around and also they were all good athletes who loved to train too. There were no egos, no petty jealousies. They were open to each other and this new and, for many, more intensive soccer environment. I have never seen one group of 13 year old girls like this.

This amazing group also likes to play hard. As the fall season unfolded, the girls' play was marked by speed and strength. These girls throw themselves around the park with complete abandon and it can be fun to watch. Over time, the girls got a nick-name -- the "happy warriors." They are warriors in the sense that when they play they are intensely competitive and play with such ferocity. Yet they are always "up." They smile, they joke and they always support each other.

It was not until our annual March trip to the Beach FC Spring Classic Tournament in Virginia Beach, that we began to realize that the girls would be able truly to compete at a high level. There, they went toe to toe with premier level teams from Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts coming out with a 1-1-1 record. Great slide tackling, strong play in the air, excellent movement off of the ball, and strong finishing all came together. Although the girls had a less than convincing State Cup run thereafter, a lot of that could be explained by a number of key injuries and absences. When the girls came back together for summer tournament play, healthy and with a full roster, they took the championship at the South County Seaside Classic.

For us the proof of the girls' growth as players was how they fared in their respective high school tryouts. 10 out of the 15 girls has stepped onto varsity squads. 2 of the remaining 5 are not yet in high school and the balance are leading their JV teams. We are enjoying watching the girls in their high school games and we are looking forward to seeing them at the tryouts in late October/early November.

We miss the Happy Warriors and we want them back!

A Word From Lenny

TS and SS -- Rocks at the Back

As we enter Week 4 of the Fall season, I cannot say that I am upset with the girls performance so far this MAPLE season. The team I've known and worked to develop these last two years disappeared almost entirely at our friendlies in August but they reemerged just one week later in the Bandits Cup. At the Bandits Cup and in MAPLE play since, the team has played well in several phases of the game. This is the girls' first foray into the top division of MAPLE and I know the results alone are not great but on a performance scale the girls are certainly holding their own and doing a lot of good things that we can build upon.

Defensively we have been extremely solid with the center back partnership of TS and SS showing great competence. Both girls are showing real presence and are performing with great composure well beyond that of most 12 and 11 year old girls. We have also seen a welcome emergence of KR, AF and HL as strong full backs.

Attacking is a different story at the moment with only one goal in the 3 games played so far. At the moment we lack creativity and some confidence to try new things. Practices for the past two weeks have been used to work on the girls' play in the attacking third of the field and to put the girls into game situations where they have to use positive decision making to find a pass, a shot or to take a dribble. I will be looking for the girls to put these lessons into practice in game setting over the coming weekends.

Another Pleasant MAPLE Sunday

CS Making One of Several Great Runs Into the Box

This past Sunday was one of the Club's four home Sundays on the MAPLE calendar. MAPLE scheduled two Sundays in September as home dates for Granite FC and this past Sunday was a great day for everyone involved. The weather was superb, the atmosphere with the families, players and coaches coming , going and watching each other play was fun and the soccer was good. The day highlighted a few great things worth noting.

First, one of the reasons the day was so much fun is that the soccer was concentrated around four hours on one afternoon. MAPLE schedules play only for Sunday afternoons and each Club must be able to make its field available for four or so home dates in which it will be hosting a few games back to back. MAPLE's scheduling policy is great and is in real contrast to the arbitrary and unpredictable nature of scheduling as conceived by our friends in the Granite State Youth Soccer League. In MAPLE, you know your team will have one game a week on Sunday afternoon. The predictability in scheduling allows families to plan activities other than soccer -- there's a radical concept! Granite State, on the other hand, thinks nothing of putting a team into two games on one weekend and then none on the following weekend. Its hard to plan around such a schedule and it disrupts the progression in player development through the season.

MAPLE's scheduling also allows clubs to generate a club festival atmosphere around the dates in which it hosts home games. Three and four different teams' games come together on one afternoon. People come and go seeing coaches, club officers and friends. The kids and the parents inevitably take in pieces of the game before and after them. The club can run a concession and people linger for refreshments and a rolling picnic develops. All of this is built around the game and cements what we hope is a love for the game and an identity with other players in the club.

Second, when MAPLE home Sundays fall in September the weather is almost always beautiful. September in New Hampshire is marked by pleasant temperatures and sunny dry weather. This past Sunday was no exception. Why not stay and have a drink and a snack and talk with one or two of the coaches or some of the other kids and their parents? By all means, sit in the sun and watch a great match with your youngest and let them see how the older kids play the game.

Third, our home field is only one pitch and its fairly confined in its dimensions beyond the field itself. In a lot of ways, the configuration of the facility makes the atmosphere more intimate and festive. When parents like the Sherburne's set up as nice a concession as they have the last two MAPLE Sundays, it reinforces the atmosphere. People with the club and even the opposing teams mingle, talk and enjoy the soccer in way that is lost at bigger or more spread out venues.

And oh yeah, lets not forget the fourth and most important reason, you get to see a lot of great soccer development on display. It was a blast to watch our U-10 group now four weeks into their development take it to North Shore United in 3 goal bonanza in the first half. They are a fantastic group of little athletes. They already show the beginnings of a real understanding for the game. Best of all its great to see the amazing fun they have and the pleasure they take in everything they do. Its good for our U-11s, U-12s and U-14s to see this. It reminds them of what drew them to the game and to the more intensive level of training and play at the Club. It also makes the parents wistful for the days when their Suzy or Jessie was nine years old and starting in the game.

Our two U-12 teams also played this past Sunday. Ryan's Wanderers played well, dominating possession but struggling a bit in the final third. The possession ultimately paid off with a nice strike by TG -- a player who always has a nose for the goal and an ability to hit the ball well. In the end, this was enough to see off Seacoast United's white team -- 1-0.

Len's Wanderers played the Scorpions Elite U-12s and, once again played toe to toe, for 50 minutes in a 0-0 tie. Unlike in past games, however, the girls broke the Scorpions down and threatened in the final 18. CS was a ball of fire making strong runs forward. Unfortunately, she often found herself isolated in the box with no option but to shoot when a cross or a cut back pass would have yielded more. Ultimately, the Scorpions broke us down and scored two late goals. One on a scrum in front of the net that I really could not see and the other on a direct kick from the right edge of the penalty box. It sounds a little shopworn but its nevertheless true, the girls played well and the performance suggests that results are just around the corner.

Two Weeks On

"Little" AF Battling One of the Stars "Big" Girls

If you look at only the results, you would say that the U-12s struggles continue. They have dropped two league games -- 0-2 to FC Stars and 1-3 to the Fuller Hamlets. Yet the tale of these games tells you that good things are happening.

Two of the Fuller Hamlets' goals were scored by players who were in an offsides position when they received the ball and shot. One was close and one was blatant. MAPLE yet again sent only one ref to cover the game and the poor 15 year old girl simply could not get in a position to make the calls. The girls' play was marked by fantastic defending particularly from our center backs -- TS and SS. They were technical and tough the entire game. We also managed to generate some attacking pressure from the midfield. The girls' one goal was textbook COE. A ball played to the right wing, crossed in beautifully by JS to ME who took a spectacular one touch volley.

The FC Stars game was even more telling. This is the team that dismantled us on August 27. This is the team anchored by 3 or 4 truly exceptional players and, along with Western United's U-12s must be viewed as on of the two best teams in New England. This is also the team that tapped up -- MH and JC -- two of our better players from last year. There were a million reasons to believe that the disaster from the August friendly match would be repeated in league play.

It was far from a disaster. The game started with Stars FC penetrating quickly and succesively in the first 5-10 minutes. The Stars ripped off two shots on goal which were nicely saved by PG. They also flashed a ball across the box that slipped by the far post without result, but it was heart stopping. Although one might have thought -- oh no, here we go again -- there were signs of a different game shaping up even during the early onslought. We were winning balls in the midfield we were able to possess for a link up or two and the defenders looked determined and were making good challenges. The girls confidence started to rise and their determination and grit were showing all over the field.

The result? The crisis passed and the girls pushed the defensive struggle to the middle of the field. The game was largely fought out on the fifteen yards on either side of the mid stripe. Our mids and defenders gave the generally much bigger Stars players little room to breathe. The Stars predictably responded to the pressure in the middle by pushing the ball wide but the wide mids and fullbacks were usually able to soak up these forays. KR and AF were absolute monstors at Fullback. HL and KS did well at the wide mid spots. As with last weekend's game against the Fuller Hamlets, TS and SS were immense contributers.

The score was 0-0 at halftime and it remained knotted through 45-50 minutes. We gave up a free kick at the edge of the penalty box -- to be expected in a game as physical as this one. The Stars have two or three really big girls who are also very athletic and quite technical soccer players. They can spank a ball and one of them did just that lofting a high arcing ball that most U-12 keepers can never handle. Goal to the Stars.

I was worried that this goal would open the floodgates as the girls' heads would go down and the great effort of the previous 50 minutes would drain away. I'm thrilled to say that this did not happen. The game resumed much as before with one difference. Now that we were chasing the game, we got forward more insistently. The Stars have amazingly strong and very fast defenders. They were able to cope with most of the pressure although we did win one free kick it was just far enough away to assure that it would not be too dangerous. In the closing minutes, they managed to catch the girls on the break. Even then, however, the girls recovered well and we had enough bodies behind the ball. Alas, two of the girls' concentration broke for an instant and the girls' gave room to one of the biggest Stars girls who clipped another edge of the penalty box shot that arced high and well beyond the reach of our keeper.

Two outside the box shots with lots of air to them. Taken by a girl who had six inches at least on our tallest player. This is what tells the tale in closely contested U-12 games. I am very encouraged by the resolve the girls showed in this game against a very good, frankly superior opponent. What a game to build upon! If the girls show this much effort and concentration in each of their coming games, they will get their share of results.

Labor Day Weekend Continues the Pattern From Last Weekend

U-14s about to be presented with their Bandits Trophies!

Well, the patterns of last weekend with our U-12s and U-14s persisted over to the Labor Day weekend at the Bandits Cup in Fort Devens. The U-14s continued their upsurge in play. They won it all and I was able to watch some of their play. They get forward very fast and KD seems to be emerging as a real strike threat. I have not seen her play with such energy and verve in a long long time. I was so happy to see it. RP played amazingly at right back and was able to make some really nice forward runs while always recovering and fulfilling her defensive responsibilities. AF scored two goals! I hope and pray that this puts her on course to rediscovering her love for the game. She has the potential to be a great player but will only realize it if she is passionate about the game. I am happy for these girls and hope that the wonderful play continues.

Then there's Len's U-12s. They did not do so poorly. They defended quite well most of the weekend. They made it to the semis. They only lost in the semis 0-1 and the one goal was a fluky piece of work directly attributable to the inability to get a decent goal kick off. Not so unusual at this age. The problem, however, was the continuing inability to generate any sustained, coherent and, dare I ask too much, attractive attacking play. The center mids simply could not possess and then generate the attack. The strikers could not, would not make their runs or get their heads up and look for their teammates. This needs to improve if the girls are to compete at the level they are currently slotted. They are good athletes and good players so hopefully it will come.

Weekend of Friendlies

This past weekend our U-14s and our U-12s played a series of friendly matches. The U-12s hosted Seacoast United, the Crusaders, PASA FC and FC Stars. The U-14s travelled to the Seacoast complex and played in the Granite State Youth Soccer League sponsored friendlies. In an ironic twist, the U-12s -- who are a group that closed the books on a phenomenal spring season and for whom high hopes have been attached -- played lousy and were run off the pitch by Seacoast 4-0 and FC Stars 6-0, they drew PASA FC 2-2. Ouch! The U-14s -- a group that struggled last spring to generate goals and who, as a result, let lesser rivals progress further in the NH State Cup -- earned some nice wins which should give them a nice boost as the Fall season commences this Labor Day weekend at the Bandits Cup tournament in Fort Devens.

I guess I am not surprised by the U-14s results. The U-14s struggles last spring were more than a bit unlucky. The girls defended well and possessed beautifully. They would have stretches of possession marked by great movement and 4, 5, 6 and 7 link ups. They struggled, however, in the final 18. There did not seem to be a player who wanted to put the ball in the net. In the past, they had relied almost exclusively upon JD a big, strong kid with wonderful athleticism and one of the most powerful ball strikes you will ever see in a sub U-14 player. She left the team last winter to pursue exclusively her true love -- softball. Hard to believe but true!

All kidding aside, JD was a huge presence on the field. She stretched defenses and created opportunity for all of her teammates. She also was a wonderful kid who was unaffected by her talent and was liked and respected by all. Her departure left a hole on the field that I believe those who remained were talented enough to fill -- if they worked hard and grew. What I failed to realize is that JD's departure would seriously undercut the girls' confidence. Soccer is a confidence game and when a player loses confidence their game can shrink to the point that it is unrecognizable. This is what happened last spring. The GSYSL friendlies hopefully mark a turning point in the girls' confidence.

As for the U-12s, what happened this past weekend really surprised me. This group is very special. They are passionately committed to the game. They have worked hard and shown startling steps forward in development. They played extremely well last spring, going undefeated in the Massachusetts Area Premier League Green Division (loosely, the 2d division). As a result of last spring's performance, the girls now sit in MAPLE's Blue Division and will be playing the best teams in Massachusetts which includes the FC Stars who pasted them so badly on Sunday. This suggests that the Fall will not yield results as rosy as last spring.

I am actually more optimistic about the Fall for this group than this past weekend would suggest. There are some very good players in this group. SS is a superb athlete and has shown great ability as a center back. TS is usually one of the great game day players I've ever seen. An absolute "beast" in a challenge and she has the heart of a lion. We get great wing play from KS who is the fastest kid I've seen on any field at this age. I am extremely enthusiastic about JS and EE as our strike partnership but I must acknowledge that their understanding of the game is only a fraction of the girls who held these spots last year -- MH and XC. Their intelligence and hard work should help overcome this problem. If our center mids can improve their fitness and toughness -- which was sorely lacking this past weekend -- their touch and vision should help restore our attack. Finally, the squad has greater depth than it had last year with additions like CS, AZ, AF, etc.

That said, we did lose two very good players -- MH and XC -- and, most galling of all, they went to that FC Stars team that toyed with us so savagely this past weekend. These girls were central to the team and -- depending on who you talked to among their teammates -- they were loved and respected or loathed and respected. Note, whether a girl loved them or hated them, these two were regarded by all as very good players and leaders on the field. Perhaps most important of all, these two had soccer intelligence, awareness if you will, that was second to none. A couple of the girls who remain have the same awareness but only a couple. In their hearts, all of the girls know this and it affected them on Sunday against the FC Stars. Here's hoping the girls rally and put in a better, more characteristic performance at Fort Devens this coming weekend.

Granite FC C.O.E. -- An Introduction

Granite FC Center of Excellence, is a small girls' soccer academy located in New Hampshire, a small state that is universally regarded as very small when it comes to developing soccer players. The C.O.E. will have been around five years -- come 2008 -- and consists of a very dedicated group of players, coaches and parents that, is by and large, striving to achieve the highest standard of play possible for the girls.

Simple enough, right? Well, yes and no. Yes, certain things are simple and wonderful -- our girls' passion for the game and thirst to improve, our coaches dedication, hard work and creativity in developing the girls and the parents' tireless support financially and in terms of their time. No, when it comes to trying something new in the insular and established world of youth soccer in New Hampshire. What is it that they say about the internal politics at colleges and universities -- the reason it is so vicious is that there is so little at stake.

Hence the Avis Experience. Just like Avis, the famous car rental company, we must try harder. We confront a handful of clubs who view soccer players as their property and who, shall we say, are less than happy about the competition for "their" players. Not surprisingly, some of the "institutions" of soccer in the state are influenced by that hostility and are not too interested in extending a helping hand to our endeavor. In many ways, the C.O.E. is the feisty little kid on the block who is scrapping and working hard to be given a chance but is viewed by the bigger kids as a pest to be ignored.

This blog will try to highlight some of the joys and challenges that the C.O.E. has encountered as it tries to create an environment of real soccer development. At the end of the day, no one disputes that this comes down to great coaching\training, lots of time on the ball, motivated players and creating a real soccer culture amongst your players and families. How you achieve these things is where the disagreement comes in. I believe that the C.O.E.'s approach works well and is a valuable contribution to the youth soccer landscape. No doubt its not for everybody but we'll throw it out for your consideration and choice.