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.