Following the thrills of Vegas, TopGun took it easy with a local tournament, playing at U14 for the Medina Classic at Jollyman Park in Cupertino... well, the girls took it easy, but the Site Directors and Marshals spent a lot of time on the field making the tournament work for SASC.
Game 1 was against Manteca Pumas. We have a great relationship with this team and this was the first time we would play them competitively. The Pumas play NorCal Premier and battered us 4-1 in a scrimmage last year. But both teams have changed a lot. Pumas played as we remembered, getting the ball wide and banging dangerous crosses into the box. However, the game was very even and with some better luck on offside calls, Ysa and Angelina would have had at least two 1v1s on the Manteca GK... he kept giving offside for what were perfectly valid plays. Manteca sneaked a lead on a defensive mix up where a back pass to Carrie would have been a simple solution. Through the rest of the game, the 50:50 nature was maintained and the Hannah missed a glorious chance to equalise, the ball rolling a few inches in front of goal, but somehow whe failed to kick it in and the ball rolled wide. Also nice to see JJ back in action about 4 months earlier than we thought.
Game 2 on saturday afternoon we mixed things up a bit and paid the price going down 4-0 to a good Castro Valley team who had 3 giants playing for them. I checked their driving licenses and they were legit to play.
So, come Sunday, we think we are out of it. Next game is against Ajax U14 from Modesto. They tied the Pumas and beat Storm easily on Saturday.... but on Sunday they faced a re-awakened TopGun. Angelina and Ysa were finding loads of space going forward and our defence and mids were owning the Pink shirts of Ajax. TopGun took the lead with a strong shot from Yoshi which escaped the grip of the GK and crept over the line. Ajax equalised with a break through the middle and a good shot into the corner evading Carrie's dive. TG got back in front with a great free-kick from Tess which went direct into the far left corner of the Ajax net. A note on size.. if the U14 girls are a fair representation of girls at this age, then the TG players will be much bigger next year - there were some rather scary encounters for our smallest players (Angelina and Allanah) against players bigger than the TG coaches (who are not known for their tallness). In the second half Cali and Olivia added goals to complete a 4-1 victory which meant 11 points in the unusual system employed for this tournament..... hmmm, maybe we could sneak a placement
In the meantime, Castro Valley battered the Pumas 5-1 and TG's win over Ajax handed 1st place to Castro Valley - so who could get second. Pumas and Ajax were best positioned, both being 1-1-1 compared to Storm and TG being 1-0-2. However, Pumas fell 1-0 to Storm. Castro Valley played against Ajax in what was a dead rubber for CV. But a win for Ajax would have secured second place for them. In a game that was closer than expected, Ajax took a 2-0 lead, only to be pegged back to 2-2. In the final seconds Ajax had the ball right on the goal line but it wouldn't go in which meant TG v. Storm was a winner takes all final game for 2nd place ( and last place )
Storm and TG have played 3 times recently. One win each, and last time a 0-0 tie, which is a fair reflection of the level of both teams. TG started the stronger and made numerous crosses into the Storm box. Eventually a Tess corner was flicked on by Angelina for a tap in by Ysa. Storm pulled a goal back with a set play from the second half kick off where the TG defence were still asleep. But TG got the lead back and the 2-1 win when Ysa got on the end of through ball from Yoshi to prod past the Storm GK..... wow TG snuck into second place, the table is linked below
http://www.gotsport.com/rankings/event.aspx?EventID=11336&GroupID=141658
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