The day of the first game, although it was a scrimmage, has come and gone. We played Williams Baptist College in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas this past Saturday. I never thought August 22nd would get here. It's a long time between August 1st and the 22nd when you are conditioning, training, and playing inter squad games. The boys were eager to play, and the coaches were certainly eager to see the boys play someone else.
We had a good showing. Our possession game was very good and so was our defensive pressure. We could have finished a little better on a couple of headers, and our corners need a little work, but all in all it was a very good outing. Our freshman Keeper (Marcus Fernandez) got put to the test a few times and he had a good showing. He'll continue to improve with experience and training.
You're not supposed to keep score in "scrimmages", but we won 4-1,,,:) We had some goals by two freshmen, Thad Snell and Neil Houlihan, and one goal by one of our returning sophomores, Jared Butler. Josh Sears, Griffin Groves, Andy Jerome, Ceasar Garcia, and Jared White all had opportunities to put one in the back of the net, but it wasn't meant to be for them. We have an excellent starting front line and we have three to four more on the bench that will come in and spell those boys and do an excellent job.
What I was most proud of was our possession game. I love possession soccer. To be able to build the attack from the back with one and two touches passes, taking the ball wide to stretch the defense, then passing to the middle so that our mids can send the ball forward through lanes created by our forwards making creative runs is simply beautiful to watch. We have three very good mids that can get the job done, along with two - three reserves on the bench that can come in and make a positive contribution. If we continue to do what we did last Saturday, and improve on that part of our game, we will be a pretty tough team by mid season.
The one downside to the game was the concussion (or contusion the drs. can't seem to make up their mind) that Micah Duncan sustained early in the first half. He went up for a header in a crowd and took a shot to the head either with an elbow or another players head. He came off the field during a regular substitution complaining of blurred vision. So I set him out for the rest of the game and took him to the Emergency Room after his symptoms continued. But the Emergency Room Dr. said that the scan didn't reveal any serious damage and we were cleared to go home, after a 3.5 hour visit! Micah is day to day right now. He should be back in a week or so.
Our next match is the start of our "official" season. We go to Danville this Friday to play the team that beat us last year 2-1 with 10 seconds left on the clock. Needless to say, we want this game pretty bad. Hopefully we'll show up ready to play and give Danville a very good game.
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