Fantastic first half, Frantic second half!

Not quite a game of two halves, but close enough. Two goals leads are the most dangerous in sport and so it was today when we built a good lead but then suffered a couple of mistakes and misfortune and had to work much harder for the win than perhaps we should have.

We really played well in the first half and were absolutely worth our two goal lead and perhaps a couple more. Justine's recent strong play up-front was finally rewarded with a goal. Both the pass from Olivia and Justine's finish were top class - certainly one of the prettiest goals we've scored this year. We opened up the Lakehill defence on 5 or 6 more occasions, much of this coming from good build-up from the back and our strikers (Miranda & Justine ) doing an awesome job of holding the ball up and finding their team mates with passes. But our goal attempts didn't match the quality of our build-up play and too few of our shots troubled their keeper. Then after some sustained pressure Erin collected the ball about fifteen yards out and scored with a left-footer (really?) that fooled their keeper. Shortly after it should have been three after a cross from Olivia skipped past Miranda and Justine to find Robyn all alone in front of goal but, erm well we wont dwell on what happened next.

The second half saw Lakehill rejuvenated and they got a goal back quickly. This gave them a real kick and play was pretty even for the next five-ten minutes. We were still creating good chances but when shooting chances came our way we were too slow to take them. Defensively we were doing OK, but definitely lacked the confidence we had moving the ball as we did in the first half. Then Lakehill equalized with a goal that owed much to the slick surface of the field, squirming away from Justine. 2-2 and Lakehill were confident they could get the winner.

In response we raised our game again and our ball movement and decision making improved. As a result we put plenty of pressure on the Lakehill goal, but when Kathleen's fine shot from the left hit the crosswork (twice) it didnt look to be our day. However with a minute left Robyn scored a beauty after a quick short corner with Olivia. I'm sure Robyn will claim it was a shot and not a cross, but either way it was a great goal and a nice way to win a game we almost let get away from us.

Reminders we have fitness training Monday 5:30 (grass) and another game versus the boys on Wednesday 6:00 (turf).

Early to Bed on Friday Night!

That's because our game is 8:30am on Saturday! The good news is we're on the new Braefoot Turf (the west field, closest to Braefoot Road).

See you there around 8:00am (yikes!). Remember to drink your coffee ;-)

World Cups Festival Registration

The Easter weekend is fast approaching so that means registration for the annual Coast Capital World Cups Festival is now available.

You can register online at http://www.worldcups.ca/. I will also have manual registration forms with me at practices starting this evening.

If you have friends at school who play for other clubs please take a form for them as well or tell them to register online. Many of you have participated in past World Cups so you know how much fun the weekend is. It's going to be even better if more of your friends are teammates are there - whether they are on your team or not!

Chaos 2 Juan de Fuca 0

Well that was a much better performance. We probably had fewer clear-cut scoring opportunities than we did against Gordon Head last week, but we certainly were better defensively. Outside of one breakaway where Camille made a great save and a free kick where Justine "stacked the pads", I can't remember another JDF shot on our goal. This is an excellent response to our poor 2nd half against Gordon Head where we showed little patience and even less thinking when we were defending our goal.

Our two goals today weren't too shabby either. Robyn's free kick blistered past both the wall and goalkeeper and Camille finished her breakway chance with a great finish after a nice through ball from Erin. We still need to get on the business end of our corners, but at least today we got two or three whacks at the ball as it bounced off the JDF keeper and around their penalty area. Too often we dont even get a scoring opportunity from Robyn's crosses, but there was signs that the team is starting to get the idea all you need to do is let the ball hit your body.

So overall it was a good performance from everyone and probably one of our most complete sixty-minutes of the season. Genevieve, Olivia, Kathleen and Claudia did well to shut down the JDF attack, while Erin did a nice job of winning balls in midfield against JDF's tall #15. And up front Justine did a great job of holding-up play for her fellow forwards with Miranda and Robyn profiting with some good shooting opportunities. It certainly appears that our game against the U12 Boys prepared us well for today's game so we'll look to repeat this in a couple of weeks as we prepare for Bays United and Peninsula.

However next up is Lakehill so we'll concentrate on them for now. Game time and location are TBA as usual.

Wednesday Exhibition Game

Instead of our regular practice I have scheduled an exhibition game this Wednesday against the Boys U12 Silver.

Game time is 7pm and we are playing on Field 1C, which is the field closest to the footpath.

Please try and be there for 6:30pm for a warm-up. I will have different coloured uniforms for the game.

Nanaimo Trip Cancelled

Regrettably I have had to withdraw from the Nanaimo Tournament. Simply too many calendar conflicts results in us not having enough players for the trip.

Fortunately the Sunday Academy starts up on the same day so interested players can get their soccer fix there.

Sunday Socccer Academy

A reminder that World Cup Soccer camp (Brett & Steph) are running their winter academy sessions Sunday afternoons at Lochside Turf, 3:30-4:30pm. Training sessions start Sunday January 24and run through to March 22. I believe the cost is $100 for 8sessions.

I highly recommend these training sessions to any player looking for extra ballwork. Brett is armed with tonnes of new ideas after spending six weeks in Argentina working with some of the best coaches in Buenos Aires. Doug and I are huge supporters of WCSC because we believe they run the best program in town for players wanting to improve their skill and have fun at the same time.

I know many of us will miss the Jan 24 session as we're in Nanaimo, but I'll try and fin a way for us to make up that session later on.

Here is the link for more information

Saturday's Game

Our game against Gordon Head is set for 9:45am @ Tyndall Turf.

Monday Jan 11 Practice is Cancelled

Sorry folks, Doug is away on business and I've a minor emergency to attend to so we won't have practice tonight. Apologies for the short notice.

See you all Wednesday!

Bottle Drive Results

This year we made $6500 beating last year's $5600 by some margin and setting yet another Victoria area record in the process. On top of that the tree chipping service at the Food Forum parking lot raised another $740.

So that's $7240 toward our turf payments!

My thanks to the Chaos players and parents for helping out.

Bottle Drive

A quick reminder that we are meeting at Lochside Park tomorrow around 9:15am. From there we will break into three or four groups and set-off on our routes. I think we're probably looking at around 30-40 minutes per route.

The club is supplying refreshments and donuts after we're finished.

No Practice Tonight

See you all Wednesday instead.

We may have a game on Wednesday night so check the blog tomorrow for updates.

Reminder #2 - Bottle Drive

A reminder that instead of a game this Saturday we have a bottle drive. Erin and I have delivered the notices to our route but we need some help picking up the bottles Saturday morning and sorting them at Lochside Park.

Our route is Fowler Road, Menawood Place, Sayward Road, Alderley Road (north of Sayward), east side of Pat Bay Highway (between Cordova Bay Road and Sayward), as well as the stretch of Lochside leading into the park. I think three vehicles could get this done in about twenty minutes.

Please send me an email if you can help out. We will start collecting around 9:30am on Saturday.

Reminder #1 - Monday Practice

Practices begin again this week. Please try and be at Lochside a little before 5:30pm and remember to bring runners for our distance running and speed work.