Oswego Nike Cup - Day 2

Sodium, Sodium, where forth art thou Sodium? - The early game.
Well, Sodium forgot to show up to play Three Rivers SC 95 Rage in the morning game. Allowing this very beatable team to advance to the Semifinals against OR Rush Nike. The first goal was a little confusing to those of us on the sidelines. To be honest, it looked like it just rolled in? Like some one had called a 'time out' and everyone was just standing there? Even the Three Rivers fans didn't applaud until Camille walked into the net the grab the ball. Definitely more research needs to be done on that one.
Three Rivers second goal was legit. Corner kick, scrum, instead of clearing it out to a side Sodium squirted it to an awaiting Three Rivers forward in front of the net and she blasted it in. Text book. I will say this, we didn't score but it wasn't for lack of trying! Sodium had shot after shot deflect off the cross-bar, the goalie, wide, our own players. You name it. But again, like years past, we have that early season curse of not being able to finish. Hopefully, with Toms guidance, we can break it early.

Awaken the giant - The late game
After a rather stern 'Pep Talk' from Tom after the early game, the lady warriors woke up and were hungry for a little revenge. In walks the lamb, WSA Crush. The flood gates opened early and often against the unsuspecting yet very determined Crush. Within the first 5 minutes Sodium have drawn first blood. Emmy Owens down the right side deep. Draws the defenders in, then a perfect cross to Hannah Lautenbach who rips the net! Emmy liked that one so much that about 10 minutes later she again found herself streaking down the right side. Wait, wait, now! boom, Emmy sends the cross to a crashing Elianna Beard who does a perfect one touch deflection to Marisa Reid for the score! Do we have a pattern developing here? You bet! But wait, the half isn't even close to being over. At the 3/4 mark of the first half Sodium was knocking on the WSA door. A drop back pass to Marisa who lofted the shot towards the net. Elianna was there in heavy traffic but heads a perfect pass to Emmy who heads it into the net! A double header! (sorry). With first half (yes, the first half) winding down Hannah stole the ball at midfield for a break-a-way, one on one goal to end the half. Sodium heads to the locker room with a 4-0 lead. After icing my thumbs from all the blackberry action in the first half, we were ready to roll for the second. Right out of the gate we had a corner kick. Hannah launched a perfect ball in front of the net, a little action followed and then Emmy, who said 'OK that's enough' ripped it into the net. Now, as defensive strategies go, I've never seen a team pull their defenders clear up to midfield in order to draw us offsides. But, there's still a lot of soccer left in these ladies. So, to combat this new defensive style, Sodium just didn't pass it so there were no offsides. Emmy took the ball at midfield and out ran the defenders and scored. Up next, the mid-fielders get into the action. Not to be out done, Laura Nguyen steals the ball and streaks the length of the half to score. And, to put the icing on the cake, Laura Camp out of nowhere, bursts out of the pack on a break-a-way and scores! Sodium started putting the defenders at forwards, starting with Lexi Frey, but time just ran out. Wow, we haven't had an outing like that in some time. Last tally, Sodium 8, WSA Crush 1.

Game Notes:
You can tell when the lady warriors smell blood. An aggressive Sodium team had at least 17 off-sides calls against them that we counted. I'm sure there were more and I'm sure there were a few that didn't get called. Also, as the game progressed the frustrated Crush team started throwing a few extra elbows, hips and whatever. Past Sodium teams would have returned the favor 10 fold. But, as a class act, we just found more ways to find the net. Mac Kearney took an elbow in the mouth and Payten Sonnen went down late with an ankle injury. Both walked away and are expected to return at full strength.

Up Next: Practice and Scrimmage August 2nd then QT starts the following weekend.

GO SODIUM!