CAPS FC

Upper 90 North Red (11/24/19)

A great battle this weekend against an extremely physical side in Upper 90. We talked about how every game this session will be similar in that sense since we’ll be going up against a lot of older teams. However, I’m very happy with how we battled and how players have been stepping up with such a big part of our squad out.

We got off to a flying start and we seem to have improved our focus and the way we come out in the start of matches. Q was fantastic in this match and showed great composure on the dribble to beat a couple players and then fake a shot to get past a third one before hammering her finish home off the bar. I felt that we also did a better job of pressuring higher up the field and anticipating where passes were going to go from their goalkeeper and defenders.

I felt that we created enough good chances to tie and even win this game, but that we could have certainly helped our forwards out even more; our midfielders, especially the attacking

Force 07G Blue (11/17/19)

Here is Coach Damian's game recap from this past weekend. Overall after talking to him and Coach Mike, it is evident that we need a little more fire in our play, especially on the defensive side of the game. As you guys want to keep competing at higher levels, this kind of attitude becomes increasingly important. You can't really teach this aspect of the game, so it is something that each player needs to figure out on their own- what motivates you and will get you playing and fighting your hardest. To me for example, it would be when the CFC team said they expected they would beat us 20-0. I would think about whenever the game is not going the way you'd want it to. You can keep getting better technically like you guys are as much as you want, but if you lack that kind of competitive edge, its going to be hard to be up there with the best teams. Anyways, here is his recap-

I wanted to start off by saying that the outcome of the game was very unjust to the

CFC Royal (11/9/19)

What a game to open up our winter season with. We talked how this session was going to be a huge developmental period for us, and there’s no question that consistently playing against top competition like this will help us reach the top. Very happy with how we battled and what we showed against this Pennine/CFC super team, especially in the first half.

I was impressed with our speed of play and how composed we were on the ball in the first period. As always, we stressed setting the tone from the first whistle and did exactly that as Noelle almost finished off a second nice play within the first couple minutes. We were aggressive, and played OUR style of soccer. We moved the ball around with confidence and constantly used our backline in buildup play.

Games at this level will also help expose a lot of things; we need to treat each game as a learning experience and soak up whatever lessons we can from each team. While we did really well starting and restarting

Pennine (10/24)

A satisfactory ending to another excellent season with this group. In summary, we only lost one league game (not counting the older Erie girls game), and since that was the first one of the season, it was all uphill from there. Our composure on the ball in possession and confidence with it in 1v1 situations has improved tremendously. I am so excited to continue working with this group and reaching higher levels each session.

The most challenging part of this game was readjusting to 9v9 and playing our exact 11v11 formation just without the wing backs. The girls have been used to practicing in that sized space with even more numbers, and now they were presented with that same scenario just with more space. Finding width was an issue at times, so we needed to make sure that the outside center backs gave us more of that in possession, with the three center mids spreading out more, and the forwards making more supporting runs into those wide channels.

I thought the

Everest / Erie Admirals (10/12)

Two very different games this weekend! Its never easy when you play back to back, and especially so when the second one is extremely strong. Since so many of you asked, I wanted to explain what happened in that Erie matchup. Basically, their club emailed like a week ago saying they wouldn’t have enough players to field a team and wanted to cancel. The league responded by saying it was too short notice, and Erie replied that they would make it work with some guest players. I didn’t think much of it, and was just happy that we were going to get the game in. As you could probably tell, there appeared to be several older players (05/06’s from the looks of games they were playing in after). Not making excuses, but I just want the girls to understand who they were going up against, and that it took a very good older team to do the damage that that they did against us. Anyways…

I think that even if we were playing our best soccer, it could’ve maybe been a

Upper 90 recap (9/28)

An exciting game against an opponent that has caused us a lot of trouble in the past- it’s great to see our progress and how many problems we now gave this team. While we certainly could’ve won this game, and might’ve deserved to given our play in the second half, I think a draw was a fair result.

The two goals we gave up were both identical- crossed in from open play, scored on the right side by the same player, and the result of poor marking from us. Firstly, we need to do better to deny that crossing opportunity, but secondly, we simply need to show more discipline in our defensive positioning and marking. The player that scored was open on the right side of the goal, but central enough where they were positioned in the goalmouth (width of the goal)- both easy, one-touch finishes. Our left and right center backs need to make sure that we are not overcommitting to one side of the field- in this case, our entire back three was drawn to the side of the field

Ohio Strikers recap (9/16/19)

Nice to get back to winning ways with a great 4-2 win over a very big and physical Strikers side that has given us a lot of problems in the past. It was a tale of two halves in this game, and hopefully we can keep improving to make sure that most of our halves left in this season are more like the first and not the second!
After the Roller Coaster Classic, one of our biggest goals for this game was to get the wingbacks a lot more involved in the attack so that we have more width and options in possession. I have to say I was very impressed with the intensity from the players playing in this position, and how quickly and swiftly we moved in transition. We were able to go forward with more numbers, and also did a good job of maintaining width so that more space was created for the three center mids. The biggest proof of this success was Q getting herself into a dangerous position upfield at the backpost and scoring our second goal- great job!!
Our midfield

Roller Coaster Classic Recap (9/7/19 - 9/8/19)

What a weekend! Quite different from our last one but I wouldn’t have had it any other way to be honest. With the aspirations this team has, its important that we got a taste of that top-tier competition and what we’ll be going up against in the future. My other deciding factor in choosing this particular event was because it was a great venue for the team to bond and get closer together. We already have a pretty tight-knit group, but when you really get to know your teammates and connect on more of a personal level, that family feeling translates directly to the pitch. With all the secret handshakes and roller coaster rides together this weekend, you can bet the girls will look out for each other more on the field.

I’ll start by saying that I am PROUD of this group! Our first game against the #5 team in Indiana and we brought it to them. A clear offsides goal conceded (what a weird officiating system they had) but several more clear