U16 Black @ Spooky Nook

TEAM
Amanda Halper 
Emily Cahill
Talia Cantaffa
Meadow Maguire
Julia Hegarty
Adeline Horan
Claire McGowan
Kayla Silva GK

The black team went into the tournament knowing that they needed to perform in preparation for the NIT in a few weeks time. 

The focus was work-rate and making sure we don't leave too many space in transition. The first game took as a while to get going and despite some excellent goal keeping from Kayla, a few failures to adhere to the principle of working hard meant we left a few too many spaces for the counter-attack. If nothing else it showed the team that there is no time to "ease" into the pace of the game. 

The second game was a big step up and was much more like the team performance that was expected. Delaware Shore couldn't handle the movement of Talia, Emily, Adeline and Claire up front and they were able to create numerous chances. At the back, Amanda and Julia continued to build upon their understanding and broke forward to put our southern opponents under pressure that they had no idea how to deal with. In the middle, Meadow's great small skills and awareness kept creating chances for those around her - though she still needs to shoot more! 

The third game I have no idea what the score was but Talia scored a lot of goals. Which was awesome. 

The final game, after the u14 players raced back from a game immediately before and undertaken a Superman-style uniform change, was another display of what the team is capable of. Some excellent baseline entries meant that Adeline got herself in great positions, as did Claire and Meadow. Talia continued her scoring streak, but even more impressively she set-up an excellent goal for Emily. 

This team really is able to build from the back and Julia and Amanda did fantastically well to find spaces. When the opposition does manage to break forward Kayla is always in position. This tournament she had a great calmness about her that helped all her team. 

It was an excellent day for Black but it can be improved upon and we will be even stronger with Aryana with us at NIT...