U19 Tournament @ Viper Sports Club

U19 Tournament @ Viper Sports Club, somewhere in the middle PA

REPORT

Team 
Gabrielle Kaczan
Emily Bassiacos
Janell Harden
Erin Price
Jordyn Kamis
Amanda Lew
Elena Andreyev
Emma Weiden
Erin Corrigan 

Several lessons were learned at Viper this weekend. One was to stay calm. Indoor hockey is not rugby, or football. Or wrestling. Another is, just to reiterate, that the process is far more important than a short-term result. Winning ugly now is not going to help us in the long-term. And the final lesson? Well that is when your parents tell you to get new sneakers for indoor hockey, listen to them. Isn't that correct, Amanda? 

Viper is a small court and the crowd is right on top of you. Almost literally. It's actually a great little place to play hockey and teaches remaining calm in stressful situations. Small skills and vision are key and they are things that we as a whole club need to focus on. 

Our first game against FSC was tight but we didn't generate enough going forward to deserve a victory. Erin was excellent in the midfield and, as all the players did as the evening wore on, executed some of the best hockey I have seen played as individuals. 

Next we played a Viper team that was very well-drilled. Gabby was excellent in goal, as was Janell in defense and Amanda who shared the midfield responsibilities with Erin. But this was a game that Emily really shone in defense. She may prefer playing further forward, but this was a game when right back became her spot. Sorry! As a group we certainly improved but in the compact space we needed a greater outlet from our forward group of Erin, Elena, Jordyn and Emma. There was too much disconnect. 

Our third game put us up against a different FSC team and in this game the forwards really showed what they can do. Emma showed some excellent vision (we love vision) and Erin C. and Elena worked really hard defensively. It would result in Jordyn grabbing a goal her perseverance deserved. There was lesson too though - when you score you're at your most vulnerable. No one was happy when we conceded immediately from the restart. 

Our final game (that started at 10:12 PM) was fantastic. There was no victory but another great goal from Jordyn and some superb work from Amanda who managed to play through the pain of an injured foot (she had the wrong shoes on - see above re lessons), meant we would leave wearing our new masks (see Instagram) with our heads held high and plenty learned.