U19 @ WC Eagles

​U19 Scarlet @ WC Eagles 
Ally Parrett 
Tessa Kearny 
Sydney Patterson 
Lizzee Harrison
Emily Brandt
Kelly Mazur 
Sarah Leneghan 
Amanda Halper
Aryana Muscara
Talia Cantaffa 

Xcalibur. WC Eagles. Liverpool FC. They do, of course, have some very good players and some of their teams are very good - but not all of them. And in the case of Liverpool (eh, Erdne?) none of them. Do not be phased by a name. Play the team that you face on that day and do not be intimidated. 

Playing Xcalibur we spent the first 10 minutes trying to figure out why weren't losing - it wasn't until the second 10 minutes that we finally figured out that we should have been winning because we were better. Lizzee, Emily, Aryana and Amanda were dealing with everything they had offensively, and it was only a little trepidation that meant we weren't ahead. New positional experiences for Sydney, who spent time on the forward line supporting Sarah, took a little getting used to, but they were both excellent, along with Talia and Kelly and Aryana who rotated through the midfield. Sydney had a few looks at goal but couldn't quite squeeze one in. A draw was a fair result as it was very much a game of two halves. A game, I might add, in which Ally Parrett had a superbly composed game in goal. 

You know how I said that Xcalibur had some very good players? Well they were all in the second game. A young Xcalibur team, who still had obviously played together for a long time, moved the ball fantastically well and we didn't do enough to pick up the spaces. Tessa did very, very well in goal but we couldn't create enough to stem the tide. It was a lesson to our inexperienced team. 

The third game made the coaches really proud. WC Eagles were solid and put high pressure on us that Lizzee, Amanda and Emily did very well to try and relieve and it meant they couldn't find a way through in open play. With Sarah, Kelly, Talia and Sydney we were always a threat going forward but the game ended with a tight loss. 

I have no idea of the result of the final game but it was undoubtedly our best performance. An impressive game from Aryana and a great goal by Talia, as well as a missed penalty stroke (we will work on those), showed that we can compete with anybody. And we will - no matter the name.