Coach's Corner

Game 1 (09/13/09) - Oopha! This game was kind of ugly. Chatham had no subs, and was underskilled and unprepared for this game. Unfortunately for us, this was far too easy of a win. Our boys played hard at first and won every ball. Unfortunately they were not tested. Our passing was average, but we need to improve on our passing execution. Far too often passes fell short or were far off target. A better team would have ripped us up! By the half, our play got sloppy, but I believe that to be a result of lack of respect for the opponent. Next week will be a much better test of our skill and preparedness. On the flip side, we had scores from four different players. Semir scored four goals, one being a header on a corner kick. Connor Smith scored on a nice pass from Tristan. Tristan Dutkowski scored on off a long through pass from Zack. And, Ryan Neal scored his first goal as a Striker after stealing possession from an opposing player. Andrew was solid in goal, as was Semir in the second half. Nice job everybody, but don't get too cocky. Not every game will be like this.

Scoring summary:

Goal Score Assist

1 Semir Vucetovic Justin Felice

2 Semir Vucetovic Justin Felice

3 Semir Vucetovic Zack Bronstein

4 Tristan Dutkowski Zack Bronstein

5 Ryan Neal (no assist)

6 Connor Smith Tristan Dutkowski

7 Semir Vucetovic (no assist)

Game 2 (09/20/09) - The boys were spectacular! The passing was much improved over last week. Sparta played and tested our players. We beat them to ball most of the time. The boys trapped, controlled, and passed the ball with surgical skill. They backed eachother up, and passed the ball with purpose, setting up tactical plays as we've practiced. We also were far better in the box, setting up numerous scoring opportunity with well placed crosses and feeds near the mouth of the goal. This was a big win against a well respected opponent, and gives us much to build on.

Scoring summary:

Goal Score Assist

1 Blair Wagner Tristan Dutkowski

2 Nick Negast Ryan Neal

3 Phillipe Dos Santos (corner, direct)

4 Semir Vucetovic Phillipe Dos Santos

5 Semir Vucetovic (header) Blair Wagner

Game 3 (09/27/09) - The boys played very well. Passing was crisp at most times. We need to improve on our finishing, as we often leave too many scoring opportunities with poor or uncontrolled shots. Obviously, scoring has not been a major problem this season, but with better competition I think that can be a major factor. We will continue to train and practice and prepare to move up to flight 4 in the spring. We have much to do and plenty to work on. However, it must be noted that the boys are playing very well together. There's a lot of teamwork, talking, working with eachother and correctly anticipating eachothers' actions. This is all fantastic as we prepare these boys for high school.

Scoring summary:

Goal Score Assist

1 Tristan Dutkowski (header) Connor Smith

2 Phillipe Dos Santos Tristan Dutkowski

3 Justin Felice Nick Negast

4 Semir Vucetovic Eric Braun

5 Tristan Dutkowski Nick Negast

6 Tristan Dutkowski Justin Felice

7 Eric Braun Eric Yadvish

Game 4 (10/04/09) - Best game we played yet, against the best competition we've seen this season. The Rush pressed our defense hard at first, and played all game. Defense, midfield, and offense moved the ball around well. We need to work on fewer back/drop passes, especially into pressure, and improve on our passing accuracy. We also need to improve on our defense backup, as we allowed more opportunities than we should have. This was a good game and a very good performance.

Scrimmage (10/10/09) - Now THIS was a GREAT game. We scrimmage the Flight-1 Vernon Tigers on our turf, and tied them 1-1. The defense was fantastic, playing under tough pressure all game. The Midfield was terrific, doing a nice job with ball control. And the offense played excellently against the toughest defense we have seen to date. We saw some of our weaknesses exposed and will work on this. But we also saw what we can do when we are put to the test.

Scoring summary:

Goal Score Assist

1 Tristan Dutkowski Phillipe Dos Santos

Game 5 (10/18/09) - This was certainly our most competitive opponent of the season so far. We were tested, particularly in challenging on the loose ball. The team played well in the frigid cold. Passing was good, but not our best. The defense was great, but in the great plays we also made mistakes that we need to work on. The midfield did a nice job of controlling the center of the field, but we didn't use our wings enough. Mount Olive stacked their defense which made it very difficult for our offense to get though, and it showed. this wasa very good game, and a good game to come up with the win. It alos helps expose some thing we need to work on.

Scoring summary:

Goal Score Assist

1 Semir Vucetovic (no assist)

2 Semir Vucetovic Tristan Dutkowski

3 Nick Negast Phillipe Dos Santos

4 Connor Smith Zack Bronstein

Game 6 (10/25/09) - Chatham came a little more prepared, but still couldn't keep up. We were up 7-0 before the end of the first half. The boys played well, but playing against such lesser skilled opponents only tends to cause bad habits. Our passing and possession control could have been better. In the flip side, the boys played with great sportsmanship, holding off all scoring in the second half, yet still making it a fun 40 minutes.

Scoring summary:

Goal Score Assist

1 Semir Vucetovic Justin Felice

2 Tristan Dutkowski Phillipe Dos Santos

3 Ryan Neal (PK)

4 Phillipe Dos Santos (header) Tristan Dutkowski

5 Nick Negast (no assist)

6 Phillipe Dos Santos Nick Negast

7 Tristan Dutkowski Cody Travolta

Game 7 (11/01/09) - Sparta gave us our closest game of the season. It was nice to have to play hard all 90 minutes. Our passing was off. This may have been due to the uniform colors. Sparta stayed in their dark blue which was difficult to contrast against our black, especially when looking into the sun. Our first touch on offense at times was also not crisp. But the players played with heart, did a nice job of communicating, and positioning themselves for passes and backing each other up. We left far too many opportunities for scores behind with shots over the goal and allowed too many corner kicks go right passed the net. We'll work on this and improve further as a team.

Scoring summary:

Goal Score Assist

1 Connor Smith Phillipe Dos Santos

2 (own goal) n/a

Game 8 (11/08/09) - This was a very good game and a much better performance after last week's poor passing demonstration. The team started out flat at first and we under preasure early. But, they woke up. By the middle of the first half the passing was much improve, and even better in the second half. Late in the game the passing was a little sloppy, but still very effective. We need to improve yet on our finishing, but we must say that hte forwards made many exciting attempts on goal that could have gone either way on any other Sunday. This was a terrific late season game, and hopefully something to build on as we continue our quest for a perfect season.

Scoring summary:

Goal Score Assist

1 Blair Wagner Tristan Dutkowski

2 Semir Vucetovic Tristan Dutkowski

3 Semir Vucetovic (no assist)

Game 9 (11/15/09) - This was another fine performance by the team. Good passing was demonstrated throughout most of the game. The defense played well together, and the midfield controlled the field. The offense put good pressure on the opposition both when we possessed the ball, and even after we turned it over. Our game got a little sloppy near the end, and we let a goal go through. To the Rush's credit, the goal was a good play on their part. We need to work on our finishing a bit more, particularly corner kicks, and our discipline toward the end of the game.

Scoring summary:

Goal Score Assist

1 Semir Vucetovic (no assist)

2 Semir Vucetovic (no assist)

3 Tristan Dutkowski Nick Negast

4 Tristan Dutkowski Semir Vucetovic

Game 10 (11/22/09) - Just like we warned ourselves not to do, we started out the game flat, being beaten to the ball in almost every sense. The first half was slow, and we were outplayed. Eric Braun, Eric Yadvish, and Andrew Reed basically kept us in this game, with fantastic saves throughout most of the first half. The second half was a much better showing, with far better passing effort and control of the game. This was a nice second half to wrap the season up with. And, winning the last game of the season, meaningless as it was, was important; to take momentum into next season.

Scoring summary:

Goal Score Assist

1 Phillipe Dos Santos (solo corner kick)

2 Nick Negast (header) Semir Vucetovic

3 Tristan Dutkowski Nick Negast

4 Zack Bronstein (no assist)

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