Game 18: Region 3 Finals vs. St. James

@ Saint Thomas Aquinas vs. St. James in the Region 3 Finals (1-0)

This was a very close match. In the second half, St. James had a great chance to cash a corner (Calvert directed a goal over the top of the bar—just a great keeper play (Check it out!). And this corner was sandwiched between their other two corners. To go along with those 3 corners they also had a second-half break-away they shot early that just went wide. Now that might not sound like much, but in what ends up a 1-0 match, that is quite a bit.

I didn't think we were particularly sharp. But St. James had a lot to do with that in that they play hard, always. They close quickly.  They did a nice job of nullifying Jamie, holding her jersey, claiming her space, just playing hard-nosed. 

So we needed some other players to step up to the plate. We did generate two nice break-aways when Jamie was out that we shot wide. Meyers twice hit the bar, once off a nice cross from Kutey and a second off a free kick. Olivia also just missed framing the back post on another one of Jamie's nice crosses, as well. And we did create 10 corner kicks, but each was pretty well-defended.

So we get out of Dodge with a win, and we move on. Many kudos should go to St. James who certainly played well in the bracket of death, knocking off BV West in their first match and taking us to the wire in their second. 

BWhite recognized two Players of the Match, naming Molly Schmidt and Allyia Calvert. Both had a lot to do with the score staying at zero. It has been hard to find anyone playing any better than Molly in the back for the last 3 weeks as she has just been in shutdown mode.

Addie Denning also had a fine defensive game in the middle of the field.  And if there is anyone who tries to get us to keep more possession, it is she.  We would have found the match a lot more to our liking if we would have tried to hold the ball into more possession. We are much better when we string 3-4 passes together before we move towards goal.

Tonight was our program's 19th Regional Title, and we now move to the Elite 8 for our 13th straight year. We get Lansing next in our effort to go where none have gone before, a 6th straight state title, but we need to win Tuesday to have the opportunity to win Friday and Saturday.

Region Champs

Let's do this.

STATS: First Half:  Saints: Shots: 7 (3) Corners: 5 (Kutey 2, Meyers 2, Geiger 1)

25:28 Kutey (her pass through the defense is deflected back to her)

Thunder: Shots: 1 (1) Corners: 0

Second Half:  Shots: 5 (1) Corners: 5 (Meyers 2, Kutey 2, Reynolds)

Thunder: Shots: 2 (1) Corners: 3