It's a beautiful day - let's play two!

We had a girls lacrosse double-header yesterday. First, there was a game with the new Franklin County team in the morning at Reserve Ave. They had some very tall players but our girls were more skillful and much quicker. We won 9-1.

Actually, I didn't see much of the game because I was the roster manager. We had 7 substitutes and try to get everyone equal playing time so there is a lot of substitution. You have to write down which players are where and tell the substitutes where they are going and who they are going in for (often with a brief explanation of the position). Initially, there was a great deal of mild complaining about positions ("Can I play center? I don't want to play defense. Can I play goalie?") but that settled down as the game progressed. That is either an indicator that they thought the positioning was fair or they saw the scowl on my face when they would ask for a position change after I'd spent 5 minutes trying to line them up in positions they hadn't played yet. It was probably the scowl.

I saw a couple of good plays: a nice give and go around the goal (not sure if it was intentional, but it worked), a few good entry passes from the midfield and an outside shot or two. Otherwise, I was buried in paperwork.

The second game was more competitive. We played at Hidden Valley and they had some very good players. We won 15-10 but it would have been much closer had they not had two of their better players leave for a soccer game at half (get your priorities straight!)

This time, CP took on the administrative burden of running the roster and I coached the sidelines. It was very close through the first half. I think the biggest lead by either side was 2 goals and the action was back and forth. They had one player in particular that we just could not stop. She was big and had good speed. The only weakness she had was that she really couldn't go left (very common at this age). I think she hung 7-8 goals on us until I put one of our quicker players on her (don't let her get the ball and, if she does, play her right hand). That settled things down and we got in a better groove on offense (why do girls think it's a good idea to shoot right at the goalie?)

We had a couple of plays I remember: an assist from defense to offense (a 30-yard pass right on the money), a score from defense on a 80 yard run (that might be the ticket to getting them to like the position more - if you get a free position, take it all the way and we'll hold a wing back) and a sweet top corner shot from a free position on the 8m arc (of course, I was saying shoot it low - what do I know?)

The ref was calling this game tight (but fair) and we got quite a few checking penalties (this is a no-check age group). I'm OK if we get a checking penalty from a good defensive position because it means you are trying to get the ball and got overzealous but there were a few that were just hacks and that shouldn't be happening.

We'll see Hidden Valley again on Monday and have a short practice on their field followed by a rematch. We need to work on a couple of things (good defensive position, spreading out on offense, and, of course, ground balls) and a practice will get us a chance to review some things before another game.