The Wait Is Over

Making An Impression

Wednesday morning at Jordan Field sees the Breakers working on situational defending. Yael has Libby in goal, Jenni and  Machaela at center back, Devin on the right and Meagan on the left, facing the offense of Kayla and Caitlyn up top , Kristen at left wing, and Lindsay at right wing, with her taking up the deep-lying center mid spot to watch the play and re-start the drill when the ball goes out of bounds. The other side of the field has John and his "workable" first XI (Labbe; Chapman-Oyster-Mewis-King; Andrews; Lavelle-Fleming-Haavi; Purce-Simon), with the front five playing against the back five and Steph. After 20 minutes of this, John and Yael meet in the center circle to discuss their impressions and who to move for the next drill.

John: See anything good on your side of the field?

Yael: Yeah. Jenni is coming along. The mix-up in the game against Chicago on Saturday  looks to be just a blip. Meagan seems like she's not afraid of getting after it, putting Lindsay down once and thieving her another time, bringing it back to the center line with no problem. She should move over with you. Lindsay should also get a look on your side at different spots in the midfield.

John: OK. I'll send over Emilie and we'll go 6v5 on our end, putting Sam behind the midfield as would be normal.

Emilie moves from John's end to Yael's, with Lindsay and Meagan joining the starters. Meagan starts off the drill at right back, with Julie moving inside and Sam joining the offense as their deep-lying player. Lindsay starts in the center, with Jessie on the left and Rose on the right. The first foray by the offense results in a goal where Midge slips between Julie and Meagan to receive a ball on Meagan's outside from Jessie. Dejected slightly, she shakes off the mistake and gets back to it. The second foray sees Rose driving to the end line on Allysha, laying a perfect cross for Sam to send home....until Meagan gets to it first and heads it out of the area. Morgan and Sam switch places and the next few attempts from the offense go nowhere, with the back five holding tight in an almost straight line, made so by Julie sliding a bit right to force the trialist closer to the touchline. All of the Breakers come in for the final activity of the day, a 9 v 9 scrimmage with goalkeepers.

Blue: Steph; Allysha-Megan-Jenni-Devin; Sam; Lindsay-Emilie; Kyah-Caitlyn

White: Libby; Meagan-Julie-Machaela; Morgan; Kristen-Jessie-Rose; Midge-Kayla

Blue takes advantage of their more balanced approach to score a couple of quick goals on Libby. White adjusts their positioning, with Rose and Kristen moving back to line up with Morgan. It solidifies the defense but doesn't result in a lot of possession or scoring chances. The two teams change sides and White makes another adjustment, running an overlap on the left to take advantage of Blue's lack of an outside midfielder. Meagan gets possession and starts a run down the flank, with Kristen dropping back to provide coverage in case of a turnover. When Devin engages her, she burns past her, forcing a foul from the defender. Morgan steps up to take the free kick, which is struck perfectly by Kayla crashing the back post. White picks up another goal through that move, with Machaela starting the action with a cross-field pass to Meagan, who skips Emilie and slips a pass past Sam onto the waiting foot of Jessie, who turns on Jenni and shoots it back against Steph. With just a couple of minutes left in the scrimmage, Steph sends a long throw out from her box onto Lindsay, who one-times a cross to Caitlyn. She traps it with her chest, then turns Machaela and her shot glances off her calf and goes straight back into the net. John calls it there and the players huddle up in the center circle.

John: Things are getting better. Still having the defensive lapses, but that just could be because our offense is so good. Onto tomorrow, team!

The players walk down to the locker room while John and Yael meander to his office to evaluate Meagan's trial and make a decision about her.

John: I thought Meagan held her own well enough with the first XI and that she showed some great attacking skills out of the back. Her positioning is substandard for a player I envisioned as a wide player in the squad.