Coach Sherry summed it up nicely in his post game meeting with players and parents. Sometimes one team outplays another, but for a few unlucky bounces they don't win. And that was the story from the VIP Tournament's Semi-final match up today between Xtreme 98 Red and Team America 98 United.
Red and Team America are familiar with each other, have tangled several times before, in indoor winter play and in previous tournaments, and even trading players back and forth in the winter leagues. Red leads Team America in their series 3-0, but today, Team America wanted revenge and a shot at the Championship Game. They would get both.
Red came out strong, determined to return to that final game and dominating Team America. Xtreme sent shot after shot whistling towards the TA goalkeeper, who stayed strong, facing down shots and effectively tracking shots going wide.
Finally, at 19 minutes the Taxman and "Laces" Liv combined for two dangerous scoring opportunities, and then sent the ball back out of the box to Big Foot who was streaking in from defense. She lobbed a shot over everyone's head, including the leaping Team America keeper to find the back of the net and send Xtreme up 1-0.
Red tried desperately to add to their lead before the end of the half, but were stymied, despite spending the vast majority of the half in the offensive zone. Goal keeper Happy Feet only faced three TA shots, all of which she handled with ease.
But the second half was a different game entirely. Red, perhaps frustrated by their inability to score again, had difficulty containing a Team America team that adjusted to the precision passing, possession game Xtreme was playing.
At 36 minutes the referee made a somewhat questionable call against Xtreme that resulted in the Team America equalizer – on what appeared to be a TA handball that left goalkeeper Happy Feet in agony.
And it continued to unravel from there.
Sensing Xtreme back on their heels, Team America struck again one minute later, adding a go-ahead goal against an injured
Red keeper who lacked full mobility and a defense trying to regroup.
Xtreme had no choice but to pull the injured Happy Feet from goal and replace her with the Taxman, whose 4 shots and 5 shots on goal showed how hungry she was for her third goal of the tournament.
On the very next play, head defender Big Foot went down and had to leave the game.
TA played a smart game, taking four more shots on goal and making sure Xtreme had to cover the full distance of the field on every attack – of which their were several.
Jessie, The Hammer, and Space Ghost settled the defense down and kept the offense on the attack for much of the final eight minutes of the game; The Professor, First Aid, and Laces would combine for 16 shots on goal – half of which came in the final five minutes.
But it would not be enough. Team America was able to hold on to the lead and outlast Xtreme, 2-1.
They took on Great Falls in the Championship game, losing 4-0.
Though the final outcome of the tournament was not what Xtreme had hoped for, the front office and coaching staff are very pleased with the performance of every player – and every player contributed.
Across three games, nine players took 78 shots - 51 on goal (65%). Six players scored eight goals and Xtreme keepers faced 25 shots, ceding only 4 goals (84%). Xtreme also posted a higher time of ball possession than their opponents across all three games.
The front office and coaching staff want to thank all the players for giving it their all this weekend, all the parents for getting the girls to those early games on time, and a special thank you to our two guest players, Liv and Jessie and their families – they're welcome back anytime!
VIP Tournament 2011 is October 8-9, 2011. Mark your calendars!
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