Just got back in town. We won!!! http://carolinacourage.com/361476.html I have not yet checked to see if I was successful in recording the game.
Don't hold your breath. First, the production was very amateurish. TWC must have been picking up somebody else's feed and hadn't sold any commercial time, because there were long stretches where you could hear the announcers talking to each other and the camera was panning back and forth across the field. Worse, midway through the first half the match disappared and was replaced by some sort of informercial. I'm not sure if the game telecast ever resumed. I got disgusted and turned it off.
YES!! lol it's about time we won a game! And Carla played the WHOLE game, wow, how did she do?? I wish there were more Carolina games on PAX or at least that when they will be on, they'll win, right? haha. Get better soon, Hege!
TV game I watched the TV game video. The whole thing was on except the first 7 minutes of the second half. Too bad Beulah is not planning to write this one up. I was hoping to learn more from her. It was hard to tell what was going on because the picture was not good -- hard to distinguish players -- and the commentary could have been better. I could not tell what Carla was doing in the first half or where she was. In the second half she seemed to do several good things. Unni looked good. The commentators said that they thought Nel and Baxter in the middle was more comfortable and better organized than other combinations. Slaton is "still nursing a little knee injury." Wonder when this knee problem will ever be resolved.
I was there from the middle of the first half on.... Washington misses Abby, Mia, and especially Siri more than we miss Tiff and Slaton. It was a very sloppy game, but we actually took advantage of most of our opportunities. Carla played in the midfield - which allows her experience to be on the field without having to worry about her ability to cover defensively. The good news is that her passing and positive affect on teammates is still there. The bad news is that she didn't seem willing to get involved physically. Borgman's debut was great. McCullough needs to realize that she doesn't have time in WUSA to think about kicking the ball, she just has to do it. I don't know how much this was a release of pent up frustration, or a sign of better things to come. I don't think the Courage were as bad as the 0-4 start would show, but I don't think they're 5-2 good, either. Go Courage.
Go Courage! Aside from the win, I saw a couple of things that made me happy Midfield play was MUCH imporved. They connected passes, switched field of play, actually won 50-50 balls. Frankly, I don't want to see TR back in the middle in the next game. I though James was effective and dangerous. Since I've advocated for more pt for her, I'm glad she didn't bomb Borgman did well, too. At times the defense gave the Freedom WAY too much space (see build up to Stoecker goal).