The Charge, ladies and gentlemen, have a pulse. In a downright piss-poor week , weather-wise, and for Philly sports teams of all shapes, the ladies from Villanova, PA won only the second game on the west coast in their existance with a gritty 2-1 win over Aly Wagner and the San Diego Spirit tonight. Marinette Pichon and Melanie Hoffmann (game-winner) tallied less than 45 seconds apart for the Charge in the 10th minute. Julie Foudy converted a penalty kick 9 minutes later due to an Erin Misaki handball in the 6-yard box. Melissa Moore looked like the Moore of old, with 5 saves and a game-saving punchout of a Ronnie Fair shot as time expired. Stats: Shots: 12-7, SD Shots on goal: 6-3, SD Fouls: 19-17, PHL Corners: 5-2, SD Saves: 5-1, PHL Offsides: 5-4, PHL (an improvement, at least...) Next game for us: Wednesday night at Uniondale, NY against the Power, with the season series on the line. WOOHOO! Paul
Smashmouth football, I say Paul (just half-kidding; maybe the Charge needed to throw their weight around after being beat-downed by everybody else of late. Now what do you do with McVeigh? Do you sit her down and let her learn or not?)
She's supposed to be a pro, isn't she? She's not even close in my opinion. No other player,with the exception of maybe Clemens, was given so much time to produce something for the team. Will Kirk be able to swallow his pride and play the best team? Only time will tell.
Congrats on the victory. What's up with the Charge and Courage? Identical records down to the order of losses, wins and ties. And now they both win 2-1 with goals for/against in the same order and almost identical times. Bizarre. Must be some sort of psychic connection. Nice to see both teams headed in the right direction.
This is a fantastic result, to go to one of the most inform teams in the league and win on their ground is awesome. Nice to see Hoffman score, although I'm not sure about playing Mitts at central defense though, she's better than McVeigh, but she's one of the best full backs in the league, playing her in the middle is such a waste. Next up we need a win against New York, who we can definitely beat, then we can top the Spirit again at Villanova and we're right back in the hunt for the playoffs
"This was a real good result for us." Coach K: a master of understatement "We thought we had a pretty good position against Carolina, but they came back to knot it. This week, we played a little better, a little smarter and we are coming together." On the team's demeanor: "Absolutely great. They come to practice and play hard whether we win or lose. I think when things are going bad you have to show your character and this team has done that this season." Paul
Hey its nice to see that Coach K listened to the masses and didnt play McVeigh. (Just Kidding!!) While Mitts' presence at the outside back position will be missed while she plays central back, If Lorrie plays there, she is pretty mobile on the attack as well, so overall its a plus for the team. It puts a physical presence back in the middle ( and helps Mitts' chance at making the national team because she can play more than 1 posotion). It was also nice to see someone step up and score besides Pichon. Bring on the Power!!
If there's one thing Coach K is steadfast at, is following his own gut feeling. I'm giving myself a kick in the keester; I wasn't that high on Hoffmann, especially after the San Jose debacle. But a few more games like this and teams will have to worry about two scoring threats and not just one. I never said McVeigh wasn't improving slowly, I just questioned the wisdom of using that high a draft pick on her. Sometimes you can light a fire under folks when they're benched and they play that much better afterward. I'm sure McV is a good person to get along with. I also think this will help her in the long run to be a better player. So let's be a bit more careful (myself included) and a bit less gleeful in unloading at her now that the ship is close to being righted and that Philadelphia sports fans have SOMETHING to look forward to in this spring of our discontent. Not to mention an incessant, unrelenting rain. Paul