C'Rays vs. Charge [R] hey guys- matchtracker isn't working for me for the c'rays game...it still says the whole '5 min' thingie... we're up 1-0...who scored for us? starting lineup for us? thanks! elaine
thanks, just noticed! lol so new girl scores a goal!!! tish isn't starting/playing...maybe her knee wasn't ready yet... who knows? elaine
supposedly, her right knee isn't still 100% since she injured it during the all-star game last fall...it's a "knee contusion"...hopefully she'll be back to 100% soon, and i'm glad she got into the game etc. elaine
We're into stoppage time now, and Philly's fired off a couple of shots. Now is no time to let up. ----------------------------- And it's over. 1-0 to the CyberRays on Katie Barnes' 32nd-minute goal. ----------------------------- Elaine, would you mind if I retitled this to make it the post-game thread?
This was a great game to watch. Cyberrays controlled the ball well during the first half, taking advantage of a tentative Philadelphia squad. Line Up LaKeysia Keri - Thori - Brandi - Frenchie katie - Betsy - Sissi Mandy - Katia - Pretinha Really good movement by both Sanchez and Frenchie. Frenchie set up the first goal (there were two) by saving an errant pass from Brandi. A beautiful left footed pass down the line to Prentinha who tapped past her mark with her head and crossed, a little behind Katia. Katia stopped dead in her tracks to collect the ball, and dished quickly to Katie, who buried it upper cover. The second goal was called back, by a major reffing mistake. Linesman called Pretinha off-side after she recovered a loose ball and tapped it forward behind the defense. Worst call I've seen in a while, although I saw a ref mark that same call in a women's division 7 rec game once. Beene was a great shot stopper. Betsy hustled, but made a few mistakes, both in marking and distibution. She looks like she will work out really well, but still needs to settle in. Mandy was very strong, too. No real stand out player, and no real weak spot, either. Team looked quite competitive, and could have easily won 3 or 4-0. Charge came out flat and only perked up in the second half. Heather Mitts really played sharp defense and bailed her keeper out a few times. Their most dangerous player, #10, took a very hard knock in the first half and needed to be subbed. Too bad, because she was a handful. Pichon and Fair were adequate. We had 6,042 in attendance. It had been raining the day before, and it was quite chilly. A good night out.
Not a bad showing at all from the CyberRays, and the result was probably deserved. With better finishing from Katia and Pretinha they could have had four or five. On the other hand, Pichon was a real handful and only heroic defending from Brandi Chastain and -- especially -- Thori Bryan kept the Charge off the scoreboard. At first I thought the formation was a 4-3-3, but after a while I realized it was really a 4-5-1 or, more precisely, a 4-2-3-1. The back line was Sanchez-Bryan-Chastain-French, Sissi and Barr were the d-mids, the 3 attacking mids were Clemens-Pretinha-Barnes, and Katia was the lone frontrunner. Venurini came in for Barnes with about 20 minutes to go, Pretinha took Barnes' spot on the right, and Venturini took Pretinha's spot in the center. The goal was a stunning lightning-quick counter. Brandi had the ball in the Rays penalty area, and, under some pressure, she lofted a square pass to French. Due to either a miscommunication, or just a bad pass, the ball looped behind French and looked for all the world like it was going to go out of bounds and that the Charge would have a throw-in deep in CyberRays territory. However, French raced over and miraculously managed to get a foot on it. She blasted it straight up the sideline, and again it looked like it was going to drift out of bounds for a Charge throw, this time near midfield. But Pretinha got her head on it and kept it in bounds. With an amazing bit of skill she headed it over her defender and then spun around and raced on towards the goal. When the defense collapsed on her, she slid the ball to Katia at the top of the box. By this time, Barnes was racing in alone up the opposite (right) flank, and Katia rolled the ball into her path. Barnes took aim and curled an unstoppable shot into the top corner of the net. The whole sequnce took only about five seconds, and it was a thing of beauty. Here are a few random comments about various CyberRays: Beene: controlled her area well; no mistakes Bryan: best player on the field. her speed, power, and precise tackling were amazing. Pichon would have had five goals if not for Bryan's timely intervention Chastain: also excellent in central d. Sanchez: a revelation. really dangerous attacking out of the back, confident on the ball, tenacious tackling. French: didn't see as much of the ball as Sanchez, and didn't seem to get forward as much, but it was her determination and skill that started the play that led to the goal. Sissi: was really off her game. seemed sluggish and out of sorts. Barr: a great addition to the Rays midfield. she's a little raw but she brings lots of energy and athleticism to a midfield was lacking in both. Clemens: she was fine. nothing much to say about her. not disappointing at all. Barnes: i was surprised she started, but she had a very nice goal, and she looked pretty good throughout. Pretinha: breathtaking skill mixed with too many bad passes, bad decisions, and bad finishing Katia: typical Katia game. great in the air, some good skill, missed an absolute sitter on a breakaway early on. Brandi kept yelling at her to work harder on defense. Venturini: good move to bring her in. The Charge were on top after Smith came in midway through the second half, but Venturini's addition steadied the ship. She really looked good with the ball at her feet, and her maturity and good decision-making helped the Rays settle down and run out the clock. Player of the match: Thori Bryan
Totally.. and as if that wasn't enough.. Thori is sick (she said she's been sick for about 6 days or so) I'm anxious to see her play without being sick now! Katie Barnes impressed me.. hmm.. Dawn's elbow is getting better.. Mandy had ice on her shin.. Frenchie played reallly really well..
I'll defer to the Druid and Roel for this one... By far, a good start to the season... the surprise was seeing Venturini on the bench for this one and eventually coming off the bench... Barnes was the big surprise for this one notching the lone goal for this one with the assists to Katia and Pretinha... Beene played smart in the opener, made the key saves and was able to keep the ball away... As for the Charge, big difference with Smith in and out of the lineup... To the Philly fans--is she back to full strength? She is the cog of that team and it shows with her in the lineup... Clemens--not sure this game? As noted with Barnes, I was thinking she would be the one who would put a goal behind the net and complement Katia... It's 3 points--we in San Jose will take it. Next is Mia and the Freedom, who looks like the team to beat after beating the defending champs Carolina. It's only 1 game in the season but it is going to get very competitive. Heather who? good defender, but if you want the superstar stuff you gotta be like Mia and score goals--just my take... (nice bobblehead though--interesting for her to see a West Coaster have one here... still looking for Siri though) And great seeing the gang, and a few from the Quakes side as well... Cheers!
My $0.02 (or whatever it's worth!) The good: * We won! * No late-game lapses...Defense stayed pretty well organized throughout even without Lindsey. I think this is the first game we've won with Lindsey out? Brandi did a nice job stepping in as our organizer back there. * Beene: Looking like she's back at 2001 form (she's got the 2001 hair back--maybe it makes a difference. Maybe the braids were weighing her down? ). She played with a lot of confidence and really owned her box, and even come out of the box to make some very decisive clears with her feet. No bobbles at all. * French: I thought she had a quietly awesome game. She was rock solid defensively--she had some early hard tackles and nice defensive stops on Pichon and Fair that immediately sent the Charge to the other side of the field with their attack. She was also excellent at stepping up and intercepting Charge passes in her area and reading their offense. On our offensive end she was the catalyst for the first goal (I think she got robbed of an assist--she saved a really awful pass from Chastain from going out of bounds and turned it into a gorgeous ball right to Pretinha’s head) and several other dangerous CyberRays attacks. She made some scary good runs up the flank as well, but we weren't very good with getting her the ball when she made them. We’ve got to be better about getting the ball to #12—good things happen when we do! * Bryan: Sweeeeeeeet tackle in the box. Bad for the Charge player who took the brunt of that hit but the run Thori made to get there and the initial tackle (all ball) was just gorgeous. * The Rookie: Yeah, the baby Barr had some rookie moments where she looked shaky, but she did have a few really nice plays (a couple of excellent headers and some tough tackles stand out), and her fundamentals are good and sound. Her work ethic was great and she fell back and covered seamlessly on defense on several occasions. She also made some big clears out of the box at crucial moments in the game. I think she'll be awesome for us once she gets used to the speed of play at this level and really settles into her role on the team. She showed glimpses in this game of her effectiveness in the air--once she gets a bead on where 'Keysh is going to send the goal kicks I think we'll really start to see where Betsy can be a big help for us. * Barnes: Nice work ethic, nice goal. We can keep her. * Clemens: She REALLY wanted a goal against her former team and was working hard to get it. She also had some very nice defensive moments--she was just working hard all over the field. I think she'll work nicely for us! * Pretinha: Somewhat inconsistent but showed some flashes of brilliance. She was involved in most of the CyberRays scoring opportunities. The bad: * Message to the officials, the linesmen in particular: Please review the rules for offside! You were TERRIBLE! One linesman didn't believe in calling offside for either team, and the other wanted to call it completely randomly. There could be an argument made that Mark Arblaster needed to pull a card on a couple of occasions (Pichon's completely out-of-control tackle of Brandi springs to mind) as well. * The goal that was called back. It shouldn't have been called offside. That was crap. * COLD (for us California wimps) weather and the threat of rain throughout the day kept some fans at home, I suspect. * Did I mention the officials were TERRIBLE? The ugly: * It took all of about 2 minutes for the Charge to decide to attack our right side and not the left. This (the predictability of the right flank being wide open) was one of the things I said I think we needed to "fix" this season, and in this game we didn't. Philly kept busting Sanchez defensively. Yes, Thori was great in covering and did have an excellent game defensively, but she and Brandi wouldn't have to cover like that if Sanchez wasn't getting busted. Yes, Sanchez was pushed up on offense a lot, but I'm not talking about the times when she was clearly out of the play defensively because she’d just made a run...I'm talking about her letting people get by her on the inside when she was already back defensively. Sanchez did make some nice runs on offense, and she did have some nice tackles, but I'm not sold on her overall defensive prowess just yet. French was a brick wall on the left and I thought the hole on the right was painfully obvious, especially in the first half. (In the second half Philly was just sending more bodies forward in general, trying to get the equalizer.) Granted, I’m holding Sanchez to a tough standard, having been bummed out about the Borgman trade, but even an unbiased eye could see the number of times the attack went through our right and not the left—I’m guessing it was easily 75% right/25% left in terms of attacks that got through and that’s not good. * Lots of other little things. Hey, it's the first game of the season, we're missing some key players, and we're supposed to have some issues connecting and communicating at this point in time. Everyone fumbled the ball a little bit on occasion, some more than others, and it made for some disappointing moments. However, we looked good most of the game, so I'm not worried about the small moments of ugly. Overall, I’m pretty happy with the way the ‘Rays looked in this game. I think we’re going to have a most excellent 2003 season!
hey- quiet in here... c'rays game report is up at their site: http://sjcyberrays.com/schedule/sched_results_20030405.html they also have game photos up, and you gotta love those snazzy orange kits! lol elaine
Although I wouldn't admit it to friends, the Charge/C-Rays game was the first womens soccer game (Other than US/Brazil WC) i've went too. Didn't exactely go to watch the soccer, but see some of the gang and my ex is a purple person. Haha. Either way, the girls look fine when they pass the ball, but in the air and longballs, i've seen U-17's play it better. Sad the 'Rays had two breakaways and couldn't convert. The first one she tried to get too fancy and dribble around the keep and the second one the big forward shot it straight into the keeper. What I expect from 'Quakes pick up Brian Ching. Anyway it was decent, and about what I expected from a WUSA game. Hope you fans stick around for the 2nd match of the doubleheader. See you on the 19th.
Hey, IBT. Welcome to this board. Hope you'll be around for the first game on the 19th -- regrettably, it doesn't look like at this point that I'm going to make it down for the doubleheader, which is a big disappointment to me. Missing breakaways is not fun, no? Kyle Martino could tell you about that from Columbus-LA yesterday. At least the 'Rays got one, and they made it count. Glad you made it out for a game.
It was the first game of the season. If that was about what you expected from a WUSA game, stick around and watch a couple of others later on in the season. We'll look a lot better, beleive me!
I see I'm late to the party so I'll just add a couple of comments. I believe Pretinha's goal wasn't disallowed for being offside. I think she was called for dangerous play because she kicked high. Personally, I think the call was a travesty. It was a beautiful goal and the final score should have been 2-0. I think everyone showed some inconsistency and rustiness, but in balance everyone was remarkably solid. There really were no week spots to exploit. I agree that it wasn't Sissi's best showing, yet we still controlled play for long stretches. Last year I don't think that would have been possible. Remove Kelly Lindsey and Venturini and we really would have been in trouble. I don't think we'd ever played Pichon at Spartan, and we (Thori and Brandi) neutralized her. That is really impressive. Katie Barnes was a pleasant surprise. I expected a rough attacking talent, and saw a skillful two-way player. She was working her flank nonstop, and some of her long passes were on the dime. She keeps starting in my game plan. LaKeysia looked terrific. I've come to expect her astounding athleticism, but she was controlling the box and coming off her line with more authority than I've seen in a while. I thought Pretinha rocked. She looked way fitter and faster than last year. No dramatics when calls didn't go her way, few offsides, some really brilliant footwork. When she and Katia and Mandy really get on the same page, look out. I think it was a great start to the season.
Yes, exactly. There is no way any ref, no matter how stupid, blind, bribed, etc etc would call that play offside. The ball was played through and Pretinha ran onto it; meanwhile a defender was running at the ball from the opposite direction, and the three (Pretinha, defender, ball) reached the same point at the same time. There is no way Pretinha could have been offside in a play like that -- she was clearly at least 20 yards onside at the time the ball was played -- so it had to be something else. The problem was that in order to win the ball before the defender got there, Pretinha brought her foot up to about waist level and poked the ball out of the air, around the defender, and into her path so she could continue her run in on goal without breaking stride. Evidently, the ref thought her leg was too high. I disagree with the call, but at least I can see how the ref might have seen things differently, whereas an offside call in that situation would have been completely absurd.
I believe the disallowed goal was an offside call, as absurd as that may seem to those of us who were there. The linesman held his flag up indicating offside, the goal was scored, the field official waved it off indicating the linesman had his flag up. I think that particular linesman was extremely unclear on the offsides rule, as he blew several calls. He was constantly holding the flag up to indicate offsides, when it was clear the players were not jumping offsides -- I think he was looking at when the ball reached the forward player, rather then when the ball was served.
rbatc, I don't know if I've done this before, but I welcome you to BigSoccer. Enjoy it here! Two questions: 1) Don't linesmen (or ARs, as the newfangled terminology goes) raise their flags for other infractions besides offside if they see it and the referee may not? So that might have been part of it. b) If the AR really doesn't know the offside rule, what the *!@#* is he/she doing refereeing a Division I game? Granted, the application of the rule can be difficult in practice as an AR has to keep track of the ball over here and the players over there when the ball is played, but do they really need Bend It Like Beckham to teach them the offside rule? Isn't there anyone better out there to do the lines?
1) Yes, the linesman do raise their flags for infractions other then offsides. Not having the benefit of replay since the game was not televised, I cannot review to see if there was something else he may have been holding his flag up for. I do know that I didn't even remotely think there was any dangerous play (unlike when Brandi was kicked in the head). 2) This linesman really had a difficult time with the offsides call the entire game. There were other offside calls where there was no doubt that that was the call; however, when the ball was served, the player was onsides. I myself have questioned over the past two season isn't there anyone better out there to officiate some of the games I've seen!