Soccer Game 1: 8-0 Win

My Catholic school girls' soccer team had their first game yesterday. We won, 8-0, or something like that. It was at least 8, maybe as much as 10. I called off the dogs early in the second half, but we've got so many club players that no matter what I did, there was always one or two at forward or mid. They sliced right through the other team's rec-level defense and blasted shots past a dazed goalie.

My best defender plays stopper on a premiere-level team and she has an absolute cannon for a leg. I figured she'd feel out of place at forward, so I put her there once the score started mounting. She practically decapitated their goalie with a couple of 50 MPH shots.

My own daughter who normally plays right mid on her club team wanted to play defense for us. She was unsure of her skills and resisted playing stopper (the front, center defensive position), but I put her there for the second half anyway and she just took over the middle of the field. It was great to see her confidence shoot up as she realized that the last two years of practice were paying off.

As for the rest of the team, I've got one girl who is on the Olympic developmental team. I thought she was good last year. She was. She's simply on another planet now. Watching her go up against rec-level players is just mind-blowing. I've got another premiere-level forward who showed up for the second half after playing for her club team. She pranced in with her usual breezy style, begged to play forward and scored two goals in about 90 seconds. I promptly moved her to defense where she languished the rest of the game.

This ought to be a fun season.