Twinsburg and Green

Twinsburg came to town on Senior Night looking to prevent Roosevelt from getting its tenth win of the season. The game was closely contested. The game got more and more physical, especially on the Twinsburg side (they accumulated two yellow cards). A scary moment occured when goalie Abby Bradford got nailed in the stomach by an errant Twinsburg knee with ten minutes left in the game and Roosevelt and Twinsburg tied 0-0. Bradford had the wind knocked out of her, and couldn't breath well on the field. She had to be taken off and replaced with junior goalkeeper and occasional field player Jocelyn Schmidt, who has learned a lot from the adept Bradford through her years playing as Bradford's second-in-command. Schmidt commanded the goalie box well after Bradford came out, making several nice plays, especially with balls in the air and making a few nice punts. We know that next year when Bradford graduates we'll have some solid talent in her stead. Anyway, with 3 minutes or so left in the game, freshman Annie Kenney buried a goal in the left corner, giving Roosevelt a 1-0 lead they would not relinquish. When the clock ticked down to 0:00, Roosevelt got to celebrate its 10th win of the season, which is a rarity in Mitchell's tenure as head coach. Afterwards, the seniors were honored with delicious cake and punch. Cheers to the Roosevelt mom's for putting together nice photo montages of the six seniors.

Not to bring the mood down from the happy news of a Roosevelt victory, but Roosevelt fell last Saturday at Green 1-0. There were several factors that went into the loss. One was Coach Mitchell's absence. His absence was largely felt, especially at the end with some questionable substitutions that kept some bench players on the field for a longer period of time than normal in the 'meat' of the second half. Another element to the game was the turf on which the game was played. In my opinion, and this was supported by many to whom I talked afterwards, it gives a real distinct advantage beyond regular "home-field advantage" when a team like Roosevelt who has played on grass all season goes away to Green and must automatically adapt to a very different surface. It changes the game. I would argue that every team should play on the same surface, regular ol' grass. It's not fair, is what it is. Because Roosevelt had little experience on the turf, players had a harder time controlling the ball, clearing out of the box, making successful offensive ventures, and finally scoring. Though Roosevelt only lost one to nil, it was obvious some ball handling skills went out the window. I just hate that it partly came down to this. Another element was the loss of Michaela Kline to a concussion. Though the offense performed fairly well in the first half, they didn't have the depth at forward they would have had with solid consistent performer Kline. Kline would have brought some good ball handling skills and maturity to the field. The offense has been lackadaisical all season, but this concussion just adds insult to injury. A few good points: the defense performed very well, save for letting in a lucky goal with about ten minutes left in the game. Specifically Audra Parrish and Savanna Kirtley had great games, but everyone on D performed well, seriously.

Tomorrow (Monday) we got the tournament draw, followed by three more games (two at home!), then playoffs. I'll update accordingly as we get more info on our tournament draw.