| Samantha and her FC Sarasota teammates played in their opening
game of the Sarasota Cup, a tournament hosted by the FC Sarasota
club, and held at the The Premier Sports Campus at Lakewood Ranch. We found our way to the field and watched the sun rise while we
waited through warm-ups for the game to begin. Sam took the field at
defensive midfield and seemed to play a bit sluggish. Truthfully,
all the girls looked that way. They pulled it together quickly,
though, as the opponent wasn't
allowing any room for mistakes. You could hear our
girls complaining to the ref quite often in an effort to get him to control the game,
but he ignored
anything said, even telling Sam that when she had the whistle she
could make the calls. At the end of the 1st half, we were tied 0-0,
as neither team was able to take advantage of their opportunities
(including a penalty kick). As they
entered the second half, you could tell the FC girls were more alert
and more determined to match Cape Coral's aggressive play than they had in the first half.
They came out attacking, and quickly scored a goal to take a 1-0 lead. The Cape Coral
Cyclone team continued to play a very aggressive game, taking advantage of
every opportunity to cheat their way through the game - taking 30
yard steps to advance their throw in, hooking arms, and flat out
pushing in the back regularly. Overall, I believe we played a decent
game - although I have seen better from our girls. |
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