CAK vs. Alcoa round 2

[BigG]

Well, CAK and Alcoa will meet for the second time this season this Thursday at CAK at 7:00.

 

Should be an interesting game. Bigger field will definitely be a factor, but injuries will determine a lot of the outcome.

 

Last match was 4-2. Look for Alcoa to come out strong on this one, but the Warriors will be ready.

[AlcoaDad]

I am looking forward to this game. It is no secret that we want to beat CAK even though both of us have earned the right to advance to Regions. CAK has set the standard for years and we want to be where they are. This is a very good rivalry in my opinion. Both squads play very hard, but there is a great deal of respect on the field for each other. I don't know about CAK, but we are really beat up right now. It will be up to other players to step up and make up for teammates that are out.

 

I expect CAK to come out hard, but the Tornadoes will be ready to play up a storm!! I could not resist!

 

AlcoaDad

 

[akula21]

0-0

overtime

[akula21]

CAK up 1 nil with 6 left.

 

Alcoa ties it up with 1 left.

 

looks like golden goal

[AlcoaDad]

Sorry this is overdue, but for some reason the server showed down last night when I tried to log in. Here is how the game went as I saw it. I will try and take off my Tornado shaped glasses!

 

First and foremost, this was a classic game of two teams, well coached with great heart and courage. No one lost this game, they just ran out of time. It was a classic.

 

Both teams came out playing pretty loose and maybe a little flat and not as crisp as they usually are. This is not to say the effort was not there. The game did not knock out anyone as each team still qualifies for the Regions, so the level of tension of a win or go home game was not there. CAK is a great place for a soccer game, but I will say that I had to tie down a couple of our players or the mosquitoes would have carried them off! We will bring some "Off" next time.

 

I felt CAK was the aggressor in the first part of the half. They controlled the mid field and seemed to have a more organized attack. Our defense was very strong and we were able to blunt the attacks. Ben Holt is their best player and rightly so. I don't think any striker in the state is better then Ben. CAK tried to funnel attacks through him. He is very very dangerous and can shoot with great effect with either foot. CAK out shot us by a wide margin in the 1st half. If I remember correctly, CAK's keeper had 4 saves in the 1st half and ours had 9. Ben Holt had a couple of very hard shots at our keeper. One in particular was a rocket from the left side that our keeper dove and pulled in. In a classy move by Ben ran back he gave my son (the keeper) a thumbs up. They are friends, and each has a great deal of respect for the other.

 

The 1st half ebbed and flowed with each team quick to counter and there was a real battle for control of the midfield. CAK also had a ton of corners to our two in the 1st half. Half time score 0 - 0.

 

The second half started with both teams coming out fast and trying to dictate the run of play. Both teams had opportunities in the half, but defenses dominated. Austin Stone had a very hard shot that clanged off the crossbar a few minutes before time expired in the second half. It would have been the free kick of the year if it had went in. It was a rocket off the bar. Both teams had good chances, both defenses played well. The keepers did a great job as well. CAK still out shot us to a great degree, so the Alcoa keeper had to make more saves. Right before time expired CAK had a corner and got a great ball into the box. Someone from CAK got a head on it and sent it toward the goal. Our keeper was going in the wrong direction and somehow got his hands back to the ball and fell to the ground with a great body twisting save.

 

Both teams were really gassed and many were cramping up during the break before the extra periods. The 1st extra period was much like the game itself. Defense dominated and both teams tried to impose their will on each other. Some times each was successful, some times they were not. It was very much a game of ebbs and flows.

 

The second overtime started with both teams again trying to land knock out blows to the other. I don't know where each squad was getting the energy to attack and then make such rapid counter attacks down the field, you would never have know it was the second over time period. The pace of play in this game was unreal from start to finish. No one backed down. With about 6 minutes to go in the second overtime, the Alcoa center back missed a ball as Ben Holt attacked, this small opening was all he needed. He streaked to goal and was one on one with the Alcoa keeper. As most great strikers will do when one on one with a keeper, he put the ball in the back of the net. CAK up 1 - 0

 

I am sure the CAK team and fans and most of the Alcoa faithful felt the game was over. I know we were worried on the sidelines. CAK kept drilling the ball down deep and we kept having to restart the attack, it looked like CAK would stall the game away. Then came the play of the game. With about 1 minute left in the second overtime, soccer magic happened. Alcoa rushed the ball up the field and the player was fouled at about midfield, Roberto Castro took the kick and put a nice ball in the box. CAK attempted to clear it and it deflected of a body and was headed out of bounds on the end line at the left side of the goal. The next thing I saw was Austin Stone's feet above the heads of the other players,. He had done a bicycle kick to keep the ball in bounds and send it back in the box where Alcoa's Burkhalter headed the ball in to tie the score 1 - 1. It was one of the most amazing plays I have ever seen in a High School game. None of us realized what was happening until we saw the ball come back in the middle in front of the box and be headed in. Austin told me after the game he thought, "what the heck, I will try this and see what happens." Great players make great plays.

 

The two Golden Periods was much the same as the rest of the game. Great energy, great counters, end to end soccer. I don't know how the boys did it. Between periods they were all laying on the ground and just breathless. It was amazing to watch the heart of both teams as they would return to the field.

 

In PK's, 4 out of the 5 players for each team scored. The keepers each made one good save. Great shoots on goal by each team.

 

In the second go round we had a Freshman take a PK, he shanked it wide. I think the pressure really got to him. He was very upset. CAK's player did not miss, they win.

 

This was an incredible game. I wish everyone could have seen it. I know I was mentally exhausted, I can only imagine what the players were like. I know my son is still exhausted today. From a Dad's point of view, I am so proud of my son and how hard he played in goal and how hard the Alcoa team played. I was told over and over after the game by Alcoa and CAK fans that Tyler was brilliant in goal. This is to take nothing away from the CAK keeper, he played a great game. Tyler had somewhere around 20 shots on him if not a few more, the CAK keeper had around 8-10 on him. He made all the saves he was supposed to so that is all you can ask.

 

This was high level High School soccer and a tremendous match to watch. The pace both teams played at was incredible.

 

It is a trite phrase, but in reality, both teams left everything they had on the field. If both can win on Tuesday night in the Regions, we will see CAK vs. Alcoa round three Thursday night. Both teams face stiff tests in the Regions on Tuesday, Alcoa at Gibbs and CAK will host Berean.

 

 

AlcoaDad

 

Edited May 14, 2011 by AlcoaDad

[mad dawg]

AlcoaDad - now you're just showing off. You are already a shoe-in for poster of the year and now you top your last post. Again, thanks for a great writeup. A little pitchy in the middle but the emotion showed through - oops sorry - too much American Idol.... Seriously though, nice summary.

Edited May 14, 2011 by mad dawg

[AlcoaDad]

AlcoaDad - now you're just showing off. You are already a shoe-in for poster of the year and now you top your last post. Again, thanks for a great writeup. A little pitchy in the middle but the emotion showed through - oops sorry - too much American Idol.... Seriously though, nice summary.

 

 

Thank you. It was very hard to write this up because I was so close to the game and the Tornadoes. It is hard to take off the Tornado shaped glasses!

 

AlcoaDad

 

[GuntersRockMyWorld]

In the second go round we had a Freshman take a PK, he shanked it wide. I think the pressure really got to him. He was very upset. CAK's player did not miss, they win.

 

The newspaper said that CAK's final shooter was also a freshman... Just sayin...

[AlcoaDad]

The newspaper said that CAK's final shooter was also a freshman... Just sayin...

 

 

Not sure what your point is. One freshman handled the pressure very well and that is to his credit. Most teams would prefer to have an upper class man be in a pressure packed situation like this one was. Both teams rolled the dice using a freshman in this situation, it worked for one, not the other. I hope and am confident that our freshman will use this to make him a better person and a better soccer player. Sports teaches such life lessons, dealing with success or failure, handling adversity, so many life skills that sports teaches even at practice.

 

[zizoufan]

Not sure what your point is. One freshman handled the pressure very well and that is to his credit. Most teams would prefer to have an upper class man be in a pressure packed situation like this one was. Both teams rolled the dice using a freshman in this situation, it worked for one, not the other. I hope and am confident that our freshman will use this to make him a better person and a better soccer player. Sports teaches such life lessons, dealing with success or failure, handling adversity, so many life skills that sports teaches even at practice.

 

 

Any idea how old the two freshmen were? Private school players of the same grade tend to be older than their public school peers. It is not always the case, but it is often times true. Ben Holt is an example. He is a sophomore, but turned 16 months ago. He is months older than many juniors on public school teams. This is not unusual. David Lipscomb has a junior who will be 19 in the early fall. He will be two years older, and more physically mature, next year than some of the seniors he will face from public schools in the district.

 

Across the board, the privates, on average, have older players than their public counter-parts. Ben would be a quality striker if he were a junior, but I suggest that the tendency of private school parents to start their kids later gives the private schools an advantage and is part of the reason why the private schools will once again be over-represented at the state A-AA tournament.

[BigG]

Any idea how old the two freshmen were? Private school players of the same grade tend to be older than their public school peers. It is not always the case, but it is often times true. Ben Holt is an example. He is a sophomore, but turned 16 months ago. He is months older than many juniors on public school teams. This is not unusual. David Lipscomb has a junior who will be 19 in the early fall. He will be two years older, and more physically mature, next year than some of the seniors he will face from public schools in the district.

 

Across the board, the privates, on average, have older players than their public counter-parts. Ben would be a quality striker if he were a junior, but I suggest that the tendency of private school parents to start their kids later gives the private schools an advantage and is part of the reason why the private schools will once again be over-represented at the state A-AA tournament.

Well, I have heard a lot of arguments about public vs. private, but this is a first. Private school kids have an advantage over public school kids because they are older than public school kids in the same grade?? Come on.

 

Is there a rule that says public school kids cannot put their kids in later? I have 2 kids in my 6th grade class that JUST turned 11, while most of their counterparts are almost 13.

 

It's not a public private issue, it is a parent's decision.

Edited May 16, 2011 by BigG

[zizoufan]

 

 

It's not a public private issue, it is a parent's decision.

 

You are absolutely right. It is a parent's decision, and many parents make the decision to hold their sons (in particular) back a year to give them an advantage in athletics. If you haven't heard this before, then you haven't been listening.

 

My anecdotal observation suggests that this is far more prevalent in private than in public schools, though it is not exclusive to the privates. This is supported by the fact that many private schools have a birthday cutoff that is months earlier than their public counterparts, your 11 year olds notwithstanding. Do you seriously dispute that your typical 19 year old will have a maturity advantage over your typical 17 year old?