9/23/2022 Bellevue vs Hazen 9-22-22BHS 5-0 Hazen
9th minute Lillian (Leah) 11th minute Kendall (Lillian) 18th minute Hinana PK 20th minute Mia (Gaby) 55th minute Emily FK Coaches have a tendency to quibble. It’s one of the risks of the job. But in a season in which we have started 6-0-0 with 18 goals for, 1 against and 5 shutouts, quibbling gets more challenging. “In past games we have started slowly”…but that particular quibble doesn’t hold up when analyzing our game against Hazen when between the 9th minute and 20th minute our team scores four goals. “We have moments in games when we get sloppy in our first touch and our passing isn’t as crisp as it should be,” but no team on earth finishes a game with 100% passing accuracy, and if uncharted last night’s passing performance, I’m certain it was one of our best of the season. Lastly my most consistent quibble: “our finishing conversion rate as good as it should be.” So far this season we are averaging over 21.4 shots per game and 3 goals per game while allowing 3.5 shots per game and conceding .16 goals to our opponents. So yes, we could improve our conversion rate on shots to goals, but that’s like nitpicking that a Hawaiian vacation could be improved if the Pacific Ocean was just slightly warmer…all while sipping a Mai tai and watching dolphins jump in the surf with a vibrant reddish orange sunset in full display. It’s a subjectivity correct criticism…that’s missing the point. So no quibbles from last night vs Hazen. We were very solid in a comprehensive 5-0 win. Full stop. Excellent. The first half goals came in a rush as we scored 4 in just over 10 minutes. In the 9th minute, Lillian’s press upfield forced an errant clearance that Leah redirected right back to Lillian for an easy tap in finish. 1-0 Bellevue. Two minutes later we scored the goal of the night as we moved the ball throughout the field in quick and confident two-touch passing until we found Mia’s feet in the left wing, who squared for Lillian in the box, Lillian unselfishly dinked a simple ball into space to an overlapping Kendall who smashed the ball into the upper corner. Delicious team goal. Then in the 18th minute, Leah was released into space on the right wing from a perfect back-door through ball from Hinana, and once Leah was in on goal the defender had no choice but to foul her. Penalty kick and Hinana stepped up and confidently hit the upper right corner. 3-0 BHS. Just two minutes after that, Gaby from her center back position sent a multi-layer pass to Mia at striker (on the ground), Mia outraced the entire Hazen defense and finished for a 4-0 advantage after only 20 minutes of soccer. From there we rotated heavily, oftentimes with players in new roles (Mia at right fullback. Amirah as striker!!) and closed out the game with possession passing. Emily added a fifth goal in the 55th minute from a free kick that Josie had earned by allowing herself to be body slammed to the turf by a frustrated Hazen defender. And that was it. 5-0 victory. Next week we travel to Vancouver to play Mt. View in our final non-conference game of the season. Mt. View defeated Stadium earlier in the season 2-0, just before we beat them 3-1, so on paper it should be a competitive game. I expect a tough and physical contest that should prepare us to play against teams that play a variety of styles and formations. And on Thursday, we welcome Mercer Island to Bellevue stadium. A year ago, we entered our rivalry game undefeated and perhaps a bit over-confident…and the islanders served up a huge helping of humility by giving us our only kingco defeat of last season. We’ll be ready. I’m hoping for a beautiful sunset-like performance. Comments are closed.
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