Last weekend marked the end of the regular season for the Crushers. A couple of friendly matches and a tournament in Colchester remain, but league play is over.
The girls played an away game on Saturday at 9AM in Plainville. One quick aside, I really have to petition the league not to schedule any games for our girls prior to Noon. Not kidding. The team just can’t seem to find their footing in early morning games. Despite a painfully slow start – going down 1-0 early - the Crushers managed a 4-1 win on the road. It was not their best outing of the year, but they got the result they wanted and dodged another early-morning “bullet”.
On Sunday afternoon they had another road game in Simsbury. A win would lock up second place in the league. An afternoon game? A chance to secure second place? Playing a team that had struggled mightily all year? No problem, right? Wrong. The Crushers played a tentative, reactionary game and went down 1-0 early in the first half. The second half was more of the same. They carried a heavy territorial edge and out-shot Simsbury 20-5. The issue was that most of those shots rolled slowly up to the goalie and had no realistic chance of going in. When the dust cleared the Crushers lost 1-0 to a much weaker team. The problem is that in soccer no matter how good you are (or think you are), you need to prove it on the field - every time you go out there. Not sure what to say other than apathetic play on the part of many players cost them a win. Only a few players played with a real sense of urgency and that simply wasn’t enough. Simsbury wanted it more and deserved the win. Hard work will trump talent 9 out of 10 times.
Find out what's happening in Enfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
If there’s a lesson to be learned in this it is that no team is going to lay down for you based on reputation or past record. If you want to win and be a champion, you have to go out and get it – nothing is going to be handed to you.
I cannot make excuses for how the regular season ended. It was very frustrating. For a team that had played so well for so long, losing the final game the way they did was inexplicable. They truly came into the season like a lion…and limped out like a lamb.
Find out what's happening in Enfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The goals this Fall were to win the Barmak tournament (check!), win the league title (Crushers should finish in 2nd when all is said and done) and win the State Cup (knocked out in the round of 16). Not bad at all, but well short of what they wanted to accomplish.The spring season will demand an all-new list of goals.
The last 2 weeks will bring a couple of friendly games and a wrap-up tournament in Colchester where the girls hope to end the Fall season on a more positive note.
