Northmont Invitation Final Stop Before Season Opener
Englewood, OH (July 26, 2004) The Lady Spartans soccer team finished their pre-season tournament run this weekend when they traveled to the Northmont Invitational.
Finishing 2-1-1 at the tournament coach Jeff Stiver feels that the chain of tournaments the girls participated in brought the beginning of the necessary improvements needed for the 2004-05 season.
"Our first day of practice is August 9th and we hope by then the injuries have cleared up, but overall these tournaments have been a great start in to our season. We started working on some things and hope that will extend into practice," Stiver commented.
The girls' first game was against Springboro's number two team. Valley View had a rough game. They never appeared to break out and play hard like they have done in the previous tournaments, but although they weren't playing their best; they still walked away with a 4-3 victory.
"It was not a real good effort. Maybe we weren't ready to play, maybe we were flat. It was a game where we were a lot better than the other team and they still scored three goals on us. We were playing a lot better teams than Springboro through the last couple of tournaments and they couldn't score that many goals on us, combined," Stiver stated.
"I'm not sure if we weren't enthused or energetic, but it was a game we should've won 8-1 or 7-1. We were sloppy. If I knew what caused it I could prevent it from happening, but we were just back on our heals and not real crisp. It was the worst overall team effort so far," Stiver noted.
Kayla Kerns recorded an assist and a goal. Alexis Pal recorded two goals and an assist, with Christie Jones tacking on a goal and Lauren Clay made one assist during the game.
Continuing on, the girls battled a tougher Carroll team to a 1-1 tie in game 2. Stiver was pleased to see the girls back to their normal selves during this game, even if it was a draw.
"They were a decent team and we might have been fortunate to tie this game," Stiver said.
Valley View's number of players began to decrease in this game, but Stiver still felt that they played a much better game.
"We stated losing players and the kids started to tire a little, but it was pretty good game and an overall good effort," Stiver said.
"It was a much better game than we played against Springboro. I would have to say I may not have been pleased with the 4-3 win, but I was pleased with the 1-1 tie," Stiver commented.
Pal scored the lone goal during the game.
Sunday morning the girls woke up bright and early to compete against Cincinnati St. Ursula, who they beat 2-1.
"They were a good team. At 8:00 you can't tell how the girls will play, but they played well. We saw a lot of good things and a lot of good movement during the game," commented Stiver.
"It was 2-0 most of the game before Cincinnati scored a late goal, but our girls held on for the win," Stiver added.
For the Spartans, the last game of the tournament was against a solid Beavercreek number two team. The Lady Spartans were drastically down in numbers during this game, with only two substitute players.
"They were another good team. I think during this game we really showed wear and tear. We were down to only two subs, so you could really tell when our girls were getting tired," Stiver said.
Valley View had some great moments in the game when they had energy remaining, but through the heat the girls became tired and that's when the fans began to tell a difference in the game.
"We played well when we had endurance and energy, but moments would arise when we were all tired and couldn't pull out more than two girls to rest," said Stiver.
"I think on and off at times we played well, but at other times we were looking a little sloppy and a lot of that was due to fatigue. All in all you take that into perspective. We were pleased with how we played when we were fresh, but when we got tired you could tell and that's something you can't do anything about," Stiver noted.
Sarah Burris and Pal each scored a goal while Holly Karn recorded an assist.
All the teams the Spartans went up against during the tournament were division one schools, so even though the teams they played were the number two teams, Stiver was pleased with how the girls handled themselves on the field.
For now, the girls are going to take a little break to give them time to heal any injuries and then it's back to practice beginning August 9.
"It will be a couple weeks before we officially begin practice, so for now the girls will be in the weight room and conditioning. And, hopefully healing any minor leg injuries they have right now," Stiver commented.
"All in all we had a terrific summer and I think we will have a pretty good season this year," Stiver added.
