Signs of Life
6/25/11
Our quarter final match up was going to be a battle - we knew that going in. We also knew that unless we began to play with heart and some emotion we were in for another slaughter. This game started out pretty badly. Monte Negro scored on two out of three of the first possessions. When the first quarter ended, we were lucky to be down 3 - 0. It could have been a lot worse.
Then something happened... I could sense that the team began to find their heart. They started to battle and each possession suddenly became important. There was a different feeling on the bench and in the water. Truly, this is the reason I still coach. The feeling of team. When everyone begins to see the bigger picture. It is not about them individually but rather about the team. It becomes a matter of wanting it for your team mates as much or more than for yourself. It becomes a brotherhood - a family if you will. Wow! It is coming back...
The truth is that this is a process and it just does not happen. It is in the works and it is part of our journey. Slowly we fought back in the game and eventually tied the game up at 3 apiece. Then it was a back and forth battle with each team taking the lead before giving one up. Merrill Moses played great in the cage after the first quarter and he kept us alive. With 30 seconds to play we were down 6 - 5. We drew an exclusion and Tony Azevedo scored a nice outside shot to tie the game with 8 seconds left. That is how the game ended. In World League (unlike the Olympics or the World Championships) when the teams are tied you go directly to a penalty shootout. Each team picks five players to take penalty throws. The teams alternate shooting. Monte Negro missed on the first one and Tony made his to put us up 1-0. They made their next one and Adam Wright made his to make it 2-1 us. Once again they made theirs, but Brian Alexander missed his - so it was 2-2. Both teams made the next (Peter Varrellas scored for us). 3-3 with one shooter to go on each team. Monte Negro missed the next shot leaving Ryan Bailey up for us. If it makes it game over we win - if he misses the shooters keep going until there is a winner. Ryan came up big and made his shot.
This is a huge step for us. We have not been too successful at the penalty shootouts in the past. In fact, last year at World League, we lost to Monte Negro in the quarter finals.
It was a great step in the right direction for us.
Today we will face off with Serbia once again in the semi finals. To me this game is about respect. Over the last few years, Serbia has once again had our number. They are the best team in the world but I feel like they don’t really respect us. This was the case before the 2008 games and it really was not until about a month before the Olympics that that began to feel like maybe would could create a problem for them. After Thursday’s game they were kind of laughing at our inability to score on our extra man. I don’t blame them really as we were pretty pathetic but it is time to make them start thinking that maybe we could be a thorn for them again....
Moving forward... We are in the final four and playing for a medal. Win tonight and we play for gold. Lose and we play for bronze.
See you at the pool.
Coach
Our quarter final match up was going to be a battle - we knew that going in. We also knew that unless we began to play with heart and some emotion we were in for another slaughter. This game started out pretty badly. Monte Negro scored on two out of three of the first possessions. When the first quarter ended, we were lucky to be down 3 - 0. It could have been a lot worse.
Then something happened... I could sense that the team began to find their heart. They started to battle and each possession suddenly became important. There was a different feeling on the bench and in the water. Truly, this is the reason I still coach. The feeling of team. When everyone begins to see the bigger picture. It is not about them individually but rather about the team. It becomes a matter of wanting it for your team mates as much or more than for yourself. It becomes a brotherhood - a family if you will. Wow! It is coming back...
The truth is that this is a process and it just does not happen. It is in the works and it is part of our journey. Slowly we fought back in the game and eventually tied the game up at 3 apiece. Then it was a back and forth battle with each team taking the lead before giving one up. Merrill Moses played great in the cage after the first quarter and he kept us alive. With 30 seconds to play we were down 6 - 5. We drew an exclusion and Tony Azevedo scored a nice outside shot to tie the game with 8 seconds left. That is how the game ended. In World League (unlike the Olympics or the World Championships) when the teams are tied you go directly to a penalty shootout. Each team picks five players to take penalty throws. The teams alternate shooting. Monte Negro missed on the first one and Tony made his to put us up 1-0. They made their next one and Adam Wright made his to make it 2-1 us. Once again they made theirs, but Brian Alexander missed his - so it was 2-2. Both teams made the next (Peter Varrellas scored for us). 3-3 with one shooter to go on each team. Monte Negro missed the next shot leaving Ryan Bailey up for us. If it makes it game over we win - if he misses the shooters keep going until there is a winner. Ryan came up big and made his shot.
This is a huge step for us. We have not been too successful at the penalty shootouts in the past. In fact, last year at World League, we lost to Monte Negro in the quarter finals.
It was a great step in the right direction for us.
Today we will face off with Serbia once again in the semi finals. To me this game is about respect. Over the last few years, Serbia has once again had our number. They are the best team in the world but I feel like they don’t really respect us. This was the case before the 2008 games and it really was not until about a month before the Olympics that that began to feel like maybe would could create a problem for them. After Thursday’s game they were kind of laughing at our inability to score on our extra man. I don’t blame them really as we were pretty pathetic but it is time to make them start thinking that maybe we could be a thorn for them again....
Moving forward... We are in the final four and playing for a medal. Win tonight and we play for gold. Lose and we play for bronze.
See you at the pool.
Coach
posted by Dr. Terry Schroeder at
7:24 AM
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