Boston Cup: July 26-27, 2008

results ...

Saturday:
Tie vs Lucky Draw 1-1 (Smita)
Tie vs Team Philly 0-0

Sunday:
Win vs Minutewomen B 1-0 (Betsy)
Tie vs Mavern 0-0, Win in penalty strokes 3-1 (Theresa, Courtney, Kasey)

Finals: loss vs Goa 0-5

 

report ... by Margreet Coolen

After weeks of preparation, hard work and two fundraisers, the Chicago Ladies were finally ready to head off to Boston to compete in the Boston Challenger Cup 2008. Everybody was really excited to go and it seemed that everyone was ready and prepared for a great tournament. After a few setbacks in the hotel, i.e. we had too many people for only one bed per room and we were even sent to rooms of total strangers, where Sandy and Mags were able to make some new friends, we started off with a Friday night “social”. It turned out that our first game was not until 5:45 p.m. on Saturday, so we had plenty of time to have a few drinks in the bar.

After an unusual long night sleep, a good part of the team went to in town to act like tourists in Boston. After a short tour of a park, we headed to Newbury Street for some shopping and lunch, after which we went back to the hotel to change rooms and clothes. And at this point it was hard to imagine that we actually went to Boston for a field hockey tournament. It seemed more like a fun weekend away with some of the Chicago ladies and most of us felt like taking a nap.

Nevertheless, we went to the field and had plenty of time to prepare ourselves, both physically and mentally. After a brief pep talk and review of the strategies, taught by our coach Sanjay, we started our first game against Lucky Draw. And immediately you could see that all of our preparation paid off. We were strong and confident and had some really good passes. In the first half we dominated the game, which resulted in two short corners, but we were not able to score yet. A few minutes in the second half we had our first real chance at a goal. Mags ran the ball on the right side of the field towards the D, where she was able to pass the ball to Sandy, who placed herself in a really good scoring position, but was unable to turn it into the much deserved 1-0. But the pressure was on and not too long thereafter, Tina was able to pick up a ball from the Lucky Draw defense and take a shot at goal, which went by the goalie and Smita, who was at the second post, was able to secure the goal!
Unfortunately, 5 minutes before the end of the game, Lucky Draw was able to score the equalizer by breaking through our solid defense and taking a lucky shot at goal. We walked of the field a little bitter. After dominating most of the game, playing hard and passing as a team, a draw seemed a little unfair. But, at the same time we were happy with the way we played and with the fact that one of our “newbies” was able to score a goal.

The second game on Saturday at 7:11 p.m. was against Team Philly. If there is ever a team that we want to beat, it is Team Philly and with that attitude we went on the field. In the past we were often afraid to play against them and ended up losing because of it. And even though we were still a bit nervous, we did not show it in our play. Our defense, including goalie Emily was a solid rock and hard to get through. Our midfield fought hard and along with the offense created quite a few excellent plays. Both teams had their fair chances to score the opening goal, with probably the best chance for Mags 5 minutes before the end of the game, where she picked up a bad clear from the Philly goalie. However her shot reached the side of the goal and the game ended in another tie (0-0).

The Saturday night “social” was a little unorganized. Reservations were made at a restaurant for 40 people at a time. Since some teams only played in the morning and others only in the evening, it was quite easy to divide all the teams in smaller groups, but it did not lead to any socializing between the teams and there was no dancing. But as always, the Chicago ladies don’t need others to be social and are quite good at entertaining themselves when need be, so it turned out to be a really fun night, which ended up with a card game until closing time.

Sunday was a little rough. Unlike Saturday, we had an early start with our first game at 8 a.m. and we even beat the organization of the tournament to the field. Our first game against Minutewomen B was a little sloppy. Our passes weren’t as strong and accurate as the day before and we were a lot slower, but we were willing to give it what we had and as a result we were able to turn it into a deserved 1-0 win with a goal by Betsy.

Our second game, against the number one in our group, Malvern was definitely a better game, but this one ended up scoreless. Many chances for both teams, great safes by our defense and Emily and a few excellent offensive plays by Stacy (a Northwestern girl, who decided to help us out this tournament) in combination with the rest of the offense and midfield all turned out to be fruitless. However we were very happy to have tied the first team in our group.

But this tie did not make it any easier for us. A win would have guaranteed us a place in the Division final (instead of a regular semi-final), but now our fate was in the hands of Team Philly and Lucky Draw. After much debate, we figured out that every outcome in that game could lead to a different team going to the Division final. If Lucky Draw would win, then they would be second in our Division and go to the final with Malvern. If Team Philly would win with anything other than 1-0, they would go to the final. If Team Philly would win with 1-0, we would have to play Team Philly in a 10-minute sudden death game, since our records would be completely identical. And finally if the game ended in a tie, we would go to the final. So needless to say that we watched this game with great intensity and were rooting for both teams not to score or to score the equal amount of goals. For the longest time, Team Philly had the best chances to score a goal and put lots of pressure on Lucky Draw. No goals came out of it though. In the last 5 minutes of the game Lucky Draw seemed to get the better chances and it looked like they were going to get that last minute lucky goal, but this time luck was on our side and the game ended scoreless, which meant that Chicago had to play Malvern again in the Division final.

This game against Malvern was an absolute nerve wrecking game and the longest one of the tournament. Unfortunately Stacy had to leave after our second game since she had an earlier flight back home to catch, so we had to make a few changes in the line-up. Mags moved up to play central offense and Kasey, who initially was rotating with Mags and Laura on the midfield, took over the right mid spot for most of the game. This game both teams were really playing hard and were set on getting to the finals. A lot of short corners were the result and a solid pass from the back ended up with Mags facing the goalie and one defender. What could have been a goal, ended up with a clean slide from the goalie for the ball and a fall over the goalie by Mags. So just like the first game against this team, regular playing time ended in a 0-0 tie. But this game had to end with a winner and the rules called for a 10-minute sudden death overtime with a change of side of the field after 5 minutes. Right before the 5-minute whistle, Malvern was able to get a short corner and put their full team on the D, in the hopes of scoring the winning goal. Allie, who did an excellent job this tournament at running first on short corners defense, went all out and was able to get to the stopper in time, but the ball ended up on her foot so another short corner was given. This time, the inserted ball was not stopped by the stopper and the first half of sudden death was over. A quick change of sides was the result and another 5 minutes of nerve wrecking plays followed. This time we were the lucky to get that final corner right before the whistle, so with all hands on deck we tried to get the ball in the goal. And we were only inches away! But after a couple of tries, the ball went over the end line and the overtime part resulted in a scoreless game as well. So up to strokes!

The toss determined that we would take the first stroke. Theresa, who had been practicing her strokes and was confident in her abilities, stepped up to take the first stroke. A straight and hard push in the bottom right corner was the result! Now it was up to Emily to do her magic and she sure did! She saved the first stroke! Laura was next in line. Laura aimed for the left corner and put all her strength in it, but the goalie had an awesome safe and since Malvern scored their stroke as well, we were tied again. But not for long! Both Courtney (she could barely believe it herself and did not dare to look, but trust us it was beautiful) and Kasey (showed no stress and went straight for it) were able to push the ball hard in the corner, whereas Malvern’s third was on the post and Emily saved it from rolling in and their fourth was once again saved by Emily! And even though we did not need a fifth stroker, Moe thanks for stepping up and putting your name on the strokers list! Final score Chicago 0 - Malvern 0 (3-1 after penalty strokes)! Chicago goes to the finals!

The finals against Goa (from Canada) turned out to be a complete different ball game. Here was a team with 16 players, who practice about 5 times a week, have a sponsor who pays for all their travels to tournaments in Canada and the US and were without a doubt a little out of our league. On top of that, Kasey had to leave us to meet up with a group for a project, so we only had one sub left. However we started the game with a lot of enthusiasm and energy, but unfortunately they were faster, stronger and even more used to playing with one another. They had no trouble finding the open player, getting short corners and scoring goals. The final score was 5-0 or 6-0 (it was hard to keep track), but we gave it our all and therefore had two very good chances of scoring what would have been the first goal scored against this team in this tournament.

This was without a doubt a great tournament. Even though there were some minor setbacks in the organization of the tournament, we absolutely made the best out of it and I can’t believe that we made it to the finals! Thanks to all the ladies who came to Boston and gave it their 100% and special thanks to Stacy and Kasey for helping us out! You two were amazing!

Steve, also many thanks for your support; your cheers kept us in the game, especially on Sunday morning when we needed to wake up and in the Division final when you made us fight for every ball!
And last but definitely not least, Sanjay thanks a million for all your time and effort in preparing us for this tournament. It totally paid off and we hope that you will help us more often!!