NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

Game Summary

May 3 – After the long tournament week-end, The U10 Girls traveled to Indianapolis to play two games in the afternoon – the first was a re-match against Fishers after the teams tied 1-1 at Kreager.  The 2nd game was against Carmel.  Going into the day, the team realized this was going to be a tough week-end.  The Fishers team was very good and of course Carmel is always tough.  In the first game against Fishers, the girls started slow and seemed to be disrupted by the more physical Fishers team.  After a couple of mental errors and some good play by Fishers, Citadel was down early by a 3-0 score.  The 3rd score seemed to wake-up the team, and all of a sudden, Citadel unleashed a furious offensive attack, scoring 2 goals quickly to make the game interesting.  The teams traded goals and Citadel kept working at tieing a 4-3 game.  Then, late in the game, big number 10 for Fishers, a girl about double the size of pretty much the entire Citadel team took a free kick from half field.  Number 10 blasted the ball and despite a leaping attempt by the keeper, the ball sailed off her fingers and into the net for a 5-3 lead, from midfield.  Although the right decision after the indirect kick would have been to let the ball go in untouched, there was no way our girls could have anticipated such an event.  Had Citadel played like they normally do in the first half, this may have been a different game, but – they are 10 years old and these things happen.  The important lesson from this game is the girls never gave up and despite being down 3-0, fought hard to get back into the game.  The parents and coaches were very proud of their efforts.
In the second game, everyone was waiting to see what the Carmel team looked like and also how Citadel would respond after having played a very tough, physical game against Fishers just a couple of hours earlier.  The Carmel team was as good as anticipated, with great athletes, aggressive moves to the ball, and very good foot skills.  However, Citadel came out with their A game, and scored first just a couple of minutes into the game.  Citadel then scored again before Carmel was able to put the ball into the net, leaving the score 2-1 at halftime.  In the second half, the Citadel U10 girls went on a roll, thwarting all offensive pressure from Carmel with aggressive defense and another fine performance from our player of the month at goal.  Citadel scored goal 3 on a very nice display of ball movement that seemed to impress the Carmel coach.  With a 3-1 lead, even though the parents were nervous, the girls never let-up and with another run at the goal, scored again as two Citadel players simultaneously pushed the ball into the net.  Carmel fought back, but the defensive never let up and the U10 Girls came away with perhaps one of their best performances as a team – 4-1 over Carmel.  With a record of 3-1-1 in the AA GIRLS league so far and an overall 8-4 tournament record (all 4 losses were by 1 goal), the Citadel U10 girls appear to have staked a spot (after only a little over one season together) as one of the best 10 year old girls teams in Indiana - and they keep getting better.
 
April 26 - 27 - The U10 Girls White team played in the Ohio Elite Spring Classic this past weekend. The girls were all very excited going into their first game against the home team, Ohio Elite, on Saturday.  Although rain was forecasted the weather ended up rather nice at game time and the field conditions were good.  The Citadel girls came out strong with our offense, defense and goal keeping all in high gear. With all the girls contributing at a high level this game was never really in doubt as the girls cruised to an easy 8 - 2 win. Next up was the Loveland Chargers. The U10 Girls struggled a little bit to maintain consistent possession of the ball due to some choppy conditions on field 15 but, as in the first game, the girls were dominating in all facets of the game and shut out the Chargers 5 - 0.

After a restful night of swimming and enjoying each other's company at the hotel the girls played the Beechmont SC Blast on Sunday morning.  The girls were focused with the task at hand; win and they would be in the championship game. The Blast came out strong and scored early taking a 1 -0 lead. The U10 girls showed great resolve and fought back demonstrating again and again their superior ball handling and foot skills. As the game came to a close the Blast began to press forward and play more aggressively, putting pressure on the Citadel defense.  The U10 Girls responded beautifully and came away with a hard fought 3 - 2 win and well earned trip to the championship game.

The championship game was against a very physical AAYSA Arsenal on the dreaded, choppy field 15. The U10 Girls again struggled to maintain consistent possession of the ball due in large part to the field conditions and partially to very aggressive play by the Arsenal girls.  The Arsenal style of aggressive play is difficult for Citadel to compete with at this age, as Citadel teaches players to play the ball and not the player. However, the Citadel girls held their own, gave it their all, but lost the game 2 -1. As the girls left the field after this hard fought loss there wasn't a head hung or frowning face because our girls knew they did the best they could. Making it to the championship game in this tournament for this team was a great accomplishment and the coaches and parents are very proud of how they played throughout the tournament.

It should be noted that the parents are becoming very aware of the different styles of coaching and soccer play that exist for girls at this age. The U10 Girls and Coach Matt continue to get complimented by other team's coaches, parents, and referees for their style of play and skill - the focus being on ball possession, footskills, and overall development in an environment of fair play and good sportsmanship. However, not all clubs are like this, and it was clear in the championship game that some other teams/clubs/coaches do not have the same goals or values as ours. We realize that this is a reality, but it also helps us (the parents) appreciate even more the Citadel way of developing soccer players - the right way. One U10 Girls White parent commented after this Championship game: "I also wanted to say that I'm proud to tell people my daughter is part of Citadel FC"

Thanks go out to Coach Matt, Chris and Jana for all their help and fine training. Next-up this week-end are two tough league games - a re-match with Fishers FC (previous game a 1-1 tie) and the first game against Carmel United. Good luck GIRLS !!

Spring Training Information

Outdoor Training for Spring at Kreager begins Monday, April 7th at 6:30 until 8:00.  For those registered for the Citadel Academy, the Academy training begins on Monday, April 7th from 5:30 to 6:30.  From Monday, April 7th going forward for the Spring, both Citadel Academy and team training will occur at the same times every Monday and Wednesday.
Note: See the Citadel Website Training page for additional free training opportunities.

Focus on Juggling

Keep working with and encouraging your daughters to practice juggling.  Many of the girls are improving dramatically so keep up the good work.  There will be ongoing assessments, competitions and prizes as the season progresses.  Keep using goals to improve and measure progress!

Upcoming Tournament Dates:

Ohio Elite Soccer Classic - Miamitown, Ohio – April 26 – April 27 (Registered)

Adidas Warrior Classic – Dayton, Ohio - May 24 – May 26. (Registered)

Fort Wayne Invitational - June 13 – June 15 - If you have not booked your hotel rooms for both the Ohio Elite Soccer Classic and the Adidas Warrior Classic, please do so as soon as possible.  Please be sure to use the team code when reserving your room at each hotel.  Please contact Cindy Beery for more information on the Ohio Elite hotel and Michelle Dolfuss for the Adidas Warrior hotel.

STAFF

SCHEDULE

Please note since there are so many double-headers at a field location, the jersey color to wear may change or may not be consistent with the Home = White, Away = Blue. Please make sure to bring both jerseys and all equipment to every game.

MEDIA

We recommend you save movie files to your hard drive ("Save to Disk")