Avalanche would face
another premier team, the San Ramon Blues on Sunday. Avalanche continued
to fall into a bad habit of allowing an early goal when the Blues scored
in the 3rd minute, when they followed up on a rebounded shot off Christy.
Still, Avalanche played hard, and the scored remained 1-0 for much of the
1st half. Unfortunately, with only a couple minutes till halftime, the Blues
scored again with another follow up shot off a cross from the left post
to the right side. "At halftime, we decided we needed more help in
the back defense, so we switched to a 4-4-2 to gain an extra defender,"
said Ed. "These premier teams have very organized attacks, and it was
tough for our three backs to handle it." Avalanche got back into the
game, scoring their first goal against a premier team when Jane was fouled
with a push in the penalty area. Jessica calmly placed the shot into the
right side of the goal, getting Avalanche closer at 2-1. "Again, we
took advantage of those fouls. I'm happy to see that although we're going
to be pushed and poked at Class 1, we took it all in a very sporting fashion
and didn't try to retaliate. After all, they are giving us the scoring opportunities
when the foul us," said Ed. The game stayed relatively tight, but near
the end of the game, Emma had to come out due to a painful clearing header
where she cleared a driven ball off the top of her head, but paid the price.
That left Avalanche without both Emma and Jessie, who couldn't play due
to a lingering leg injury. Without two of Avalanche's best defenders, the
Blues scored two goals in the 53rd and 56th minute. Still there were some
great defensive highlights when other Avalanche players were asked to play
back. Rachel cleared a sure goal away from the net when she was perfectly
positioned to deny a shot. "Coming away with 1 win and 2 losses in
a tournament such as this is encouraging, especially considering the quality
of the premier teams," said Ed. !"We know we will improve, and
our team talked about staying positive even under the toughest conditions.
"
