2021 Fall Finale recap: Saturday, November 20

By | November 20, 2021
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This page references our 2021 Fall Finale event. Check this link for a preview of our 2022 Fall Finale.

We finished our fall 2021 season on Saturday, November 20th with our Fall Finale tournament at the Metro North Park TOPS field. We tried a new format this year, playing a 5v5 tournament with five equally-balanced teams.

The weather was chilly, but sunny and playable. The competition was fierce — lots of tied scores. We saw plenty of adventurous attacking play, along with several goal-saving stops by defenders recovering after getting beat. (One of the biggest momentum swings in soccer occurs when a goalie is beat, but her own teammate “comes out of no-where” to clear the ball off the goal line and prevent what looks like a sure goal.)

Results:

The Yellow Dynamites won two games and tied two to finish at the top of the table. The Dark Knights had a win and three ties to finish 2nd. And all of the players enjoyed tasty cookie cake as a post-tournament treat!

Thank yous:

  • Our frequent helpers had conflicts with their own schedules. (One was marching in the Notre Dame marching band as the Irish eked out a win over Georgia Tech. Not just any Notre Dame, but the most famous Notre Dame outside of Paris, France.) We were able to draft the brother of one of our players off the injured reserve list to serve as a guest referee. Thanks Landon!
  • Thanks also to the girls for their consistent effort and enthusiasm. Special thanks to the team captains, who were all 2nd year Junior Academy players. They handled their duties with purpose and helped us stay on schedule.
  • Thanks to the girls parents (and other relatives) for their enthusiastic and positive support.
  • We thank Hayley (Maddie’s mom) for arranging a custom, tasty cookie cake!
  • And we thank Mother Nature for a sunny day without too much wind.

Photos and videos:

Event info:

Location:Metro North Park TOPS
Uniform:
Warmup:11:30 AM
Kickoff:11:45 AM
Wrap-up:1:30 PM
vs:intra-Academy
Players:Our full Junior Academy player pool. We'll make rosters after warm-up.

Game rules:

  • Each game starts with a Texas Draw. (No kickoffs.)
  • 5v5 format with small goals (4-feet high, 6 feet wide) and goalkeepers.
  • Restart after a goal:  goal kick.
  • Missed shots (not including deflections):  The defending team can call “whack it, track it” and restart play with a new ball. A player has to call “whack it, track it”, and a player (same player or a teammate) has to call “new ball” before restarting with a dead ball where the earlier ball went out of play.
  • Goal kicks:  dead ball kick. Opposing team players drop back into their own half of the field. If a player wants to do a quick restart before the other players have retreated (such as a “whack it, track it” dribble-in), she can do so.
  • Other restarts:  defending players retreat 5 yards from the ball.
  • Corner kicks:  dead ball kick.
  • Sideline restarts:  throw-in.

Prior years’ photos / videos:

What comes next?

We start our 2021-2022 winter break Sunday, November 21. Check the link for more info.