Adirondack Lynx

Lynx beat New England Mutiny 3-2.

A'dack missing 5 starters for match but still victorious

By AL Staff -- AdirondackLynx.com

Saturday, June 24, 2006

Longmeadow Mass - Think about this: You are facing the single most important soccer match of your season against a perennial WPSL soccer power and four year final four championship team, the New England Mutiny. As you are preparing for this match you find out...

a. Three of your top players are stranded 250 miles from the game due to the state of emergency declared by the Governor because of flooding in Central New York.

b. Your top goal scorer is away competing with her club team in a regional bracket match up competition having won the State Cup earlier in the week.

c. Your starting central midfield playmaker had MRI earlier in the day, and was told by her doctor she could not play.

That's makes five of your team's eleven starters who are missing for a "must win" game.

To make matters worse your competition that evening, the New England Mutiny, are the #19 ranked Women’s club soccer team in the world. The Mutiny are extremely deep and loaded with top level players. They have 7 players that have played for their US National Team or are currently in the player pool. They also have 5 former WUSA professional soccer players.

Ouch.    What do you do?

At the end of the first half, with the score tied 0-0, the Lynx defensive game strategy was working well, almost too well, as the team was holding the #19 ranked team in the world, and last years Eastern Conference WPSL Champions, to a tie at nil-nil.”

Adirondack Lynx Coach PJ Motsiff felt he had 3 choices when faced with that very same situation:

1. Forfeit the game, be a no show, and give up the Lynx current first place standing in the WPSL Eastern Conference North without a fight.

2. Show up, stick with his original game plan the team had been practicing all week, and take his team's licks, knowing he couldn't match up to the Mutiny player for player.

3. Step up to the challenge, completely change the Lynx game plan, and rotate his players into totally new positions and shift into a new defensive formation while making gametime adjustments on the fly.

Motsiff, being the optimist, chose option number 3 and told his team to get themselves mentally ready to play last year's conference champions, because they were headed to Springfield, Massachusetts -- even if it was against the wishes of some of the team members themselves.

With all the missing players, Motsiff completely altered his starting line-up to make them as strong as possible in the backfield. The plan was to "pack the team in" defensively and play the Mutiny for a 0-0 tie. Better to be safe than sorry against last year's champs.

At the end of the first half, with the score tied 0-0, the Adirondack defensive game strategy was working well, almost too well, as the team had indeed held the #19 ranked team in the world and Conference Champions to a scoreless tie, 0-0. This strategy is also the reason the game stats seem so heavily tilted in the Mutiny's favor. Staying back in defense, and letting another team control the play, and run at you for 45 minutes is never going to earn more scoring opportunities, shots on goal, or corner kicks than your opponents.

During the half-time break, Adirondack started to believe they had a real shot at actually winning the game instead of shooting for a tie, and this is when the Lynx team players decided to step it up.

For the start of the second half , Motsiff changed the game plan yet again, and began pushing forward with some deliberate attacks at New England. The Lynx players had decided to make the most of every opportunity, and the first one came at the 59th minute when Kylee Litchfield ripped a volley into the box that deflected on to the ever scrappy De Wachtel. Wachtel stretched out for the loose ball, managed to get her foot on enough of it to bang it home past Stephanie Labbe, the Mutiny's Canadian U-20 National Team keeper. (video clip of Wachtel goal)

Although the very strong defense of Patti Carroll, Kylee Litchfield, Erinn Flaherty, Meagan Clark, Hannah Cerrone and Ashley Clinton had turned back every Mutiny attack in the first half, they finally let one slip by in the 65th minute. Rachel LeDuc, an NSCAA All-American out of UMASS and a local hometown fan favorite, scored to even the match at 1-1.

The next Lynx goal came In the 72nd minute, the result of a collision between Labbe and Wachtel at the top of the Mutiny goal box earned the Lynx a direct free kick. (The play also forced New England to play the rest of the match with 10 players as former UCONN standout Marie Spinelli took a seat on the bench after acquiring her 2nd yellow card.)

Heather Garriock, current Australian National Team player, then took complete advantage of the direct kick, and punished the Mutiny for giving the chance to her. Garriock stepped up and struck a left footed, swirling, dipping shot that only a world class player can hit. It went over the top of the Mutiny wall and bent around dipping down into the upper 90 just inches under the crossbar. GOOOOAAAAALl!    Lynx 2 - Mutiny 1. (video clip of Garriock goal)

Moments later, Adirondack gave up their final goal of the evening to Tasha St. Louis, a current Trinidad and Tobago National team player, who last year played for F.C. Indiana, the 2005 WPSL Champions. That tied the game at 2-2.

While most of the Lynx players started to feel comfortable again getting a draw, Hannah Cerrone and Heather Garriock had different thoughts. In the 88th minute, a New England back, under pressure from De Wachtel, played a ball backwards to her own goalkeeper who picked it up, causing an indirect kick 10 yards from the mutiny goal. After a quick conversation with Heather Garriock, it was determined that Garriock would take the kick. The Mutiny already knew first hand how dangerous Garriock was on set pieces, and fully expected her to take the shot exactly as she had done earlier in the match. Instead, Garriock put a little touch on the ball, fooling the charging Mutiny defense, and giving Cerrone a much better angle for shot on goal. The U17 National Team player, took full advantage, and struck home the game winner. (video clip of Cerrone goal)

Although giving Adirondack gave up 2 goals in the second half, the Adirondack Lynx offense rallied behind the efforts of De Wachtel, Heather Garriock, and Hannah Cerrone giving the Lynx a very important win.

With the win, the Adirondack Lynx move to 5-2 on the season and remain in first place atop the Northern Division of the Eastern Conference of the Women’s Premier Soccer League. The top two teams from the North and South division of the Eastern Conference play on July 21-23 to determine who will advance to play in Salt Lake City, Utah on July 28-29th for the WPSL Championship.

The next game for the Lynx is on the road, Thursday July 6 in Massachusetts against Bay State Select .

The FINAL HOME GAME of the Lynx season will be on Saturday, July 8 when A'dack will host the Long Island Fury (4-0-1) at Clifton Commons, at 7:30 p.m. The Fury have been unscored upon so far this season, so it should be a great battle between two of the top teams in the WPSL Eastern Conference.

 

 

GOALS:
Adk: Wachtel (Litchfield) 59th minute
Adk: Garriock ( ) 72nd minute
Adk: Cerrone (Garriock) 88th minute

NE: Leduc ( ) 65th minute
NE: St. Louis ( ) 76th minute

 

 

 

Related Lynx Articles :

• video of Heather Garriock's incredible restart goal
• video of Hannah Cerrone's game winning goal
• video of De Wachtel's goal

Related Ouside Links :

• New England Mutiny website
• WPSL Official Site

Related Files :