valley at clay

[post101]

how do u guys think this one will trun out?

[rockyraccoon]

Clay is moving the ball around really well, but the Winters boy has enough speed to beat their defense if they keep trying to trap at midfield. A lot of the outcome will be on Clay's goalie. He has a tendancy to go way to far out of the box. This would be a great win for Clay so I will go with them since they are at home, but Valley is looking really good this year.

[rockyraccoon]

Clay 2 1st 2 2nd total 4
Valley 0 1st 2 2nd total 2


Clay's goalie played a good game and stayed in his goal tonight. Clay dropped 5 back on defense and passed the ball very well on offense, and it showed in shot total. Unofficially I had Clay at 17 and Valley at 3 in the first half. Valley took a few more shots in the second but Clay was playing more defensive after going up 3 - 0. Clay scored 4 goals by 4 different players. Chase Hiles, Tayler Carter, Shannon Curly and Jon Valentine. Both of Valley's goal came off of PK's taken by Joesph Winters about 3 minutes apart.

[Burg_Grad_77]

Great game by Clay. I was really impressed with their defense and their passing tonight. They kind of had a let down after getting up 3-0 and quit attacking as much as they did in the first half (hence the 17 first half shots compared to a lot less in the 2nd half) and seemed to be playing not to lose instead of trying to win. After Valleys 2 PK's, which were both called by the official at the far end of the field and not the one right by the play, Clay started attacking again and scored another goal. Congrats to the Panthers on win #4 this season and to Jon Valentine on his 9th goal in 6 games.

[Waterdog]

I heard that one of Valley's players' hand was broken in that game.

[Burg_Grad_77]

I heard that one of Valley's players' hand was broken in that game.

He did get his hand hurt when two players collided going for the ball. I hope for his sake it's not broken and he's alright and able to complete the season.

[rockyraccoon]

I think he got kicked in the hand and I heard his coach say "is it your hand again" so it may have been a previous injury, but I did hear it was broke.

[svbt1112]

This is a legitimate win for Clay. It surprised me to see they handled Valley. Valley, Clay, New Boston and Eastern are in situation where anyone can beat anyone. Should make the SOC 1 better! Keep improving and work toward the tournament!

[rxburgfan]

good to hear about the game. both programs are getting better. both seem to be trying to do the right things on the field. best of luck to both the remainder of the season. hope to see them play.

[UUsokkr12]

Good win for Clay. The middle of the field was controled by Clay therefore giving their strikers the ability to push forward with speed and with support. Defense played very well! I saw a lot of very good, clean tackles that I was surprised to see. Clay's keeper played well, the only thing he needs to work on is reaction time and making sure that if he does come out of the box that he's going to get the ball, other than those couple of things I was impressed. Clay's girls really impressed me as well! Playing with the boys and they still went in for tackles.

Vally had a rough first half but started to pull things together in the second half. Unfortunately they were relying too heavily on one player up top to turn the game around.

The officiating could have been better. I felt that the PK's called were poorly called. Shoulder-to-Shoulder and no team with possession of the ball, IMO shouldn't have been called by an official more than 50 yrds away. But, they kept the game in control.

The one thing I noticed by both teams is that the "classic" way of Souther Ohio Soccer is still lingering was that they were both still looking to play the long ball. There were instances of possession but didn't last too long. Players need to look to keep the ball on the ground, keep moving, and take the space infront of them when they have it. But I can tell that passing and keeping possession is starting to make progress.

Good Game to both teams and Good Luck on the remainder of the season!

[rockyraccoon]

I was amazed that the ref called the PK's from 50 to 60 yards away (so far he couldn't tell them who had done what) when his partner was 15 yards from the calls didn't see anything. I don't think clay is playing classic kickball this year though. They are making a lot of short passes and moving the ball around well, if anything they need to push a few more thruballs and let their speed up front run them down. Possession is tough on Clay's field since they made it smaller in width. Not much open space.

[rxburgfan]

clay is doing some good things. keep up the good work.

[UUsokkr12]

Well I should make myself more clear...what I meant to say was the Defense was looking more for the long ball, but I definitely could tell there has been progress made.

The field is very small! It's always been a rough field to keep the ball rolling. Now i've seen keeper punt from 18 to 18 before but they're college and professional players on a 120yd, full-size field. Valley and Clay's keepers could pass each other the ball with ease on that small of the field.

Good result for the Panthers! Keep it up!