Comfortable Win Vs. Rice Lake
So let’s get caught up on the Memorial Old Abes . The early season weather issues has condensed the season and the games are coming fast and furious. Memorial continues to roll along. After a tight game decided late against Chippewa Falls 2-1 last week, the Abes found their scoring groove against Rice Lake over the weekend. A familiar theme this year, the Abes score early and the Abes score often. Memorial jumped out quickly with a Barstad goal, another common theme lately. Since taking over the attacking midfield role, Barstad has increased her scoring and is becoming a nice alternative to Carmody and Stow. Throw in Beaudrie and balanced scoring is starting to come together for the Abes. A comfortable 8-1 win featured 4 goals in each half. Goals by Barstad, Sorenson and Beaudrie highlighted the first half. Second half goals by L. Carmody, Sorenson, Barstad and Lindsay finished off a strong game for Memorial. Another game where they limited the opposition shots. The final theme for the past three games.
Dominating Second Half Propels Abes over River Falls
So, this is the two game stretch I have been waiting for all season. River Falls has shown some nice flashes of skill, possession and scoring in racking up an undefeated BRC season to date. Add in a few nice non-conference wins and RF looked dangerous and a back to back set seemed the critical point of the season. Memorial seemed ready and took control of the game early on a Barstad goal at the 2 minute mark.
Note to Self….GET TO THE GAMES EARLY. I think this is the 3rd or 4th game they have scored in the first few minutes of the game.
The game settled into a normal Memorial game, lots of possession, quick recovery of the ball when they lose possession, limit the other teams shots and get a bunch of shots on goal. The only issue tonight, the ball just could not find the net. Wet conditions may have impacted shooters, just a little wide, or high thru the first half. River Falls made things interesting with t=a goal at 27 minutes on a corner l=kick. 1-1 at the half. So….I have seen this movie a few times this year. Close first half even though Memorial has full control of the game, halftime speech, Memorial raises their play just a bit. A little more energy, a little sharper passing, a little more efficient shooting and finishing. Bam…game over. Tonight was much the same. After pressing River Falls for the first five minutes of the half, things started clicking for Memorial. a flurry of possession and shots near the RF 18 lead to a shot off the upright that deflected into the box where a hustling Ava Kison finished it off for a 2-1 lead.
Note to Self….Be careful taking notes on the goal that just scored as Memorial can score REALLY FAST.
Less than a minute later as I am typing up a note on the Kison goal, I look up and see Stow flying down the right side of the 18, curling in towards the near post. A hard low shot, aided a bit by the wet turf, skips under the GK and in the blink of an eye, it’s now 3-1 Abes. 10 minutes later, Memorial puts it away on a nice thru ball from Stow to L. Carmody and game over 4-1 Abes. Nice pass and nice slotted finish to the corner. A few late goals by Barstad and L. Carmody who each had two, finished off the scoring 6-1.
Memorial v. River Falls Round 2
So, I must say, I was a bit disappointed in the first RF game. I really expected a battle. Memorial has not been tested much this year. A few close calls against North and Chippewa Falls where they dominated but just could not find the net, but no one has really made the Abes uncomfortable in conference. I thought RF would. So, the rematch a day later and the game was eerily similar to the first game. Does this sound familiar?
Memorial controls the game, dominates possession and gets on the board first to take a 1-0 lead. A nice spell of possession in the box leads to a Stow blast into the corner of the net.
Note to Self…be careful catching up with friends at the game…you might miss getting video of the first goal. Ugh!
River Falls fights back and scores on a corner to even up the game at 1-1.
It felt like Memorial might blow this one open early in the second half, constant pressure and multiple shots early in the half. Two balls off the cross-bar, multiple shots just wide. And then a funny thing happened. River Falls started to find their game. Sustained possession in the Abes half of the field for the next 5-10 minutes. I think the longest period of possession by an opponent this year other than DC Everest or Kimberly. River Falls was playing more physical. The RF midfield was controlling the game. Coach Derusha was using a deeper bench all game, no real surprise with the jam-packed schedule and another three games to go this week. RF found some success and all the good play lead to their tying goal at the 60 minute mark. Game On! As we have seen a few times this year…no panic for these Abes. Stick to the game plan. Memorial found the right rotation of players about halfway thru the period and it just felt like the goal was coming. If I was to tell you Memorial needed a big goal late in a game to seal the deal, I think I know where you’d put your money. A nice wide ball into space by Beaudrie found Stow out on the left-wing. She took on a defender, cut the ball back to the middle (sound like the goal against DC Everest yet) and rifled a hard shot past the GK for a 2-1 lead. The video of the goal is below. You will see she splits the defenders on the shot and just beats the GK with power. Pretty sure the RF GK stops most shots like that, but Stow just puts a little more pace on her shot than most players. Surprises GK’s. Well defended, but Stow is just a special player.
Memorial continues to press for another goal, but the RF goal keeper had a few nice saves late. She faced over 30 shots in game 1 and likely the same tonight. Let’s give her some love with the following two videos. These could have easily made it 4-1. The first another drive by Player of the Game, Stow.
The last, a blast by Barstad, who is really making a difference lately with scoring and midfield presence.
Approaching the back part of the conference season and these two wins put Memorial in the driver’s seat. A conference standings update coming soon. A big rivalry game Thursday and then out of conference for two difficult games this weekend. We will learn a lot about our Abes this weekend.