A Tie is better than a Loss

   We had yet another challenging game this weekend. We left early Saturday morning to make the four hour bus ride to our game against  Östers . When we arrived we took a short walk on the field. It was a very impressive stadium. The girls on the team informed us that up until today, only the men's team had played in the stadium. Consequently, instead of the crowd attendance of about 50 people for a women's game, there was now going to be close to 1,000. They even had a section of about 20 guys who chanted, sung and heckled us all game.
   We started the game off very slow, and they managed to score within the first five minutes. The second goal came from my cross into one of my teammates, who then passed the ball into another one of our teammates who easily scored. It was a good goal that came from a lot of possession on our part. Their second goal came from a low shot that our keeper barely missed, then hit the post and slowly rolled into the goal. It's hard not to keep your head down when it feels like every time we score a goal, we just get one scored on us too. We were putting a lot of pressure on them in the last 15 minutes and it managed to work. Marissa managed to break free from one of their defenders and shot the ball in the upper left corner. It seemed like the ball was moving in slow motion as we waited to see if she would score. The ball barely missed the keeper's reach and dropped below the crossbar in perfect timing. We scored in the 86th minute and managed to keep the tie until the whistle blew.
  It was a good tie for us, but of course we would have liked to win. This upcoming weekend we have free, so hopefully that will give some of our injured players a chance to recover and play out the final three games.

Action shots from the game. 

Good header, not the best face. 

The stadium we played in. 

4 Games Left

   On Saturday, we lost to IFK Norrkoping in a game that we should have won. The score was 2-3 and they were even a man down for the majority of the game. They scored within the first 15 minutes off of a header from a corner kick and we were down 1-0. Shortly after, we were fouled in the box and got a penalty kick while their defender received a red card and was out for the rest of the match. We scored our penalty kick, but then with 5 minutes left in the half, they scored off a 1v1 with our center back. In the second half we came out with a lot of momentum and scored to tie the game up. Unfortunately, after a scuffle in the box where we just couldn't clear the ball, they scored late in the game and ended up winning. We had many chances through out the game, including a break away that ended in a shot that hit off the post. I think I prematurely cheered twice during the game, only to realize the ball had barely ricocheted off the post pr crossbar. All in all, it was a very disappointing way to lose the game. The weekend before we tied the number one team and were fighting for every ball the whole time. It seemed like during this game, we expected to win and just didn't come out with the energy that we needed.
  We only have 4 more games left so each one is extremely important. The table is so tight, with only a a few points separating the top teams. Hopefully we can win tomorrow, and then we have off next weekend so it will give us a chance to rest and get some of our injured players back.