Orange vs. SLAP 12/12/09

On Saturday Jungle Cat Orange lost to SLAP Charizard 8 -7. Orange played strong defense throughout the game, but struggled with offensive production especially in the first half. A two-meter needed to drive in immediately and lead the offense. The perimeter players needed to get the ball from the goalie faster, and the two-meter and perimeter players needed to get the ball set quicker. Too many times the goalie held the ball for a majority of our shot clock. At the end of the first half orange was down 6-3.
With the second half came improvements. Offensive players were more willing to set, but still perimeter players were not driving through fast enough. As a whole the our half court offense looked sluggish. This being said, most of the orange players have not reviewed half court offense this year. By the middle of the forth quarter orange had taken a 7-6 led. This shows that orange not only continued to play strong defense in the second half, almost keeping them scoreless, but as well improved on offense. The “orange all stars” went in to finish the close game. SLAP was able to draw two kick outs and scored on one tying the game. In the final seconds, SLAP recovered the ball after a late shot attempt and scored on the buzzer.
Being only Orange’s first game of the season, they have a lot to look forward to. Skills that need work include: getting the ball from the goalie, getting the ball into 2meter, and driving. Be prepared to work on these skills in future practices. Drills that will benefit orange include: winging out for the ball, driving to set, and driving for shots. The player of the game was Daniel Maloney for his two goals in the first half, which kept Orange in the game. Runner up player of the game was Patrick Archer for multiple big stops in the shallow and deep.

-Coach O'Neill