OPL starts with a split

Saturday
Sporting the new uniforms for fall the lady warriors broke open the 2009 OPL Tournament with a scoring barrage against PCU Impact.

Following a rain-out [vs. OSA Inferno] at PCC Rock Creek the game originally slated for 7:30pm, against PCU, was moved up to 4:30pm and move to the REC Center.

The lady warriors came out a little sluggish as the rain soaked field proved to be slow and muddy. The first half scoring was lead by Jill Farley who popped one in from about 20 yards out to give Sodium a 1-0 lead heading into half-time.

Second half ends scoring drought!

The second half proved instrumental in getting Sodium's balanced attack back on track.
Emmy Owens split two defenders to rip the net for a 2-0 lead. Literally two minutes later Emmy was in the box again avoiding a sliding PCU keeper and tallying her second of the day off the right post.
Following that act was KJ. In a fierce battle for control in the box KJ rifled the 4th goal passed the Impact keeper to the cheers of the crowd! With under 5 minutes of play Eli Beard brought the ball in tight from the left where she chipped it just over the outstretched arms of the PCU keeper! Mac Kearney and Marisa Reid were there to make sure the ball was going nowhere but in! Sodium notched a solid 5-0 victory to start the OPL.

Sunday
Between showers the lady warriors took on cross town rival LOSC Extreme at Tigard HS for the second OPL Tourney match.
Play, as always between these two teams, was fast, physical and a battle. Although Sodium had many more shots on goal LOSC capitalized on a break in rhythm after a 6 player substitution by Sodium and scored the game winner with just over 6 minutes remaining in the match. Despite several more attempts, the Sodium forwards just could not break the plain against LOSC's outstanding keeper and the match ended 1-0. I am confident we will see these guys again before the tournament is over.

Bracket A Standings
LOSC [18 pts] [4 goals for] [0 against]
THUSC [10 pts] [5 goals for] [1 against]
PCU [4 pts] [0 goals for] [8 against]
OSA [4 pts] [0 goals for] [0 against]

Next bracket matches;
THUSC Sodium vs. OSA Inferno - Tues. 11/10 @ 7:00pm at PSU
LOSC Extreme vs. OSA Inferno - Fri. 11/13 @ 7:30pm at REC #5

Notes from the sideline
As parents we are a little perplexed on the substituting 6 or more players at a time tactic. It worked against the lesser PCU Impact team but not so much against a top notch LOSC squad.
It seemed, just before the sub, that Sodium had made several good runs at the LOSC goal. Just after the sub there was apparent confusion because the talented LOSC forward penetrated and scored. It left some of us scratching our heads.
Even though Sodium had many more attempts, you have put the ball in the net to win. Period. LOSC did it, Sodium did not.
We are looking forward to a rematch next weekend that produces a different outcome.

See you on the pitch Tuesday night.

GO SODIUM!!