MYSA Lunachicks Soccer

The Lunachicks wrapped up their Fall 2008 season in Greensboro at the Adidas Challenge Clash. The team played two teams they had faced before in previous tournaments and hoped to make a run to the finals. The one wildcard (or so we thought) was the weather, which was unseasonably cold for this time of year. Matches were delayed both mornings due to frost and it was barely above freezing when the girls took the field Saturday morning. It was COLD.

The Lunachicks played a good match against the SSA Crush and came away with one point in a 1-1 draw. Having lost to the Crush last year, it was good to see improvement and matches between our two teams are always fun and exciting..

KrossBar makes a run towards the goal

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The Lunachicks invaded La Cocina, one of Mebane’s popular Mexican restaurants, for an end of season dinner party. My apologies to all those who came for a quiet dinner only to walk into a room with fourteen energetic 11-12 year old girls, parents, and other siblings having a good time. We really are harmless.

The team relaxes after a Mexican feast

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As luck would have it, we’ll be playing our last tournament in unseasonably cold weather! For us to have seen snow on a November morning is rare indeed and while snow is not expected tomorrow, frost is, which may delay the schedule some Saturday morning.

With temps not expected to get above freezing tomorrow morning until after 10AM, it will be cold for our first match. The girls absolutely should wear Under Armour, leggings if they have them, knit hats and knit gloves. The gloves are the one kicker – making it very hard to throw a ball, so the best kind of gloves have leather surfaces on the fingers. The hats/gloves cannot have ANY type of plastic or metal. The cloth covered ear muffs that are popular these days MAY be allowed at the discretion of the referee. Any extra clothing they want to wear on the field, MUST be worn under their soccer uniform! The girls should bring a HEAVY coat that zips/snaps that they can wear on the bench. If anyone has beat up heavy blankets the girls can use on the bench, that would be great.

Leslie and I will keep everyone updated regarding any delays. Please make sure Leslie has your latest contact information if it is not correct in your parent portal account on the MYSA Website. Click Your Profile to check it.

The current schedule and directions to Bryan Park can be found in the original GYS Clash post. Here is some other useful information:

• GYS Challenge Clash Website
• U12 Girls Blue Schedule and Results
• Current Bryan Park Weather

Even though it’ll be very cold, I’m looking forward to the Lunachicks showing off what they’ve learned this season and hopefully bringing some of the confidence they gained last weekend in Charlotte.

GO LUNACHICKS!

The Lunachicks headed to Charlotte, North Carolina this past weekend to play in the CUFC United Cup. This was a somewhat unique experience for the team, as they play at the ‘Challenge’ level normally, but were slated to play at the ’2nd Division Classic’ level in this tournament. We had asked to face stronger teams to see how the team stacked up against teams that normally played at a higher level. In the end we were not disappointed. We were placed in the Premier division and our bracket consisted of a number of strong 2nd division teams. To keep the girls from getting too nervous, we didn’t tell them exactly who they would be playing at first, just that they would be strong teams. Coach Mike was extremely nervous that week, hoping upon hope that they would do alright and not make this a wasted trip as it was also the first big overnight tournament for the team.

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Looking ahead to next week, since we’ll have a very busy weekend, we will NOT be practicing on Monday. However, I’d still like to practice twice next week if possible, so let’s go with the following schedule:

• Tuesday Nov 18th 6-7:30 at the Soccer Complex NO PRACTICE
• Thursday Nov 20th 6:30-8 – our normal time

GO LUNACHICKS!

Make sure the girls get plenty of rest. Yes, I know getting 11-12 year old girls asleep when they’re staying in a hotel out of town is pretty much impossible. But TRY to get the girls asleep by 10. Thankfully we don’t have a match at 8AM! But we should be at the fields no later than 8:45AM to get ready, do some warmups, etc.

I told the girls last night they need to start preparing for this tournament in how they eat. That means refrain from drinking soda from last night through the weekend (yeah they laughed too). Stick with water, sports drinks, juice, milk, etc. Eat GOOD meals – stay away from junk food. Everyone should eat something Saturday morning and it should be fairly early (7:30-8AM) Cereal, energy bars, fruit, stuff like that. Same holds true for lunch – light energy packed meals are best to prepare for the 1PM match. Bringing some granola bars, etc. can be useful too.

As Leslie noted, not every tournament is going to be during clear and sunny weather. This is one of those weekends. The tournament committee will do everything they can to get the matches played. CUFC just sent out a phone broadcast stating the tournament is ON as of 9:15AM and they will be sending out updates every three hours. We’ll definitely keep you posted. Read the rest of this entry »

[UPDATE - I had the hotel address wrong. Make sure you print out the updated directions!]

The schedule for our first post season tournament is out. Looks like we got some nice time slots and no 8AM matches! Here’s what we have so far:

• Sat 11/15 9:30AM McKee Road Park #4 – Wear BLUE
• Sat 11/15 1:00PM McKee Road Park #4 – Wear YELLOW
• Sun 11/16 9:30AM McKee Road Park #2 – Wear BLUE
• And if we win our group – we advance directly to the final:
• Sun 11/16 2:00PM Ramblewood #11A – Wear BLUE

If the schedule changes, I’ll update everyone ASAP. All matches except the final will be at McKee Road Park. Here are directions to the McKee, which is right of I-485 South/West:

• Directions from the Mebane Soccer Complex to McKee Road Park
• Directions from Mebane to the DoubleTree Hotel
• Directions from the DoubleTree Hotel to McKee Road Park
• Directions from McKee Road Park to RambleWood Park

Here are the street addresses for each park and the hotel for those of  you with GPS systems, and each complex name links to the field map for that complex:

• Charlotte Doubletree Hotel – Airport – 6300 Morrison Boulevard, Charlotte, NC, 28211
• McKee Road Park – 4101 McKee Rd, Charlotte, NC 28270
• Ramblewood Park – 10200 Nations Ford Rd, Charlotte, NC 28273

Driving time from Mebane to the McKee Road Park is just over two hours, so some of you may choose to only stay Saturday night. Please try to arrive at the complex no later than 9:00AM as we play at 9:30AM. I expect warm-up space to be limited, so we won’t need to be there an hour ahead of time. 30-45 minutes ahead will be plenty. Make sure the girls bring BOTH jerseys to every match in case we need to change due to a color conflict.

Thanks to all the Lunachicks who came out to watch the Williams Bulldogs play Jacksonville in the 3A regional finals last night. They got to ball chase for half the match then watch the rest of the match from the stands. It was a hard fought match that was fun to watch, and hopefully the girls learned a few things. Both teams played a great match and while the Bulldogs lost 1-2, it could have gone either way as both teams had numerous chances to score. Williams only goal was a great example to the girls as the striker who broke free had an open shot on goal, except for the keeper in front of him, but instead volleyed it to a teammate on the far post who passes the ball in for the score. Very unselfish.

So thanks again to Paula for suggesting we attend and for all the girls who came out to watch!

The schedule for the 2008 Challenge Clash has been published:

• Sat 11/22 10:30AM vs SSA Crush – Bryan Park 05 – Wear BLUE
• Sat 11/22 1:00PM vs CASL Cyclones – Bryan Park 06 – Wear BLUE
• Sun 11/23 9:15AM U12 Girls Blue Semifinal – Bryan Park 05 or 06
  • If we finish 1st or 2nd in our group Saturday
• Sun 11/23 11:45AM U12 Girls Consolation (BP05) or Championship (BP06)
  • Consolation if we don’t make semifinals OR Championship if we win a semifinal

If the schedule changes, I’ll let everyone know ASAP. We face a team we played last November in the Clash (SSA Crush) and also the CASL Cyclones, who we played at Challengefest in the semifinals. If we finish 1st or 2nd in our group – we’ll play in a semifinal at 9:15AM Sunday. Otherwise we’ll play the consolation match at 11:45AM.

All the matches are at the main part of the Bryan Park Soccer Complex. Instead of going straight after the railroad tracks, turn left towards the Dynamo Stadium. Fields 5 and 6 are at the far end of the complex – go past the concession stand and keep walking – you’ll be at field 6. Field 5 will be on your left. Here is a map of the Bryan Park Complex.

Getting to Bryan Park is easy – most of you have been there before. Here are directions using I-40 West to I-840 North. Take Rt 70 West to Hwy 29 North. Exit at Hicone Rd, turn left and follow the signs. The address is 6105 Townsend Rd, Greensboro, NC, 27401. If your GPS can’t find it, try using Browns Summit, NC, 27214 for the city (same street address).

You can usually get to Bryan Park in just over 30 minutes. Make sure the girls bring BOTH jerseys to every match in case we need to change due to a color conflict. If the main parking lot is full, there is an auxiliary lot farther down the main road. Worst case, park at the Annex and take the trail through the woods.

NOTE – One interesting thing we experienced last year was a frost delay. If there is frost on the fields, they will delay the early matches. While we don’t have 8AM matches, any delay pushes the whole schedule back. We’ll keep everyone posted if anything like this is expected this year.

Now that the Recreational season is over, the soccer complex will be free for us to use in November, so we’ve modified our practice schedule a bit:

Here is our schedule through November 20th:

• Mondays 6:00 to 7:30PM on field MSC-4D
• Thursdays 6:30-8:00PM on field MSC-4D

We moved Mondays to 6PM to give some folks some more time to get to the complex as I know a few were coming in on two wheels to get to practice by 5:30. We also gave the girls the option to take Monday Nov 3rd off, but all of them wanted to practice tonight, so we’ll see everyone tonight at six!