WAGS TOURNAMENT - CONGRATS

Congrats to Solar Chelsea 03 on a really good showing in Northern Virginia this past weekend.  There was actually some really good competition and this was a pretty well run tournament.   Solar fell short in the Final 2-1 against Omaha FC - Nebraska after our equalizing score was called off.  It was a fair, clean goal but oh well, that's the luck you get sometimes in soccer.  Still proud of the way we played.  We found ourselves trailing a couple of times and fought our way back.  East Coast teams do play a nice style of soccer though.

Equalizing score called off.  
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9HlIJo4b9fgR05mUldfclFBdTg/view?usp=docslist_api

SOLAR CHELSEA 03G  (TXN) 2 FC VIRGINIA PREECNL 02 (VA) 1
SOLAR CHELSEA 03G  (TXN) 3 NORTH UNITED FC RUSH (PAW) 1
SOLAR CHELSEA 03G  (TXN) 4 MANHATTAN SC POWER (NYE) 0
SOLAR CHELSEA 03G  (TXN) 5 PHWM SC FURY (MD) 1
SOLAR CHELSEA 03G  (TXN) 1 OMAHA FC 02/03 ELITE (NE) 2

CONGRATULATIONS SOLAR, we represented North Texas well.

Well done Solar. Congratulations!!!

2dd, Congrats on representing NTX well. Question, how would you define the style of play by those east coast teams?

I think they all played a good possession style of soccer.  Very good passing from all the teams we played. I was really impressed with that for sure.  Some were fast up top and some were fast on defense. We didn't face one that had speed all the way around. A couple had to move their fast strikers to defense to try to contain our forwards. That switch of course hurt them from a scoring perspective. They all were very BIG, physical and aggressive and the refs just them play (except for the semi-final, that ref called everything.

All games were on turf.  Some really slick like carpet and that took some getting used to.   Our 1st 3 games were like that and on a pretty short field.  Our 4th (semi-final) game was on a wider field and the turf was a little higher more like what we practice on at JPII.  The final was in a beautiful stadium on a full sized high-school like football field.  It was huge and that turf was a little thick and very, very wet from the morning dew.  All complexes though were very nice.

Man, I hope turf is not the direction youth soccer is headed. Hate turf, especially in the heat of Texas.

Just curious, is this the famous team SRSA 03 team before? Were the 2 superstars there?

Sorry if not, I am so confused by the Solar team's naming.

RWD, I think we were told that there is a big push to get all of the fields there in Virginia switched to turf. I personally think we will see a huge increase in ACL injuries if it does happen and I hope it does not across all states.

Planogirl, no this is not the SRSA 03 team coached now by Chris Pulpaneck which plays LHGCL U14 D1. This is Solar Chelsea 03, coached by Jon Hopkins which plays LHGCL U13 D1.

The 2 players you are asking about haven't played with SRSA 03 in quite some time now. They play up on an 02 ECNL team that is coached by Adrian Solca.

Congrats on the win!! Love the way you were able to share a highlight from the game. Out of curiosity, what was the call on that play. It looked like the ref was air clapping his hands together. I'm not familiar with that sign.

They said Keeper had possession of the ball and clearly she did not. The turf was soaking wet as was the ball. Bounced off the keepers chest when she tried to catch it. She tried to get on it on the ground but one of our players was in her way. Another one passed it back to 23 who made the shot. They said "no goal" game ended 2 mins later. Should have been forced into OT but they won on what I felt was a bad call.

Yep, that was bad call. The keeper coughed it up. You guys have always been good about cleaning up those second shots!

FIFA Laws of the Game, excerpt:

The goalkeeper is considered to be in control of the ball by touching it with any part of his hands or arms.  Possession of the ball... does not include the circumstances where, in the opinion of the referee, the ball rebounds accidentally from the goalkeeper.

Goalkeeper has control of the ball: The goalkeeper is generally considered to "control and have possession" of the ball in the following situations while in his/her own penalty area:
   The ball is clearly being held in one or both hands
   The ball is being pinned against the ground with any part of the hand or arm, it would be in the spirit of rules and regulations to say that... if the ball is being juggled to the ground by the goalkeeper, the goalkeeper should be given the benefit of the doubt that he/she will imminently and ultimately control the ball.  During this delicate transition, referees should be quick to "protect the goalkeeper from dangerous play".

When in control/possession of the ball, the goalkeeper has very special protection:
    no other player may kick at the ball or in any way charge (i.e. have more than casual contact with) the goalkeeper
   no opposing player may interfere with or harass the goalkeeper from releasing the ball from his/her hands

The above infractions are generally non-penal fouls ("dangerous play" or "prevents the goalkeeper from releasing the ball from his hands") and result in an Indirect Free Kick.

In some cases, the ball is still bouncing/rolling around or the goalkeeper has lost possession of the ball (either intentionally or unintentionally).  The goalkeeper at this point does not enjoy the special protections noted above and is like any other field player.  But just as with play amongst field players, the referee needs to be on the lookout for "fouls" and specifically for "dangerous play", even more vigilantly as the ball approaches the goalkeeper... as we have the obvious situation of the keeper likely putting his/her hands and head near the ground and quite possibly into harms way.