EDP Cup

Over Columbus Day weekend, Sporting took its top teams, including Emily's, to the EDP Cup in southern New Jersey.  This tournament gave the teams the opportunity to play against other top teams in eastern New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia.  Although we went into the tournament with no expectations, especially as three players were unable to make the trip, it turned out to be a great experience.  Emily's team won all four games, allowing just one goal, and won their bracket.  They played really great soccer and every single player rose to the occasion in every single game.  They've lost several games by one goal so far this fall so to win at the EDP Cup was a huge confidence booster for them.  The team chemistry was amazing and it was so much fun to watch them play all weekend.  In particular, Emily had a spectacular weekend.  She played outside defense almost the entire time and really shined.  We are so proud of her and her team!

Celebrating the game winning goal. 

PDA Dynamite was definitely the best team they played (perhaps ever) and somehow, they found a way to win.  It's sounds corny, but when they pulled out the victory, I had tears in my eyes.  They completely gelled as a team and never gave up, not for even one second.

Even a full-on hold from the other team couldn't stop Emily! 

Love this sequence of photos. 

She released the ball up the field just before the hip check. 

And another hip check.

Victory run.

This makes it all worthwhile.  Love this kid; love her coach; and love this team.  And to watch them come together and play their absolute best was just so special.

Love this team and this coach.

Willis

The girls have been harassing us about getting another dog for several months.  We've always sort of had a dog fall into our laps, never really had to "find" one.  But we started looking and put in a few applications - and of course, no return calls or even responses to our inquiries. Then we learned of an owner surrender through the same rescue where we found Beau.  Lee wasn't thrilled about a female dog, but once we laid eyes on her, it was all over.  Although she was not mistreated, she was clearly neglected, at least from a veterinary sense.  Her eyes were crusted over and she had several infections.  Luckily, our vet was able to see her just a few hours after we adopted her and she's well on the road to recovery.  She may still need eye surgery, but she's come a long way.  She's a good girl, except for some quirks that drive us crazy, and she definitely thinks that she's a lap dog.  Once again, we got lucky with rescue lottery.  And even though she's 8 years old, she's got a lot of life left in her.

She loves riding in the car and hanging her head out the window.

She adores Lee.

After a few weeks of mistrust and adjusting, they are finally snuggling together.

September Soccer

Emily had a nice September of soccer.  Overall, her team has made the adjustment to the larger field and they are starting to click - some games are definitely better than others, however.  Emily's playing time is up and down and she has struggled to figure out why she gets a lot of time in some games and not much in others.  Her fitness is great and works in her favor, but she has had some struggles with mechanics.  When she's on, she's on; but she's not, she's not.  Mentally, her biggest difficulty is dealing with not playing all the time, as she hates to spend even one second on the bench.  We are only one month in, and she's working hard so we hope that it will bring better results for her.

Although blurry, this is my favorite photo from this month.  After not getting much playing time in the first game of the season, Lee and I sat down and talked with Emily about being more aggressive.  She's one of the smallest girls on the team and it's important that she not get pushed around.  She listened.  This photo is from the next game, when Sporting played the #1 team in Connecticut - she's taking on two opposing player and won the ball.  Emily played some of her best soccer, including scoring on a great shot.