Friday August 27th – Maimi of OH 4 (1) @ UC Berkeley 3 (2) – with Luci Lagrimas

I should also call this see what you want to see. So the game was great with Cal going down 1:0 early and then being under pressure for most of the first half. They came back and went ahead by the half time. Miami came back in the second half and were decisive winners in the end.

However it is the events of the first two minutes and the last two that I am going to write about.

In the first two minutes I gave a Penalty Corner. Everyone set up and bam! we’re off at a blistering pace that caught me be surprise. Insertion to 1 o’clock position, drive high and towards the near post and then … time slows down … was there a back swing, was there a back swing, I can’t recall it, I didn’t see it, I didn’t check it, it’s OK it’s going wide (I think), even if it goes in I can check with Luci, I’m OK, don’t panic … time speeds up … and ting! it hits the post, rebounds to the inserter who swings and drives it off the back line … phew.

In the distance I can hear aaaaargh! from the coach and I look to see Luci calming them down. I bet there was a back swing. Must work on that today!

In the last two minutes. Cal take their goalkeeper off. They are one behind. Fast break into the Miami 23m area and foul. Hit in 8m from the “D”. Cal takes quickly defender leaps in but has not retired 5m. Penalty corner!

Corner comes, Miami clear, 20 seconds on the clock. Stick foul under Luci’s nose just inside the Miami 23m. She indicates the direction. Cal set up and take off. Again the Miami team don’t retire 5m and tackle. Corner again! 12 seconds left.

But now my hearing perks up. I am surrounded by Miami players saying “there was no whistle”, “there was no foul, no hit”. I stop time. Talk to Luci. She did not “blow”. I saw the advantage signal, the Cal player getting the ball to her strong side and in all the crowd noise my brain added a whistle to this.

We reset the clock to 12 seconds. Played the bully. Game over.

Lessons learned. On corners keep the whole check list in your mind. Listen with your ears not your eyes.