The Lightning faced Capo Valley Christian at home on Tuesday night and beat them 1-0, thus maintaining our lead in league by one point. Capo excels with two great forwards and one outstanding keeper who reads the game well but takes lots of risks. Capo also plays with a very defensive mindset, dropping seven to eight players in the back at all times. So we asked our squad to play low pressure to lure the opponent into committing their numbers up, and to keep the ball away from the keeper. He was literally a second sweeper. Patience is what we asked for, basically.

The opponent came out hard the first ten minutes then retreated back to play defense with occasional counter-attacks. We were not too worried, for the game usually settles after 15 to 20 minutes. We clearly dominated the game with sixteen shots total, and several shots hitting the posts. We did many things right. We utilized the width well; we switched points of attacks often; and we took a good number of wonderful shots, often with support from the back.

Verbal and non-verbal communication was also very good. What we failed to do was to play low pressure and to avoid off-sides traps. Overall, we were pleased with our performance. Everyone played well. Kyle Simon played a great defense. Lion Wintemute played in the sweeping position and did a wonderful job. It was also nice seeing Micheal Bear playing in the center. He had a great game. Kam Fujii was named player of the game, and correctly so. He simply had a fantastic game. He maintained ball possession, unselfishly gave what I call “gift” balls, and hustled a lot. He remained focused and committed the entire game. We tied the first half 0-0, but in minute 46, Colton Gyulay received a beautiful cross from Mark Milner from around the corner area, just outside the 18. Colton intelligently headed it to the upper corner of the net.