U17 Boys - League Champs

Our U17 boys team clinched their league title.  Well, somebody else clinched it for them. 

We had a chance Wednesday to clinch the title against the team that was 3 point behind us but let a 2-1 lead slip away in the last minute on a penalty kick.  So the champagne was put on hold for another day.  But last night our chasers lost to the third place team, clinching the title for Welland.

I would say the boys truly deserved the win.  They played hard, worked together and got along.  We had a few mental lapses, some monumental brain farts and a few on-field disagreements after mistakes.  All part of the package for U17 boys, I guess.  If they learn from their mental lapses, then we're OK.

As the move towards being life long players, they will learn that success will come through chemistry, decisions and discipline, not just raw physical tools.

There are a few things we had a hard time selling them, but they slowly gave in:

• Patience while defending on the wings and away from our goal.  It improved but they need to make a conscious effort of it as they grow older and play smart players.
• Patience on the attack and deciding when it's off and time to reload and relaunch.
• Focus on defending in the late stages against a desperate team looking to tie.

We had some challenges early on. Our shape was a bit out of whack because our GK was hurt and struggled to play balls off the ground.  We had some new players and some players who missed a lot of games early on.

We were OK with only 2 yellow card suspensions, no red cards and only .....  1 brawl. :)

We finish the season with our last game on Wednesday on the road.

The boys won this league by their own on-field play and commitment to each other, and that makes it nice.