So far, so good, so calm,
by Chelsea Dufresne, Concord Heights Times
Through five games, the Fillies are leading the group with a record of 4-1-0. The only blip on the record thus far was a 4-4 draw at Dagan Airways Stadium against the second best team in the group, rank-wise, New Lusitania. We know that up to this point, coverage from the Concord Heights Times concerning World Cup qualifying has not been that frequent, but that should be about to change. Expect to see much better media coverage of the event from our end now, which is probably good news to anyone outside of New Lusitania. Not that they won’t appreciate seeing and reading what we have to say, but if you know the World Cup and how it works, you know what I mean!
So let’s begin rehashing this spectacle! First, as we had mentioned in the preview, the biggest question was going to be how the attack fared with young Rachel Schanke now joining Hannah Ranucci as a starter. This was a question not because of Schanke, but because of how Caitlyn Mayer might handle being downgraded to a substitute. Form-wise, Mayer did absolutely nothing wrong to warrant the demotion, Schanke was simply that well hyped and liked, that it had to be her time. Perhaps, manager Stephanie Sweeney would implement a 4-3-3 attack to get Mayer starts as well, and the manager did promise that Mayer would get steady playing time throughout qualifying as long as she was happy. Caitlyn said all the right things when interviewed about it, but we all know that could change once things began. The other question mark was not a big one, but worth a mention since goalkeeper Kelsey Morgan would be a starter right from the beginning for the first time. That was not expected to be a big deal at all since Morgan did start towards the end of World Cup 82 qualifying, and that continued into the World Cup itself.
Play began for Cassadaigua away at New Karelograd, and right away we saw the 4-3-3, and not the 4-4-2. Mayer was in the starting lineup, starting on the left side of the attack with Ranucci in the middle, and Rachel Schanke along the right side. Rachel Brenner was the midfielder that did not start with the formation change. It is expected that the 32-year old Brenner will often be the odd one out when the Fillies do elect to play the 4-3-3. New Karelograd was in tough from the start, but hoping to put on a show for their fans. Unfortunately for them, their debut saw a Cassadaigua team hungry to get off to a positive start, and there was no feeling out process in this one. Cassadaigua went for it, and eight minutes into the game, Rachel Schanke picked up the first goal of qualifying for the team. Fitting, and something we hope to see a lot more of. Six minutes later, it was two-nil, thanks to Ranucci setting up Caitlyn Mayer for a goal, much like we have seen before. Don’t worry about Hannah, though, she picked up the next two goals, in the 28th and 39th, to give Cassadaigua a 4-0 lead. The second half was more of the same, and Sierra Mattison scored in the 59th, then Schanke in the 70th, to make it 6-0. In the 78th, on just their second shot on target, New Karelograd got one by Morgan, to avoid the clean sheet. Caitlyn Mayer said after the game that she was just happy to produce, “We can be deadly with all three of us in the starting lineup. It will tactical when coach looks to utilize it, but I really do enjoy it. I am here to score goals and do everything else that I need for this team to win.”
Cassadaigua had a bye in matchday two, and returned home to play unranked Bengaliana in the home opener, and the team may have been a little over confident, especially after scoring the just the fourth minute of the game, on the second of qualifying by Schanke. Sweeney went to the 4-4-2 for the match, so Mayer did not start, and Brenner would. After the goal, the Fillies tried to be too cute, and make fancy plays, and that led to a 23rd minute breakdown that saw the unranked underdog get a goal. They still didn’t get the message though, and another breakdown, this is in the 40th, led to visitors taking a 2-1 lead into the locker room. The home crowd was frustrated, but remained supportive, and the Fillies came out in the second half playing much more intelligent soccer. We also saw Mayer enter the game to begin the second half, replacing Brenner, and the team went to the 4-3-3 once again. It took a while, but in the 63rd minute, a beautiful set piece from Sierra Mattison to Zack Pierce led to the latter getting a goal. Mattison as such a key player last cycle, and is off to a good start here. With the momentum, Ranucci gave the team the go-ahead goal in the 71st, and Cassadaigua was off to a 2-0-0 start. Following the match, Mattison took some blame, “I think that, yes, I was a little guilty of taking them for granted, and bit us a little. We put the defenders in tough situations because of it. In the second half, we did not make that mistake.”
Game 3 took place in the nation of Abaja, facing a squad that was off to a 1-1-1 start, and preferring an offensive style of play. Due to that, Sweeney’s usage of the 4-4-2 instead of the 4-3-3 made more sense, and the team was a little more cautious to begin the match. The first twenty minutes or so of the match were evenly played, but as the minutes ticked away, you could see the field gradually and methodically tilt in favor of Cassadaigua, as the team’s skill began to be a little too much for the Black Stars. Thirty-seven minutes in, we had our first goal, on a forty yard strike by Shelby Martin that looked like it would go over the goal, but arced down just enough to sneak under the crossbar, giving Cassadaigua a 1-0 advantage. In the 51st, Hannah Ranucci scored her third, and the Fillies held on. The defense and goalkeeper Morgan were tested quite a bit in this game, and the clean sheet was well earned. Naturally, Morgan was pleased, “Their forwards got some chances, and they played hard. Our defense was up to the task, and I was able to see their shots very good with clear lanes in front of me. This allowed me to be in position when I needed to be. Our second goal sucked a lot of life out of their attack.”
Moving on, New Lusitania was next on the schedule, and this is the nation that figures to be our main challenger. They came into the match with a record of 2-1-0, and while anyone would say that they would settle for coming into our place and getting a draw, they certainly wanted more. There was a lot of speculation leading into the match as to whether or not Sweeney would use the 4-3-3 here, and that would not be answered until just before game time, when it would be the 4-4-2. Shelby Martin opened up the scoring for the Fillies, being in the right place in the right time after Rui Patríce made an alert save on Hannah Ranucci. However, the squad led by Victor Santa Cruz was not going to go away quietly at all, and a response by Bernardo Veiga to make us all level at one set the tone for this match. This was going to be a battle, a battle that Cassadaigua had not really had in qualifying yet. Yes, Bengaliana played them tough and led at one point, but that was due to the Dagans over confidence. Here, they were playing a much more formidable opponent, and one looking to not only show us, but to show the world that they can do more then play Water Polo well, and make the World Cup. Rachel Schanke picked up her third of qualifying in the 41st minute to give us the lead at the break, but that would be short lived once the second half began as captain Bruno Fernando delivered on a 50th minute equalizer. Ten minutes later, on a free kick, an impressively curved shot by Rúben Nevais gave Kelsey Morgan not a chance in the world, and the visitors were up 3-2. This led to Sweeney moving to the 4-3-3 by bringing in Caitlyn Mayer, and her fresh legs were used to the advantage, as she scored in the 68th to make it 3-3. However, seven minutes later the captain, Fernando, broke the deadlock to make it 4-3. With one captain hoping to be the hero for the match, it would be the other captain, Hannah Ranucci, delivering the final goal of the game, coming in the 87th and her fourth of qualifying, to be the fourth of the game, and tie the match at four. After the match, Ranucci told us, “This game was a lot of fun. Stressful, but fun, a lot of energy, a lot of passion, and good quality soccer on both sides. Each side deserved a point in the game, which for us, where we stand right now, is not a bad thing. They certainly showed us that they have plenty of fight in them, so the message was delivered to us that we can’t let up during this qualifying campaign, because they will be there every step of the way.”
The fifth game of qualifying saw us play in Crystalline Caverns, the third pot team of the group. Manager Sweeney used the 4-3-3 to start this match, and were hoping to jump on the opponents quickly. However, the play of Clovis Terrano in goal completely stymied our chances. In the first thirty minutes, the Fillies had seven shots on target, but no goals to show for it. Perhaps, they could have been better located, but that is a credit to Terrano and his defense. After going into halftime scoreless, and after all the great saves made by Terrano, it was what looked to be a harmless shot by Zack Pierce (his second), the found its way into the net in the 65th minute. The old saying that you can’t score if you don’t shoot was proven here, and that goal stood up as the only for the match. Morgan gets her second clean sheet. After the game, the team saw that Bengaliana, the unranked squad that we were overconfident against and escaped with a 3-2 win against, had drawn with New Lusitania. Perhaps they were just as guilty against them as we were.
The end result of all of this is a 4-1-0 record, and a four point lead over New Lusitania and Crystalline Caverns, who are tied for second.
