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Where is the recap of the Mauldin vs Lexington game? Or anyone else. In the words of Hurst "I need details".



Since I've been touting how Mauldin is better than their ranking since early in the season, I guess I'll write this. I'm a Lexington parent, so no doubt I'll be biased but I'll try my best to be straightforward.

Mauldin came out strong and in the first 10 minutes of the game I thought had the better of play. In the rest of the half I thought Lexington had the better of play. Lexington went with a system in which they were able to create opportunities but not able to finish them (note: this has been a problem with this system all season -- but the other system has problems as well so this isn't a criticism -- I don't know a better system.) At the half it was 0-0.

Lexington came out very strong for the first 10 minutes of the second half. However, on one of Mauldin's first opportunities they capitalized when Lexington's defense either tried an offside trap that worked but the referees didn't call it (some people's opinion), that didn't work and left Sarah Schaidle open for a very nice pass (other people's opinion), or the defense was disorganized (yet other people's opinion). (Note: in my opinion she wasn't offside, but I was out of position and I've been told by those closer than I'm full of garbage.) In any case, Sarah had a clean 1v1 opportunity and placed a very nice shot. To make this clear, Mauldin deserves credit for a very good play and Lexington's keeper was absolutely alone and couldn't do anything about it (note: I'm not related to the keeper.)

After that, Lexington switched to a system that has led to more scoring against better teams this year but has left us much weaker in terms of possession and the number of opportunities created (note: now that Lexington's season is over, I can tell you I hate this system but I recognize the conundrum the coach faced and don't know of a better answer.) I think Mauldin had the better of play for most of the rest of the half in terms of possession. With about 5 minutes to go a PK was assessed against Mauldin when one or more players contacted a Lexington player (note: I thought whatever occurred it wasn't the intention of anyone to hurt anyone -- just one of those things -- but there was stoppage for maybe 3-4 minutes while the player was down and eventually taken off the field.) Jessica Marshall took the PK and scored.

In overtime, Lexington kept the same system and Mauldin did a very good job possessing and I thought continued to have the better of play. Mauldin scored about halfway through the first overtime when Sarah Schaidle took the ball from a Lexington player, the player made a defensive mistake and Lexington's defense collapsed, Sarah made a very nice offensive move, and scored. After that, I thought Mauldin continued to have the better of play and there were few opportunities for Lexington. However, Lexington had one more chance when a player made a beautiful header assist to Jessica Marshall who shot a rocket aimed just under the crossbar. Against most keepers the score would have been tied; however, the keeper for Mauldin (and I don't know if it was Curren or Morgan) made an absolutely wonderful save by deflecting it over the goal.

Several notes. First, as has occurred a lot this season Lexington had opportunities but couldn't convert. Second, Mauldin is a wonderful team -- relatively small but fast. I thought that Lexington for the most part had better athletes but that Mauldin had better soccer players -- they played fast, clean, and simple and their defensive fundamentals were very sound. Most Mauldin players were able to play at a faster pace than Lexington's players -- and I thought that the Mauldin coach did a good job of creating a defensive system that focused on preventing Lexington's strengths and uncovered weaknesses in Lexington's style of play.

Since I know more of the kids from TL Hanna I'll be rooting for them on Friday; but it will be a tough test. I wish the best for the players and coaches of both teams.

P.S. Every fiber of my being wants to complain about the handball in the box not called in the first half -- but it is what it is -- and in a long game Mauldin proved themselves to be the better team last night.