What The Heart Wants

Shake It Up

Monday morning at the Hearts' training complex began with a review of yesterday's friendly against Sky Blue. Erica, Carm, and Kristin were at the front of the meeting room breaking down the good and bad from the match.

Erica: First, I want to say well-done to all of you on winning our first game together as a team. When we had our current first XI on the field, we kept control of the game. Having to pull Ali into the back line due to Bianca's injury isn't how I want us to operate going forward, which means that Wendy is on the lookout for a center back who hopefully will be here in time for the Duke match on the 24th. Now then, as we started to move players around and add in the reserves, the game got a little wonky. Communication is going to be key since small mistakes turn into big ones when players don't know where their marks are or get caught out-of-position. Things were better in the third period with the younger players on the field and we were able to capitalize on Becca's passing and vision from the 6 to free up Stephany and force Colaprico to man-mark her, leading to the winning goal.

Carm: Defensively, we still have a ways to go to become the kind of team that North Carolina and Portland were last year. That said, we have a number of parts that I think can meet the challenge. Over the next couple of weeks, until we get that center back in here, I plan to use my time with the defense to test out possibilities in case the search runs longer than we'd like and we have to enter the season with the players we currently have. With that in mind, I would like to introduce to everyone Morgan Reid. She will be on trial with us today and tomorrow and if we like what we see, she will take Bianca's place on the roster. She played at Duke with EJ and Becca and I hope can be the center-back-in-waiting that we want to have here so that we can keep our central midfielders where they currently are.

Morgan stood and waved briefly before sitting back down.

Kristin: I know that my focus here is on the three goalkeepers. After all, that's why you have a goalkeeper coach. However, goalkeeping is not something that should be divorced from the rest of the defensive structure. That's one reason we sought out players at the position who were comfortable with the ball at their feet and why I critique the defensive structure in front of Steph, Sammy Jo, and EJ. Expansion teams are NOTORIOUS for expecting their goalkeepers to do too much on their own to keep them in games. We're skilled enough and have enough experience on this roster for that to not be the case. You cannot expect any of the three to be Superwoman for all 20 games on the schedule. They can steal us a few points along the way with heroics, but you'll also be expected to do your part in keeping wins from becoming draws or draws turning into losses. When we get down to the field, I'm going to have the three of them work with Carm and the rest of the defensive players so that you're familiar with them, their communication, their positional tendencies, and they in turn become comfortable with the natural gaps which will exist in the back line and between it and the 6.

Erica: Before we begin training, I want to say something important. As you see, there are a few faces missing from the picture this morning. Mana, Bianca, and Stephany are no longer with the Hearts, at their request, for different reasons. There will be new players coming in and I expect you to make them as welcome to the squad as we did all of you. We'll start training in 20 minutes, so head down and loosen up.

***

With the team on the field in training, Wendy started her search for replacements for the three departed players.

Wendy: Gavin, it's Wendy Gebauer.

Gavin Wilkinson (Portland Thorns GM): Wendy! Congrats on yesterday's result. How did you keep Sam Kerr under control with the player rotation Erica employed?