Final

Probably the best game I have seen all season.

Both teams played well, and the back and forth of the first half had everyone up yelling an cheering.

 

Second half was more skewed towards Summit, but CCH never gave up. The positioning and hard work of the boys on both sides made this game one of the best games this season has seen.

 

Congratulations to both sides, and I am sure both sides will use this game positively going into playoffs.

 

What a wild ride tonight.

An incredible back and forth in the first half with each team punching and being counterpunched. CCH on the board first with a laser from Steven Schutt that caught the Summit keeper off his line. SCD tallied a few minutes later on a corner to tie. Griffen Lamb received a pass about 15 yards out, turned and finished nicely to put the Colonels back up. SCD'S #2 put on some great moves to beat 2 CCH defenders and the keeper on the near post to tie again. Maybe 8 minutes later, Mike Wessels puts CCH up again with a shot that kisses the inside of the post from the top of the box. SCD equalizes on a corner that CCH can't get cleared. A wild first half.

CCH could have easily tallied 4 goals in the first half when Day slid through the defense and put one off the post.

 

As mentioned, second half belonged to Summit, as did the whole game really, although CCH had their chances in the second half as well, just not many of them. Summit was better prepared to play, had more energy and really were just a better team in my opinion. Still, CCH allowing three goals off set pieces harkens back to last season. Two corner kicks and one free kick from a silly, needless foul. Two of the three scored on very poor marking resulting in open headers on goal. The third was just never cleared when chances presented themselves. CCH lost two defenders in the second half, one to injury and one to a yellow card and that helped to facilitate the final Summit goal. Summit is very technical and composed at all positions.

CCH also had two unforced turnovers near the center of the field. CCH was attacking and looked to be in good position numbers wise and may have been dangerous but the turnovers off bad passes allowed Summit to counter which resulted in 2 of their goals. Not making excuses, Summit 100% deserved the win and is a very good team, but the 5-3 score is probably more do to these circumstances, (CCH late injuries, a player going off with cramps and a yellow card). And the fact CCH missed a few good opportunities, a 1 v1 with the keeper, another close range shot off the post, and Summit finished their chances.

There is not a team in NKY that is even come close to putting 11 players on the field as talented as Summit's 11. They have no weakness in their starting 11 and their 12 player scored four goals last night, says a lot about how good they are.

Summit's speed of play and technical ability at all 11 spots on the field was the difference. As mentioned, far too many times CCH players would hold the ball too long or make inaccurate passes in bad spots and that would lead to turnovers. They have gotten away with that for most of the year against lesser teams but not last night. Still, they could have easily had 5 goals themselves. First half was quite a shootout.

CCH also had two unforced turnovers near the center of the field. CCH was attacking and looked to be in good position numbers wise and may have been dangerous but the turnovers off bad passes allowed Summit to counter which resulted in 2 of their goals. Not making excuses, Summit 100% deserved the win and is a very good team, but the 5-3 score is probably more do to these circumstances, (CCH late injuries, a player going off with cramps and a yellow card). And the fact CCH missed a few good opportunities, a 1 v1 with the keeper, another close range shot off the post, and Summit finished their chances.

There is not a team in NKY that is even come close to putting 11 players on the field as talented as Summit's 11. They have no weakness in their starting 11 and their 12 player scored four goals last night, says a lot about how good they are.

 

Hopefully nothing serious with the injuries and they will be back in time for district and regional play.

Agree with everything said......

 

Summit is the best technically skilled team I have seen around my 10 plus years of HS soccer.....

 

I can explain them this way......Imagine the best Ky player on your team, or another. Usually you may have one, or two players like this......they have 7 offensive players that fit into this category......then they have 3 big, strong, fast and talented defenders that allow them to play 3 across the back and release the others to attack.....

 

If there is such a thing.....this is a "good" loss. The defense experienced pressure tonight that they haven't seen and probably won't see, in the level of the number of players. If they come away with the fact that they gave up only 2 goals during actual play (and not on restarts or corners) and one was during injury to the regular line, they can come away positive.

 

The offense, IMHO, learned that they need to pick up speed of play, BUT they need to do it while maintaining possession and using the easy passes instead of trying to force passes up two levels when an out pass is available........work it up against good teams.......

 

Two quality teams played last night....well done......get healthy and best of luck to both in Post Season.....

I thought going to 5 midfielders for CCH and only one up top in the second half would have been worth a try last night. Day and Wessels played the entire game in the central mid spots up until Day had to come out with cramps with maybe 15 minutes left.

Agree, would have been nice to see the 5 midfield option for CCH.

Pretty sure Day was pushed up to striker at some point late in the second half, this may have backfired. Yes Summit was already controlling the midfield, but with Day out of the midfield, Summit got even more control, more space and time to possess and attack. And not only does Summit have 11, maybe 12 good players on the field together that is unseen in NKY, maybe the entire state of KY, 2-3 of these players are really, really good. If they played in NKY their names would near the top of everybody's OPOY and DPOY lists.

Someone tried to warn people about the Summit midfield yesterday... :idunno:

OTB, Groinpull, gameplayedright, your analysis is 100% correct. Also though, it was a beautiful night in a scenic stadium, what a beautiful place to play.

 

I think the speed of Summit's play and the constant pressure wore CCH down. Summit's midfield continually played one, two touch throughout the entire night causing the CCH boys to chase a lot more than they are used to.

 

I should say, it looked like Jeremy went to a 3-5-2 in second half to combat Summit's 3-5-2. I don't think it worked because Summit then controlled more of the game and CCH didn't score. Really CCH only had 1 or 2 decent scoring opportunities in the 2nd half.

 

Good luck to both teams I think they should both go far in tournament.

Given the number of club teammates on the field last night, pretty sure CCH players knew what they were up against long before the first whistle sounded.

 

Thanks anyway YC. And Summit midfield is good but they have strengths up top and in the back as well. Besides one sub, which had a career night, 4 goals, their bench may not be very deep. All but maybe the last minute in the game I'm pretty sure Summit only played 12 players.

OTB, Groinpull, gameplayedright, your analysis is 100% correct. Also though, it was a beautiful night in a scenic stadium, what a beautiful place to play.

 

I think the speed of Summit's play and the constant pressure wore CCH down. Summit's midfield continually played one, two touch throughout the entire night causing the CCH boys to chase a lot more than they are used to.

 

I should say, it looked like Jeremy went to a 3-5-2 in second half to combat Summit's 3-5-2. I don't think it worked because Summit then controlled more of the game and CCH didn't score. Really CCH only had 1 or 2 decent scoring opportunities in the 2nd half.

 

Good luck to both teams I think they should both go far in tournament.

 

CCH did not go to 5 midfielders but they did move Day up top for awhile and Vogt into his central midfield spot but it was too little, too late. That is a formation I've been wanting them to try for a long time actually with Day/Litzler up top together. 5 midfielders last night would have closed down some of the space Summit had to operate.

 

I agree that it looked like Summit played 12, maybe 13 players almost the entire game.

 

I thought Day/Wessels in the central midfield held their own last night against a very good group in the middle for Summit but they were a bit outmanned by the Summit formation. The difference was technically and in Summit's speed of play with a lot of very quick combos.

 

 

I thought Day/Wessels in the central midfield held their own last night against a very good group in the middle for Summit but they were a bit outmanned by the Summit formation. The difference was technically and in Summit's speed of play with a lot of very quick combos.

 

Day and Wessels played well (as did a number of CCH players), they are without question not the first opposing midfielders to have trouble when playing Summit. By saying "trouble" I don't mean struggled but more on the line of not being as dominant as they are accustomed to.

The problem with playing a team like Summit where all 11 players have good technical skills, good speed and athleticism, teams will struggle unless they can match them. Very, very few HS teams can field 11 good players with these traits. Even though CCH did not have a great game last night with better finishing it could have easily been 5-5. But given the disparity in talent level 12 players to 12 players, IMO if they play each other 10 times, Summit wins 7-8 out of 10.