Ryle 3 Covington Catholic 2

[The Double Deuce]

The host Raiders pull out the 3-2 victory over CovCath.  I hope @OutOfNeccessityor @Ablkhat55 or someone else may have been in attendance and can provide us a game recap.  Would be much appreciated.

Ryle is now 12-3-2 on the season and have won 7 straight games (including wins over Cooper, Conner, LexCath, Daviess Co., and CovCath [two of last year's state final four teams]), and will enter the post-season as hot as anyone in the 9th.  They travel out I-74 tomorrow night to play the Trojans of East Central.

CovCath has only 1 win in their last 6 games, so obviously not heading to the post-season on the form that they'd hope to be on.  They sit at 7-10-1 on the season and host Lexington Catholic on Thursday night to end the regular season.

[OutOfNeccessity]

I would normally start by saying that the Colonels of Cov Cath made the trip to Union to face the Raiders of Ryle. But to be honest, it looked as though only half the team actually showed up ready to play.

Any detailed analysis of the match would be reductive. Ryle came out as a unified team to play and to win. They played  every second of the 80 minutes like it was they're last 80 minutes. (And for their seniors, it is getting to that point.) Cov Cath played up to Raider's second goal. From that point, they could have taken half the team off the field (mainly the DBs and MF) and attained the same result.

Cov Cath came out strong with their 2 goals in the 10th and 25th minute. Both solid goals, one coming from a header out of the corner. The second from a solid slot pass to an open forward for a 1v1. From here out, it was the Colonels match to lose. And as they say, "it takes skill to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory".

Ryle answered with a corner kick in the 25th minute. Ball dropped in front of a Ryle player who was staring at 4 motionless defenders and GK. Simple tap in. Cov Cath goes into half time with a 2-1 lead.

I'm not sure what transpired during half time, but the 11 who returned to the field, while being the same 11 players, definitely didn't act or play like it. Gone were the deliberate passes and buildup that had been relatively successful for them. (When they've actually done it.) In its place came the ever present and rarely accurate and even less successful moon launch from one of the DBs. Those plays might work occasionally, if the mid field knew or even cared that they were going to happen. The forward receiving the "pass" would be in the attacking third and their nearest support was at the back of the mid field. I counted no less than 3 but usually 4 defenders right there pressuring a lone attacker. 

And that's pretty much the second half. Ball in possession of a defender, passed to a DB who launches it into no mans land for a turn over. Wash, rinse, repeat. In the middle of this, 3-5 minutes into the second half, a string of poor/lazy defending led to Ryle's equalizer. An offside call gave the Colonels a free kick from the top of the box. The ball is passed to a DB, who immediately sends it back to the GK. With a 3-1 advantage, the GK sends a agonizingly slow pass to the one defender who was marked who manages to allow an attacker to intercept the ball, for an easy 1v1 and the goal. And with 19 minutes remaining Ryle takes a throw in that lands at the feet of an unmarked attacker in the center of the field who takes a rocket of a shot from about 30 yards out through 6 defenders and the goalie for the early win. The Colonels were defeated with 20 minutes remaining.

Themes of the Cov Cath games I've watched so far:

1. Aggressive in the beginning. More so if they strike first. They play hard to defend the lead, but once taken, their defense and mid field essentially give up.

2. Defenders and midfielders in the back of the mid field who don't talk, collide or just clog it up.

3. Mid fielders who don't support Fwd's are not supporting the team. 2 Fwd's working against 4-5 defenders with no outlet will rarely score.

4. Wingers who ignore  forwards making runs ignore scoring possibilities.

5. Defenders who simply boot the ball into the ether might just as well hand the ball to their opponent.

6. Fwd's who try to fancy their way through 4 defenders almost always turn it over. 

7. Talented individuals make the highlight reel. Successful coaches mold individuals into a team. Motivated teams win games. The Colonels have plenty of the first and none of the last. The middle piece, I'll leave to history.

 

 

 

[The Double Deuce]

1 hour ago, OutOfNeccessity said:

Themes of the Cov Cath games I've watched so far:

1. Aggressive in the beginning. More so if they strike first. They play hard to defend the lead, but once taken, their defense and mid field essentially give up.

2. Defenders and midfielders in the back of the mid field who don't talk, collide or just clog it up.

3. Mid fielders who don't support Fwd's are not supporting the team. 2 Fwd's working against 4-5 defenders with no outlet will rarely score.

4. Wingers who ignore  forwards making runs ignore scoring possibilities.

5. Defenders who simply boot the ball into the ether might just as well hand the ball to their opponent.

6. Fwd's who try to fancy their way through 4 defenders almost always turn it over. 

7. Talented individuals make the highlight reel. Successful coaches mold individuals into a team. Motivated teams win games. The Colonels have plenty of the first and none of the last. The middle piece, I'll leave to history.

 

 

 

Poor coaching and lack of cohesion, I couldn't agree with you more.   

[OutOfNeccessity]

2 hours ago, The Double Deuce said:

Poor coaching and lack of cohesion, I couldn't agree with you more.   

I really can't say in terms of Cov Cath's coaching. I really don't know him. As a casual if not curious observer of teams all I CAN say is that this group of young men do not seem to play as one. That can almost always be traced back to a lack of leadership from the sideline and from the field. It's sad, because you can see that they have talent in all three sections of the pitch. There is just no real flow from one third to the next. I will say that looking at their record from last year, there is a possibility that they find whatever it is that they are missing during the post season. Regional tournament will tell the tale.