Arkansas Road Trip!

We got back late last night from our road trip to the University of Arkansas, so I apologize for being a little late on this report! Overall we had 3 main goals we wanted to work towards this spring and I thought this trip summed the whole spring up as a success.

1) Figure a system of play defensively - we got a chance to work with our back 4 in particular and proved that we have the concepts in place. I was extremely pleased with the adjustments the group made yesterday from the first half to the second half. Our ability to compact the space and cover for each other improved drastically. We've still got a long way to get it where we want it, but we answered the question of how we can be the most comfortable as a team. I thought it was also good to see our defensive organization through the midfield and how it allowed us to get a better rhythm offensively!

2) Deal with Adversity - we played 5 games this spring on the road to help force our young group to grow up. The long bus ride, different surface, different locker room on the trip to Arkansas proved another good step forward in the journey. I really felt the team did a good job of not worrying about any outside factors. We still looked a little flat with heavy legs at times, so we're not out of the woods yet, but there was significant improvement this spring.

3) The Locker room - I have always and will always say the biggest challenge in changing a culture is changing the locker room mentality, or just the basic chemistry of the team. It's real easy for teams to have good chemistry, but do they have respect! So you can imagine my delight when I looked to the back of the bus and the whole team is goofing around with Chelsea Cody, Katie Howard and Caroline Starns lying in the luggage racks above - it was hilarious! The group has really matured, again we've got a long way to go, but that kind of stuff would have never happened in the past.

So Arkansas brought a good finish to the spring and was a good trip! Over the next couple of days I'll share a bit more on what I think we accomplished and what we should be looking for next fall!