Stefan and I met the girls early Tuesday at their school, the Privat Realskole. As you can see, this lovely school resembled a small medieval village more than a place of learning, with an expansive central square bordered by stately buildings and even a clock tower. The weather was intermittently sunny, but rain was in the forecast. We opted to eat early, and have our official tournament photo taken while the sun was out, and well ahead of our scheduled game. The girls also took the time to make some new friends, pictured in the middle picture above with a team from Sweden.
Our host, Sven-Erik, had been half-seriously picking us as the tournament favorites ever since our performance in Sweden, and also predicted that Fortuna Hjorring in our group might be our main rival for the title. If true, this made our first game key. Knowing we had to play Fortuna in the afternoon, we could not afford any mistakes against Donn FK of Norway (pictured above with us after the game).
We started well, but played a bit too predictably or, at times, seemed satisfied with just possessing the ball without really attempting to penetrate toward or threaten the opposing goal. We looked assured, but perhaps too much so. The first 15 minutes passed without notable event. Jen shot high off another trademark cross from Sadie; Beth's first-time effort of a corner was blocked down. The impasse was broken finally two minutes later. On another great run on the right flank, Sadie delivered a well-driven cross. With Beth streaking toward the near post, the Donn keeper had to respect the threat, but misjudged her angle and was caught out too far as the cross went over her outstretched reach into the goal. 1-0 LISC!
We tried to quickly seize the momentum for good. Erin Sage came close twice, shooting over the bar from distance and missing with a header off a corner. Just before half, the lead was increased. A corner from Emily Hahn found its way through the Donn penalty box, and was duly met by Kaylie Henson at the far post. She made no mistake finishing the right-footed volley.
Despite the 2-0 lead, I couldn't be entirely pleased at halftime. We were too often happy to take our first passing option whether or not it was really on; we weren't composed enough to select the best from the full array of options we were trying to create. Believe it or not, despite remaining scoreless, we played much better in the second half. We began to reenact the movement off the ball we had developed in Sweden. Shanna, Beth and Mac repeatedly forced great saves from the Donn keeper, and we never looked in trouble.
The team has matured. They believe in themselves and in each other. It seems a new hero or key player steps up every game. This was a big win to get us started in Denmark, but a bigger one lies ahead this afternoon, the home team, the giants of Danish women's football, Fortuna Hjorring!
LISC 2 Donn FK 0
Shots: LISC 16 Donn FK 1
Shots on target: LISC 10 Donn FK 0
Goals: Somers, Henson
Assists: Hahn
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