Black Rock FC flew to Nevada last week to compete in the Las Vegas Players Showcase, a 4-game series that allows players to display their abilities in front of many college coaches. The event gathers top-level teams from around the country, which makes the standard remarkably high.
The U17 team had a rough start but finished strong. In their opening game, they scored 2 goals in the first half, making it 2-0 at halftime. However, the other team managed to score two goals extremely late in the game to tie it. The next game was an unfortunate 3-0 loss. After these two games, the team met and discussed how they would respond. They won the next two games comfortably, showing their resilience in bouncing back and finishing the showcase strong. Unfortunately, the U19s did not manage to secure a win; however, they played well, and all the players enjoyed it.
A challenge the program faced was a lack of recent 11v11 match experience due to game cancellations caused by the recent weather. Because of this, it took a while for the players to get back into rhythm, but after the second game, both teams found it and played better.
Off the field, the trip was a wonderful experience for the whole program. On the last day, everyone visited Red Rock Canyon, where players could climb and enjoy breathtaking views just outside Las Vegas. After this fun experience, the whole program then had dinner at a nice restaurant, where players bonded over good food. Afterwards, everyone went to see the Las Vegas Strip. The Strip was something many of the players were looking forward to off the pitch.
After returning home to Lake Placid from a tiring flight, the players needed to recover from the heavy load of the showcase. With the lake just outside Northwood School melting, it was decided that the program would do a 5-minute ice bath in the lake. It took a while for players to get into the lake, but everyone managed to complete the 5-minute task.
Photo by Coach Marvyn Dorchin.
While the results were mixed, the weekend was a fantastic opportunity for the players to display their talents in front of colleges and to get more 11v11 minutes in preparation for the Jefferson Cup, the biggest tournament of the year, happening in just two weeks.