Twinsmania!: Fall Soccer Yearbook '15

"Give everything" - that was the mantra of the Fall '15 Dolphins. The Twins had been practicing for this season since Memorial Day Weekend and proudly displayed it on the field. J&T registered personal bests for goals and repeatedly had impactful moments (dare I say dominating?) in key game situations. As a team, the Dolphins had a strong season, registering a 6-2-2 record. We practiced, scrimmaged, beat boys teams, and practiced some more as the season progressed. Here's how it all went down...

Week 1 was on a scorching hot day in mid September - it would turn out to be a disappointing opener. Taylor had a great moment when she scored in the 2nd quarter and raced up the field in celebration (actually taking a lead at the time) but the Dolphins wilted like flowers in the heat during the 2nd half and let in a wave of goals dropping the game 5-10 to the USA Supers Shooters in what would be our worst performance of the year.

The family poses week 2 after Mom's coaching debut where an angry Dolphins team absolutely smothered the Lady Bugs 22-0. Jordan & Taylor dominated the game scoring a combined 7 goals - 5 coming in the pivotal 1st quarter. All Dolphins players scored in the game!

Week 3 brought another hot day and a familiar rival in the Diamonds. After falling behind early 1-3 the Dolphins would storm back to take a 2 goal lead only to see it disappear late. We would settle for a tie against the best team we would play this season.

Taylor breaks free up the middle...

...and fires off a shot just inside the circle

Jordan flashes a quick look at the camera during a break in the action - she would score 2 goals against a tough defense and is modeling the same "hands on hips" look as her Dad.

The next week we played almost exactly the same game - The Dolphins fell behind by 3 in the 1st quarter, slowly climbed back into the game and even took a 2 goal lead in the 4th. We lost that lead late and settled once again for a tie, this time vs. the Lightning. Jordan had another big night scoring all through the game and eventually collecting a hat-trick. Taylor made her season debut playing Goalie and even shut out the Lightning for a quarter.

Jordan & Taylor pose with Purefoy friends and fellow Twins Brin & Amelia after a disappointing tie.

Week 5 brought another night game, this time vs. the Mermaids. Taylor has a strong history against this team and did not disappoint in our latest match-up. In this picture, an overconfident Coach Emil was detailing plans to Dad on how we would be able to rotate some defenders on offense after we would take a big lead early...

...the big lead was not to be and for the 3rd consecutive week the 1st quarter line-up walked off the field down by several goals (0-3). Dad & Emil can be seen below giving the motivational speech of their lives while handing over the fate of the team to Addison & Taylor in an ever important 2nd quarter. They did not disappoint coming out on fire, scoring 3 goals each while notching assists to each other. The Dolphins wouldn't look back and won the game 12-4.

Week 6 brought our earliest kickoff of the season (8am) which was further pressured by having team pictures at 7:30. The team came out sluggish to start but gradually took control of the game vs. the Sunflowers. A down moment came when Jordan had a goal reversed by a frustrating but correct ruling on an "indirect kick" after a handball. Turnabout would be fair play on the indirect kick rule come season finale time (that's foreshadowing). The Dolphins would pull away and win 6-1.

Jordan races to control a loose ball.

The Sunflowers had one of the best defenders we faced all season (5) - she was big and held our offense to 0 goals in the 2 quarters she was on the field. You can see her size compared to the Twins in both these photos.

This would be another game filled with Taylor heroics - below she controls our "lucky" green ball.

All alone, Taylor sizes up her textbook shot from well outside the goalie box with 1 player to beat...

...and celebrates with teammate Addison after her shot finds its mark.

Taylor steals this ball from an opponent...

...and flashes a thumbs up as she races ahead and blasts a successful shot from just inside midfield - at the time this would set a team record for longest score in franchise history (more foreshadowing for the season finale!)

After a 2 week hiatus due to rain, we found ourselves in the rare spot of having a weeknight game. The Dolphins would play well vs. the Goalbusters en route to a 12-6 victory. Taylor once again had to step-up and play Goalie when a teammate fell ill on game day - she delivered on Dad's guarantee for a Corner Kick goal as well when she successfully connected with teammate Addison in the 2nd quarter. We also busted out our alternate "Italy" uniforms for the game.

The final weekend of the season would bring back-to-back games and high expectations on the Dolphins to keep their winning streak alive. On Saturday we faced a familiar foe in the Grape Crush. The coaches may have gone into this one a bit overconfident - once we were a few minutes in we could tell it was going to be a defensive battle all game long. An early highlight was a beautiful shot from Jordan which found the back of the goal and tied the game. The Dolphins however would never lead and turned in their lowest scoring effort of the season in a 2-3 loss.

Jordan, Baylie, & Sarah Captain the team.

Jordan gets off a contested shot - she would miss left but later connect from the other side of the field on a beautiful pivot & shoot play.

Taylor cuts loose a long shot from midfield...

...and later controlled this pass from Addison.

Taylor & Baylie get physical!

About 24 hours after our shocking loss we were lucky that forecasted rains held off so we could get our last game of the season in vs. the Lonestars. We made a conscious effort to "only have fun" in the finale and used the entire playbook employing several gadget plays during the game.

This picture is just seconds prior to the opening kickoff - during the week we had put in a kickoff trick play - Sarah (10) would slide over to midfield and stand over the ball. She then would fake a deep kick and just tap it lightly to the left (indirect kick) - Jordan charged hard to the ball and blasted a shot down field. She gets great height on her shots and this one would take off, slip between 2 defenders and find the goal! In a few short seconds Jordan had secured 2 franchise records - longest & fastest goal! The Dolphins took advantage of a shell shocked opponent running up a 4 goal 1st quarter lead before coasting to a 5-1 win.