It s naturally easier if you re defending a lead. With a good team like ours, when we score first, we haven t lost a game. We weren t adjusting to the other teams style of play and we didn t play our style with quick passes through the back and moving the ball quickly. We got dragged down by the heat, and the injuries didn t help us a bit. And then there s the matter of the No. 1 ranking.
Rankings are more significant later in the season because a lot of things change.
You can analyze that stuff a lot. The rankings, in fact, are more significant regionally than they are nationally. The Skyhawks play in the Midwest Region and only the top two teams from that group advance to the national tournament. Mines is also ranked 14th nationally. We just have to make sure we score first.