There comes a time for every team that they face adversity during a season. It’s just the nature of the game and life of that matter. We went into this 2nd game feeling pretty good about the promise we showed during the 1st game, despite the many injuries and new faces. And then, we had things go sideways on us. A lot. And yet, we still pulled a victory in probably one of the ugliest looking games I’ve seen.

But maybe that shows less than the obvious things we have to work on and more about the character of this team that even when things go terribly wrong, we still have the resolve to win ugly. That is what the good teams do. They win despite when they don’t play well.

Our defense actually did play well. They held Tacoma to 0 points, a point of pride that a defense hangs it hat on. They swarmed to the ball. They absolutely destroyed anything on the edges.The linebackers are starting to gel as a unit. They made plays in the secondary including a pick 6 by sophomore Mike Forston and another pick from Safety McKenzie Tolliver.

The offense had the string of injuries catch up to us. Penalties and turnovers destroyed almost every drive we put together. Tacoma had some nice defensive plays but truly we didn’t execute very well.

I’m not sure I have seen so many penalties during one game in my entire career and that includes the ones on Tacoma. It was a combination of lack of execution and a flag happy ref crew. It made the game choppy at times.

Just like in normal life, there are always silver linings in every cloud. Vanessa Caskey and Julia McComas had some nice moves after catches that turned up yardage. Kiki Williams tore of a few solid runs. Nikki Philen shook off pressure and turnovers and didn’t fold. If an offense is a car, ours kept driving forward and then going in reverse and then forward.

A win is a win they say. I agree. It is much better to know that despite having things to work on, you still won.

I believe that we are a team with great talent and that cohesiveness is going to be our measuring stick of how successful we are this season. We need to be one unit. I know that this team is fully capable of developing that and that come game 8 we will be much further in that regard.

It is fun to watch and still be a part of as much as I can.

We are going down to Portland this weekend to face the Shockwave. We also have a long history playing them and they have added players from my old team, the Portland Fighting Fillies. It has been a minute since I have been in Portland and I miss it. It is a city that no matter where I live, will always be my home. I’m looking forward to seeing my old friends.

The game itself should be a battle. The way the teams are built, I anticipate a slug fest. This is going to be a soul searching moment for our team and I think it will show us who we are.

Challenge accepted.