RSL Florida girls under-18 coach Ben Strawbridge said on Saturday he hoped his team would find out what their weaknesses were against defending national champions the Dallas Texans on Sunday, and carry those lessons into Monday’s quarterfinals.

After a 2-0 defeat to close out pool play, Strawbridge said he thought he’s found his answer. But in addition to that, his team had found something else out about itself.

“We actually gained a lot of confidence,” Strawbridge said. “The first half was one of the better halves we’ve ever played, and I don’t think the Texans ever even had a chance. We missed a few chances in the first half, but we played a lot of really good soccer.”

But two big second half mistakes led to Dallas goals, sending the Texans through as group winner, and leaving RSL as the runner-up.
“That’s why they’re the national champs,” Strawbridge said. “They made zero mistakes defensively, we made two poor decisions, and it cost us.”

What Strawbridge expects the team to improve on in Monday’s game against the Region III Premier League champion Dallas Sting is to put more force into its crosses and final passes on attack, to defend crosses to their far post better, and to try and keep the ball on the ground in a more flowing, passing game. The Texans’ height, and a forceful wind, proved difficult for RSL to play against.

Strawbridge said the most important thing, however, is that they play their game against an offensively prolific Sting squad that has scored 15 goals in three games so far.

“We’re going to go out and try to play our system better than they play their system, and hope that it’s good enough to win,” Strawbridge said. “We faced a couple of girls that are just as good as what [the Sting] have as attackers, and we felt we were very successful against them. The number one priority is not to change how we play, just that we play better.”