Lady Rangers fall to McNeil 3-0

I was out of town during the week but a quick update on Tuesday night’s game.  The Lady Rangers beat Georgetown 3-1.

Now, for Friday night’s matchup against McNeil - this game wasn’t pretty nor was it close.  McNeil struck first less than 10 minutes into the game to take a 1-0 lead.  The Rangers had a few shots to try to even things up but nothing connected.  McNeil scored again before half to take a 2-0 lead into the halftime break.  During halftime, Coach Cook told the girls that again skill-against-skill and matchup-for-matchup there was no reason for us to be trailing or not in the game.  The issue he said was that the team was not playing as a unit.  The 2nd half presented a few more opportunities for the Rangers but again, they failed to connect.  McNeil padded their lead and won 3-0 against a very uninspired performance by the Rangers.

My opinion - it’s my blog so I can write what I wish.  The Lady Rangers have the potential to go very deep in the playoffs but at this point in their season will be fortunate to make them.  Their competition in the next 2 games (Cedar Park and Round Rock) are also in the hunt.  A loss against either will likely eliminate the Rangers at worse case.  At best case, they would need help.  It would be a shame as this team is a good one.  But my view from the sidelines is that they are indeed not playing as a unit.  The unity evident in pre-district play hasn’t been there since starting district.  There are cliques within the team and it’s showing on the field.   It doesn’t matter how many individual good players there are - nobody is good enough to carry the team on their own to victory at this level of competition.  It’s gut check time for the Rangers.  I hope they realize their potential and decide they want it for each other more than for themselves.  If they can do that - they’ll be fine.  If not, this season will likely go down as a season of could-have-beens and might be the 1st Vista Ridge varsity soccer team in history to not qualify for the playoffs.  That would be a shame.

Dell Children’s Medical Center Fundraiser

This Saturday I had the privilege of taking photos at the 1st annual 5K and 10K runs benefiting the Dell Children’s Medical center.  About 100 runners came out to Williamson county park to participate in the run and braved typical February weather in Austin.  The runs started with the weather comfortable and warm and ended with light rain, windy, and cold.  Oh well - gotta love it when it was 82 earlier this week.

All of the pictures are located in my galleries under “Events”.  You can click on any picture below and be linked directly to the gallery pages.  All proceeds from picture purchases will be donated to the fundraiser.  I want to thank Rita and Nova for inviting me to participate.  I had a ball!

Rangers sweep Leander

Last week was a tough week for the Leander soccer programs - both for the men and women.  Early in the week, both Leander squads lost to Cedar Park and on Friday night, both squads faired the same against the Vista Ridge Ranger teams.

Lady Rangers Win 3-0

The Lady Rangers began Friday night needing a win to keep pace with Cedar Park for a chance to make a playoff run.  They got exactly what they needed with a 3-0 shutout and a clear-the-bench effort that almost all players got to see action.  I talked w/Coach Cook right before half and discussed how this team really does have the chance to be very very good.  With a little team building that the captains sponsored Friday afternoon, it looked more like the Vista Ridge team that started the year.  Next up for the Lady Rangers will be Georgetown in Georgetown on Tuesday night.

Rangers (Men) shutout Leander 1-0

In a hotly contest at Rouse High school, the men’s Ranger team showed that they can hang even in the face of adversity.  The game was a very physical and emotional game with both teams going at it.  Tempers flared quite a few times throughout the match - even with the officials.  Lucklily nobody was carded but it was clear that if Vista Ridge wanted to win - they were going to have to earn it.  The game ended the half tied 0-0.  Leander came out agressively in the 2nd half and appeared to take the momentum when Vista Ridge got hot on a great transition effort and scored to take the lead.  Julian and the defense did the rest by keeping the Lions off the board with few good shots on goal for the remainder of the game.

Rangers men team defeat Westwood 5-2

In their 1st ever matchup, the Vista Ridge men’s soccer team showed they can be an offensive force.  This was only my 2nd chance to get to see the men in action and they didn’t disappoint.  The Rangers kept Westwood on their heals most of the 1st half taking a 2-0 lead into halftime.  Westwood struck back quickly in the 2nd half with 2 quick goals to tie things up at 2-2.  That’s when the Vista Ridge defense stepped up big but the offensive even bigger.  Westwood never got off another shot on goal after evening things and Vista Ridge ripped 3 straight goals and had opportunities for more.

I happened to be standing next to the Warrior bench quite a few times when Julian would punt.  I laughed when you could here their gasp at how high the ball went.  One of the players joked that he’d give $20 to any of his teammates that would get underneath those for a header.  Great job Julian!

Lady Rangers come up short against Westwood

The Vista Ridge Lady Ranger soccer team finished out the 1st half of district play against the district-leading Westwood Lady Warriors with a 2-1 loss.  The score was closer than the game was in reality.  Westwood demonstrated why they’re undefeated in the district with the best total-team effort I’ve seen so far.  Position against position and skill against skill, the match-ups were there.  But the Lady Warriors simply moved the ball at will to create scoring opportunities where Lady Rangers did not.  The lone Ranger goal was scored by a great cross from Emily Glenn to Alex Ancira who headed it in.  But it wasn’t enough as the Warrior defense shutdown the Vista Ridge attack.

The Lady Rangers finish the 1st half of district play tied for 4th with Cedar Park but hold the tie-breaker based on goal differential.  The district record was 3-2-2.  The top 4 teams will go on to the playoffs.  The Lady Rangers had opportunities in each one of their losses and ties so the playoffs are within their grasp.  Based on my own personal observations, the girls are going to have to dig deep if they want it and begin playing together as a team like they did when the season was fresh.

The D700 Rocks!

I got my new Nikon D700 in this week and it is a major step up from my Nikon D200 - and that’s been a great camera.  I considered the D300 as well but went with the D700 and am glad I did.  The D700 is a full frame sensor where the D300 is not.  That means I get a wider angle with my lenses than on the DX line.  And while the D300 has great low-light performance, the D700 is off the charts.  I shot the D300 last week for a game and had the ISO at 3200 with low noise, but at 6400, the images got very blurry.  The D700 - I shot at 6400 with virtually no noise.  The usability rocks as well since many of the features I used can be assigned to buttons or quick-access menus.

But enough of the pontification - look at the images and see if you can see the difference.

The 1st is a shot from last night’s game using the D700.  The 2nd was taken 2 weeks ago (same stadium) with the D200.  Excluding for the white balance setting (which explains the different shades of green in the grass), there are a few key differences.  First, notice how much brighter and better exposed the D700 picture looks.  That’s due to me cranking the ISO up.  Next, notice the track and bottom of the stadium in the backgrounds.  You’ll see there is much more detail on the D700.  It’s almost a blur on the D200.  Next, look at the different tones on the black jerseys.  There are actually shuttle shades of black in the D700 picture.  Same holds true for the whites on the jersey.  With the D200, you just don’t get that range at night.  Look at the stadium seats and you’ll really see the difference.  But the real value is in the workflow and quality of pictures themselves.  I used to take 300 pictures per game to get 100 or so that I could work with.  It took me 90 minutes or so to process everything since I had to run the D200 images through noise reduction filters.  About 1/2 of my images were blurry due to the auto-focus speed and predictive tracking at night.  Now with the D700, my yield is about 80% so the ones I toss out are mostly due to poor composition.  I only put the 6400 pictures through an extra noise reduction step.  And I also shoot fewer pictures since my yield is so much better.  So…..I now spend about 30 minutes post game to do get the pictures processed, uploaded, and my blog entry written.  Combine that with better pictures and you can see why I love my D700!

Lady Rangers notch win against Stony Point

The Vista Ridge Lady Ranger soccer team got back into the win column Friday night with a 2-0 victory over the Stony Point Lady Tigers.  This was the 2nd meeting of the 2 teams this year and the outcome of both were victories for the Rangers.  Leading the scoring for the Rangers were forwards Alex Ancira and Megan Dunnigan.  The Rangers are currently tied for 3rd in the district and will host the 1st-place Westwood Warriors Tuesday night at the high school.

Vista Ridge & Round Rock battle to 1-1 tie

The Lady Rangers visited the Round Rock Lady Dragons for the 1st regular season meeting between the two teams.  They faced each other twice in 2008 with the 2 teams splitting victories.  This was supposed to be the rubber match, but after time had expired, neither team was able to gain the advantage.

Sorry for not posting more - got a sales conference downtown bright and early tomorrow.  The Lady Rangers will return to action Friday night against Stony Point.

Battle of the midfield, CP/VRHS tie 0-0

This was THE game.  This was the game that both teams had circled on their calendar.  This was a game of cross-town rivals and the 1st time the teams have met in varsity soccer outside of scrimmages.  The trash talking started early in the week with Cedar Park saying look out, and Vista Ridge responding that they had only gotten beat by McNeil 1-0 in the last 6 minutes while CP got creamed by them 4-0.  As we all know with soccer and most sports, there’s no reason to compare who wins and loses against others - it’s the game on the field that counts.

So the story of this game was the midfield and the wind.  Both teams were evenly matched on speed and skill.  The wind made the skill hard to see at times as any ball in the air for either club presented a problem.  And normal outlet passes on the ground were hard to judge as the wind either pushed the ball out of reach or slowed it - depending on direction.  So with the wind as the backdrop, it made the play in the middle crucial.  For most of the game, it was back and forth with neither team gaining the advantage.  The normal crisp passing by the Rangers’ midfield was muffled by a strong Cedar Park defense.  The Vista Ridge defense returned the favor in kind.

Both teams mounted credible scoring threats.  There were 2 goals (one for each side) that were called offsides.  Cedar Park goalie Kylie Shuster showed why she is one of the districts’ best goalies by snuffing out every Vista Ridge break away.  But not to be outdone, Vista Ridge goalie Shelby Sova showed that she too could shutdown an offensive threat.

These two teams will meet again in 4 weeks in a match that will likely determine playoff births.

Remember, that you can see all game photos by clicking the picture above.  Also, you can search for all pictures of a particular player, but using the search option (under the galleries menu) and typing in jersey number.

The True Origins of This Financial Crisis

Here’s a snippet from a great article that delves into the root of the current economic crisis published in the The American Spectator.

Two narratives seem to be forming to describe the underlying causes of the financial crisis. One, as outlined in a New York Times front-page story on Sunday, December 21, is that President Bush excessively promoted growth in home ownership without sufficiently regulating the banks and other mortgage lenders that made the bad loans. The result was a banking system suffused with junk mortgages, the continuing losses on which are dragging down the banks and the economy. The other narrative is that government policy over many years–particularly the use of the Community Reinvestment Act and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to distort the housing credit system– underlies the current crisis. The stakes in the competing narratives are high. The diagnosis determines the prescription. If the Times diagnosis prevails, the prescription is more regulation of the financial system; if instead government policy is to blame, the prescription is to terminate those government policies that distort mortgage lending.

For more, click here to read the full article.

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