CORNER OF THE MONTH

The Star

By Al Mattei

Founder, Top Of The Circle.com

There are two ways to crash the goal when executing a penalty corner. One is to get teammates to converge on a direct shot (yellow arrow) and hope to get lucky.

The other way is the concept behind the Corner of the Month. Each of the five points of the star need to be aware of what the others are doing. Heads need to be up when running, rather having those team members (green arrows) chugging towards the goalie's pads.

The corner insertion receiver needs to do two things after getting the ball at the top of the circle. First, that receiver needs to wait until the opposing corner flyer is right there, and can throw a ball or stick fake to let the flyer eliminate herself. Then, the corner insertion receiver becomes the quarterback, and throws a pass to one of other four points of the star.

Note: a shot on goal from the top is not the purpose of this corner. Instead, one of the four teammates has to be free, since the flyer is already out of the play. A good pass should lead to a scoring chance, if not a tip-in past a sprawling goalkeeper.