CORNER OF THE MONTH

The Flash

By Al Mattei

Founder, Top Of The Circle.com

"The Flash," our corner of the month, answers a question I often get about some of these corners in this feature.

"Has anyone really scored on one of your Corners of the Month?" I get asked. "Do they really work?"

Here is one that has worked, and in a pressure situation. It was the same one used by Flemington Hunterdon Central (N.J.) to score the opening goal in the 1996 Group IV championship game.

But you must understand that the main actors on that goal -- Danielle Battoni as the striker and Kim Jenkin as the flasher -- are a pair of All-America caliber players who both went on to play in college.

It is one which, when executed well, is impossible to defend consistently because of what the flasher (orange and white arrow) does, which is to simply get to the ball in front of the goalie and deflect it.

When the striker, planted on the right wing, aims a well-paced ball towards the goal, her compatriot flashes to the stroke mark for a deflection.

When the flasher deflects the ball, she does not know exactly where the ball is going to go: there is no shot action on her behalf. Much depends on her training on how to handle differently-paced balls and the kinds of deflections used. Normally, the stick will be laid horizontally -- like a defender making a block tackle -- so that the ball will careen in a manner which will evade the goalie.

When Hunterdon Central opened the scoring against Vernon in the 1996 final, Jenkin's deflection of Battoni's wrist pass was acrobatic in its execution. Even when you look at the tape, you are amazed at how Jenkin was able to somehow present her stick to the pass without letting so much as a shoelace grommet touch the ball.

Jenkin did not lay the stick down on the turf: rather, the stick was vertical, which is much riskier, since only the head of the stick can make the deflection. But hey, it worked!