Roster

Laura

Cordes

Raponi

Whit

Kim

Carm

Marianna

The first game we came up against a tough York team.  York scored very early in the game to make it 1-0, and unfortunately that score would stand up as we were unable to find the net.  Laura, Raponi, Cordes, and Whit played solid up front, while Carm and Marianna played well in the back.  Kim, the emergency goalie, played a very nice game in net, making several nice saves.  The team would store away that they wanted a little revenge on this team later in the tournament.  1st star went to Whit, who played a great game up front with several nice shots on net.  2nd star went to Raponi who had a great passing game up front.  3rd star went to Marianna, who played a very solid game in the back, great marking and good distribution out of the back.

The 2nd game we would face off against Warsaw.  I didn't see this game, but Coach said we just beat on them all game long.  Final score was 2-0 with both goals scored by Whit.

The 3rd game varsity squared off with the JV squad.  Varsity played well, and did a good job to get a goal just before time ran out to get a 1-1 tie versus the young upstart JV team.  I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to what Varsity was doing as I was busy coaching the JV team, but I did see a solid game from Marianna in the back, Kim in net, and Cordes, Raponi, and Whit up front.  I won't give out stars because I didn't pay close enough attention to who was doing what on the Varsity team.

The 4th game was against Keshequa, which we won 2-0.  Whit had both of the goals.  Whit also tried to start several fights (Coach told me) which entertained the crowd.  I missed the game so I am sorry to have missed it.

The 5th game was against Pavilion, and I did get to see most of this game.  We jumped out to an early 1-0 lead and Kim would work hard to pick up the shutout in net.  Carm and Marianna worked well together in the back keeping Pavilion away from the center of the court.  Up front, Raponi, Cordes, and Whit played well attacking the net all game long.  Whit had several shots late that almost put the game away.  1st star went to Whit who had another very nice game picking up another goal.  2nd star went to Carm, who did an excellent job in the back turning away whatever her mark had to offer.  3rd star went to Marianna who also played a great game in the back.

Enter the playoffs.  We were squared off with Keshequa in the first round and we would outplay them all game long en route to the win.  The final score was 3-0, with Whit scoring early to make it 1-0, and then Raponi and Whit banging in goals late to make it a 3-0 contest.  A solid game was turned in by Kim in net, making a couple great saves (including two kamikaze running out of the goal saves.  Marianna and Carm played another great game of defense in the back.  Cordes played a very nice game up front, with great passing and some solid shots.  1st star went to Kim, who played a great game in net making some big time saves to preserve her shutout in net.  2nd star went to Whit, another very nice game attacking up front and providing defense in the midfield.  3rd star went to Cordes, very solid game with some great ball movement.

2nd round of the playoffs we got our rematch with York.  We knew we would have to be on top of our game to get by them, and we were.  Whit would get the first goal of the game and we would lead 1-0 for a good portion of this game.  Unfortunately with under 3 minutes left we would let a goal in to make it 1-1.  Into over time we would go, every minute a player had to come off the field.  It got down to 1 one 1...Whit versus the other teams top player with the goalies in net.  We gave the ball away and York's striker and goalie went out on a break and it didn't look good.  But the goalie tried to make a crossing pass to the striker and Whit ripped it off, took a dribble and poked it into the open net for the 2-1 lead and a berth in the finals.  1st star went to Marianna who just shut down York's key player all game long and nearly held her scoreless.  2nd star went to Whit, who battled all game long, was dead tired at the end, but managed to rip off the pass and find the net in OT for the win.  3rd star went to Kim, who made some big time saves to keep us in the game.

Time for the finals, we faced off against Letchworth.  Both teams were tired after long days of soccer.  It was both teams 8th game of the day.  We went into the game and gave it everything we had left.  Unfortunately Letchworth would get a screen shot that would find the corner of the net for a 1-0 lead just over 5 minutes into the game and they would make that lead stand up.  Whit, Raponi, and Cordes did everything they could up front to try to get a goal but couldn't find the net.  We had a couple shots hit the post, but none that found the net.  Carm and Marianna played as great in the back along with Kim in net, but in the end one goal was all Letchworth needed to win the game.  1st star went to Whit, played a solid last game of the tournament and had a couple shots that just missed.  2nd star to Carm, played great in the back and stepped in front of several passes to break them up.  3rd star to Marianna, another very nice game of defense in the back.

This team played a very nice tournament en route to a 2nd place overall finish.  They got off to a slow start losing one game and tieing another, but they finished strong with two straight shut out wins entering into the playoffs, and had a gritty performance in the semis to make it into the title game.  Perhaps if Laura hadn't gotten hurt the extra sub would have made a difference.  Congratulations to Kim, who picked up 4 shutouts on the day and did a great job as the fill-in goalie.  Raponi also picked up two goals on the day.

MVP for this team had to be Whit, who scored 9 goals, picked up 2 assists, and provided a great deal of leadership to the team.  Her goal in OT of the semis was a great shot, and the end to a gutsy performance when she was clearly dead tired but kept working as hard as she could.