Tournament Information

Roster:

Becky

Stacey

Bucky

Alesha

Maranda

Molly

Julia

Kate

Carissa

Linz

Missy

Kristi

Tara

Mandie

Dana

The U15 team showed up in Syracuse expecting to play against a very good team, and that was exactly what happened. Syracuse was by far the best team that the girls had ever come up against, and despite the lopsided final score, the girls should come away from the tournament happy with their performance. They could have laid down at halftime down 6 goals, but they came out in the 2nd half, played much better, and put some very good offensive pushes together.

The most impressive unit on the Alexander team was its defense of Bucky, Maranda, Stacey, and Alesha, who did a great job sticking their marks, winning one on one battles, and clearing most of the loose balls from the front of the net. Unfortunately there would be several 6 on 4 situations that would lead to goals. Bucky and Maranda both turned in awesome efforts in the back, and I don't believe either got beat 1v1 all game long. Stacey and Alesha both played strong in the back as well. Becky did a nice job in net making 7 saves, and facing many other shots. In the 2nd half she came out well to cut down 3 scoring chances before the offensive players could get to the ball.

The midfield had their trouble on offense, but after settling down in the 1st half they played much better defense in the 2nd half. Kate, Julia, and Carissa lead the way in the midfield, playing well on their marks and putting together several nice passing sequences throughout the day, we were just unable to turn any of them into scoring chances. Mandie and Kristi both contributed on the outside with some good marking and nice passing.

Up top Missy and Linz did all they could to get through a very tough defense, but they would only manage 4 total shots on the day. Missy had a handful of great runs throughout the game, but none resulted in a goal. Linz had a couple nice crosses and shots that we weren't able to get on the end of. Both Dana and Tara did a nice job up top when they were in the game, especially with their defensive help.

All in all it was a very good performance for our first game outdoors since the fall. Solid efforts were turned in by everyone who played in the game. Molly did what she could in limited time due to her injury, which was helpful as we were already short handed. Even though the score looked bad at the end, we played some very solid soccer. The 2nd half was a much better performance than the 1st, as we were in their end for a couple 3-4 minute periods.

1st star of the game went to Missy, had a great game up top, worked hard all game long. Had some superb runs through the defense, one that resulted in a direct kick that we had a good shot on. Great all around game. 2nd star went to Bucky, awesome game of defense, didn't lose her mark all game long, great one on one defending, no stabs, good aggressive play. 3rd star went to Maranda, very good game on the outside, Good marking, good aggressive defense, and great one on one defending. By far her best game as a defender. Excellent performances were also turned in by Stacey and Alesha in the back, Julia and Carissa in the mid, and Linz up top.