After removing the water from the field and spot treating some holes with turface and top soil (thanks for the dirt, Coach Betsy!), the U10G kicked off another great Saturday of games at Olde Creek. The girls yet again showed their increased skill and teamwork making for another exciting day of soccer for the spectators.

 

The 9:00am game was a re-match of old rivals Team Monkeys v. Team Phoenix. Their last game ended in a tie and both teams came prepared to play despite the Friday rains, early game, and cooler temperatures. The warring "pump it up" cheers prepared everyone for the exciting match to come! Team Monkeys started out red hot with a quick goal and many attacking runs by Lauren, Kelly, and Cristina. They showed excellent use of the field by spreading out and Cristina was consistently in position to receive some nice passes. Laura made some beautiful saves in goal for the Monkeys and her nice punts made us all "Ooh" and "Ahh." After falling behind, Team Phoenix struggled to find their feet early but gradually picked up steam throughout the game. A nice passing combo by Ellie and Maggie led to beautiful goal by Abby. The Monkeys continued to press forward with some very nice passing and teamwork displayed by all the girls. Mia kept Phoenix in the game with some nice saves against a strong Monkey attack. The second half continued with excellent hustle and aggressive play by all the girls on both teams. After being awarded a penalty kick, Delia capitalized for Team Phoenix by following up on her shot and burying a loose ball. Even though she thought she "couldn't play forward," Nadine from Team Phoenix kept pressing on attack. She made a nice individual run, passed to Delia, who shot and scored for Phoenix. Team Monkeys kept pressing the ball in return with some very nice forward passing combinations and some nice clearances from the defensive end. Monkeys had some very nice shots at the end of the game and both teams ended the game with much to be proud of. An exciting match by two very evenly matched teams. Way to go girls!

 

The 10:15am game was another exciting re-match between Team Elliott and Team Weissberger. Team Elliott started off strong with Kelly showing off some speedy runs down the sideline and some nice crosses in front of the goal. Team Weissberger displayed some very nice defending and goal keeping. After a couple of nice passing runs between Sabrina and Lesly, Kelly scored on a nice outside shot for Team Elliott. Team Weissberger continued to show some nice hustle and aggressive play. Caroline made some nice tackles and Nora played the long ball out of the box several times. After several nice runs by Olivia, Nouran, and Nora - Nora was able to capitalize and score on an outside shot for Team Weissberger. Some excellent goal keeping by Kelly S. for Team Elliott and Olivia for Team Weissberger kept the teams neck-and-neck throughout the second half. Jaime had a beautiful cross for Team Weissberger that just barely skirted the goal. In the end, it was another exciting game for the team fans! Good job teams!