Girls U14 Silver Win at Kingdom Cup
English Football greetings. For those not familiar with me, my name is Clive Custard. I am a Fox Soccer Channel analyst on assignment in the US and live in Grand Rapids. I have been covering games for my friend, Coach John Hall for the last couple of years, and am back again this Fall. I wish you all the best of seasons!

What a wonderful way to start the season. Beautiful Weather, a well run Tournament, and your first Silverware. Spot on Crew Jrs! And almost an entirely new Squad. Even better Girls! Though a bit hot, the girls looked up to the challenge as they faced off against the new Premier Club, Rovers. No doubt, this was both Teams first Match, as they seemed a bit tentative at first, but grew more confident as the Game ran on. Emily Levitt, playing Stopper, would score first from just outside the Penalty Box. After a good run from her Defensive half, she veered to her right and launched a lofting shot that caught the Rovers Keeper off her line. Crew would hold their ground and win 1-0.

Their 2nd Match would take place against the Kingdom. These two Sides met last week in the Crew Cup where playing for the first time together beat them 2-1. The Kingdom squad started their game with just 11 and would begin to show wear in the first half. Receiving a well placed pass from Striker Morgan McDonald, Center Catherine Barcheski would score the first goal. Several minutes later, after a Kingdom foul, Sweeper Alena Olsen launched a beautiful Free Kick to put Crew up 2-nil. And before the end of the Half, Left Wing Brooke Naumcheff would beat her Defender and send a well placed shot to make the score 3-0. After the Half, Left Wing Danielle Mellin would find Right Wing Leslie Turner for the 4th goal. And then to finish off the Game, Left Back Tirzah Hall took a ball from just behind midfield and would go solo for their 5th. Crew would blank the Kingdom 5-0.

As they gathered early the next morning, their toughest opponent for the Tournament, Force Shamrocks, awaited them. If they could beat them, the Championship was theirs. Both sides looked confident as play began, but Crew began to get the upper hand as Naumcheff got off several crosses behind the Shamrock defense. After a couple of failed attempts, her third would find McDonald and tally her first Goal. Later in the Half she would return the favor setting up Turner to end the Half 2-nil. But the tables would be turned the 2nd Half as the Force became the dominant Side. It was not long before the Shamrocks equalized and then were up 3-2. On their heels, Center Sophie Zamarippa would eventually erupt with some adept possession and set up Striker Robyn Wujkowski to bring the Sides even at 3-3. And then, in an almost nightmarish display of frustration, Naumcheff would be held in the box by Force's GK, setting up a PK for Wujkowski that put the Crew ahead 4-3.

With the Championship in hand and the final game against Flying Kick being inconsequential, the Girls still wanted to play for the victory. Flying Kick the more, as they had lost last year in the Finals to the Crew. Both Sides came out extremely hard with neither willing to budge. Attack went back and forth most of the first Half until Wujkowski would score 2 solo goals and put Crew up 2-0. Flying Kick would dominate most of the 2nd Half, scoring one and threatening others. As the Half wound down, Zamarippa would be taken down hard in the box and provide Wujkoski another PK. She would miss, but Crew would hold Kick to the one Goal and end up with their 4th Victory of the weekend.

A great weekend of Football to be sure! Looking forward to next week's game against Fire. Until then,

Clive Custard
Fox Soccer Channel

Coaches:
John Hall, Coach  jhall55@gmail.com
Jennifer Garcia, Assistant coach  garcjennif51@comcast.net
Dan Mellin, Assistant coach  dmellin@yahoo.com
Laurie Hall, Manager  Lhall@rbc.org

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