W-20 Feature
Thursday, July 25, 2013
BRADENTON, Fla. – Midfielder Lauren Moore led the way with two goals and an assist as the Kalamazoo Kingdom opened the W-20 Championship presented by Nike with an emphatic 5-1 win against the Ottawa Fury at IMG Academy.
Moore, entering her junior year at the University of Tampa, scored in the 31st and 55th minutes as the Kingdom stretched a 2-1 halftime lead with three unanswered goals in the second half. The Fury had pulled within 2-1 in the 34th minute when Sam Grove scored off a set piece, but Kalamazoo’s experienced lineup proved too strong for an Ottawa roster comprised primarily of 17-year-olds.
“For our first game to score five goals, play some good soccer and be pretty comfortable, for the most part, that’s obviously what you want from a first game,” Kalamazoo Head Coach Lewis Robinson said.
“[Ottawa] was a lot better defensively than I think we gave them credit for, and despite the fact we scored five goals they were very tough to break down and I thought they did well on set plays.”
After Moore nearly opened the scoring on a free header that went wide in the eighth minute, she played provider to Olivia Emery, who found herself alone in the left side of the box and beat the keeper with a shot to the far corner to make it 1-0 in the 12th.
Moore scored her first at the half-hour mark on a header off a corner kick, and after Ottawa pulled one back, Mia Leibold restored the two-goal advantage two minutes into the second half. Moore added her second on a 25-yard blast over the keeper in the 55th minute, and Madi Morgan finished the scoring a minute later when she stripped a defender and broke in alone.
Kalamazoo will face the Carolina Elite Cobras in Group A action Friday, while Ottawa meets Lake Norman SC in a crossover game.
Robinson said he was pleased with his team’s performance, but things need to tighten up as the tournament progresses.
“Despite scoring five goals, we could create a few more chances,” he said. “I think we should’ve been a little more cutthroat in the final third, and be a little more accurate. We were a little bit sloppy at times with our final ball and missed a couple of chances.
“We hope that by Game 2 and Game 3 that we’re finishing all of those chances.”
Force Football Club Academy 4, Carolina Elite Cobras 0
Kyla Kellerman had a pair of goals, and Irene Young a pair of assists, as Force Football Club Academy took a convincing victory against the Carolina Elite Cobras in their crossover contest at IMG Academy on Wednesday morning.
Force came close to opening the scoring in just the second minute as a header by Joan Sieja went just over the crossbar off a corner kick from the left. The Cobras had a pair of chances to take the lead in the opening 10 minutes as Kailey Mattison sent a free kick from 25 yards over the crossbar and Kasey Wyer also went close with a chipped effort from the right side of the penalty area that just cleared the top-left corner of the net.
The Force that took control in the 14th minute, however, as Sieja put home a clinical finish from 16 yards after beating her defender, a high driven shot giving Maggie Grisell little chance to save. Young went close to adding to the lead three times before the break, the first coming as she drove a left-footed shot just wide of the right post in the 24th minute. Young was then denied well by Grisell 10 minutes later, and saw a flicked finish cleared off the line by Emily Malone in the 39th minute, but she was able to help her side double its lead four minutes before the break as her low cross was put home by a sliding Kellerman at the right post for a 2-0 lead.
Kellerman added her second of the contest 12 minutes into the second half as she took a pass from Marisa Kozikowski and finished low into the left corner of the net.
At that point Carolina was able to reassert itself a little, but the Cobras were unable to find a goal, and a way back into the game, and Force closed out the contest with a late finish from 16-year-old Kelly Sweeney, who capped a strong performance by tucking home a cross from the right by Young at the far post.
Fredericksburg Impact 2, Lake Norman SC 0
The Fredericksburg Impact W-20s kicked off group play with a comprehensive 2-0 victory against Lake Norman Soccer Club on Thursday in Group B action at the 2013 W-20 Championship Presented by Nike. FASA scored a goal in each half to complete the clean-sheet victory.
The result may have come as a bit of a surprise to the spectators looking on at IMG Academy. Fredericksburg finished fourth in the North Atlantic Division during the regular season, while Lake Norman won the South Atlantic Division outright.
The first half was evenly played until the 24th minute when the Impact broke down the right-hand side with a quick attack. The ball was picked up and sprayed out wide by Emily Hunter, and Katie Hohmann collected the pass in stride, fought off her defender, and unleashed an unstoppable shot across the keeper and into the bottom left corner of the net. The score held at 1-0 into halftime.
The second scoring play for FASA was also engineered by Hohmann. The enterprising winger looped a long shot on goal that pinged against the crossbar. Molly Siner took no chances on the resulting rebound, heading the loose ball decisively into the net.
Despite valiant efforts by talented midfielders Amanda Karlsson and Megan Curan, Lake Norman could not manufacture any goals to trouble Fredericksburg toward the end of the game. The Impact defended and attacked well as a unit, and were rewarded with the victory.
“We needed to play together in order to win, and that’s what just happened out there,“ Impact Head Coach Pete Cinalli said. “The girls have things that they want to achieve individually, but winning games comes down to the group. I’m proud of the collective effort.”