USL Super-20 Finals Round-Up
Saturday, July 23, 2011
BRANDON, Fla. – The third night of The 2011 United Soccer Leagues Super-20 Women’s North American Finals saw plenty of drama, as teams fought for a spot in the championship match. Reading United were in need of points against the Toronto Junior Lynx at J.C. Handley Park, and ultimately got them in an entertaining 1-1 draw.
In an exciting first half of play, both teams found the back of the net. It was Reading who struck first with their second attempt on goal. Morgan Circe found herself unmarked in the penalty area to nod in a free header off a corner kick. The goal within the opening 10 minutes set the tone for Reading, which saw most of the ball and created plenty of scoring opportunities.
But despite Reading's possession, Toronto found an equalizer with about 10 minutes to go in the first half as Ashley Tait found herself free about 25 yards from goal and unleashed an incredible shot into the roof of the net. This fantastic strike upped Toronto’s spirits as the Lynx looked to pick up their first point of the competition.
The second half saw Reading claw their way back into the game after good spells of possession by Toronto. United’s Madison Clemens became a threat up top and found the ball by drifting out to the flank. Collecting passes out wide, Clemens used good skill to find herself in attacking positions and forced Toronto’s Eve Badana into making several good saves for the Lynx. Clemens came closest to scoring early in the second half, firing a shot to Badana’s near post, but the goalkeeper turned the effort around the post. This was the best opportunity of the half and the match ended with a score of 1-1, which allowed Reading to pick up the point they needed to advance.
Reading will face Triangle FC in Sunday's final after the North Carolina side took a 3-0 victory against the Victoria Highlanders. While triangle had already clinched a spot in Sunday’s final, Victoria was in need of a positive result since a win would send it through to the championship match and force a replay of Saturday's group game.
However, it wasn’t to be due to Triangle’s relentless offense. Ashley Clark and Farrell Sweeney were back amongst the goals as they capped off Triangle’s perfect group stage. Now on three and two goals apiece, Clark and Sweeney will hope to continue their scoring streak into the championship match against Reading.