Day One of the IMG Cup College Showcase at IMG Academy highlighted some top teas and a new crop of standouts. Here are recaps from the games we saw and a few of the standouts from the matches.
Pinecrest Premier U15 Girls 2, Albion SC Plantation 0: Pinecrest Premier midfielder Brianna Rosello and forward Alejandra Giammattei each scored once to lead the U15 squad from Florida to a 2-0 win over Albion SC Plantation. Samantha Ashbel made five saves to secure the shutout.
“It’s huge to get a win in the first game of the tournament, especially because we were only playing with 11 due to several players staying home and coming up on Saturday,” Pinecrest coach Vernon Croft said. “It was a matter of being disciplined defensively, with very low pressure, get in passing lane and have good counter attacks.”
Rosello scored midway through the first half when she received the ball just outside the penalty box. Rosello gathered the ball and fired a shot that went untouched into the upper right corner of the goal. Early in the second half, Rosello connected with Giammattei off a corner kick as Giammattei one-timed an easy shot into the goal.
IMG Academy U16 Girls 1, Davie United Sharks Blue 0: IMG controlled the ball for most of its 1-0 win over Davie United Sharks but could only muster one goal thanks to Victoria Costa’s one-on-one score past Davie United keeper Sofia Julien.
“We were better attacking in first 20 minutes, but the other team really put a lot of pressure on us whenever we created chances,” IMG coach Jorge Cruz said. “It’s very important to start with a win.”
IMG is coming off a championship at the Disney Cup so Cruz is excited about this tournament.
“This group has performed very consistently this spring and I think if we keep building from the back and transitioning, we could have some similar results,” Cruz said.
Fort Lauderdale FC 6, Chargers SC LWR Elite 1: James Scasserra scored in the first eight minutes of the game and Fort Lauderdale cruised to a 6-1 win over Chargers SC. Scasserra also maintained the back line throughout the rout.
“Anytime you can get a win like that and rest your guys going into a long day on Saturday, it’s huge,” Fort Lauderdale coach Darryl Mauro said. “I was able to rotate guys in the second half so they could all have their legs underneath them tomorrow.”
Araldo DeAndrade and Akim Watkin each added a goal and Luiz Santos scored twice. Fort Lauderdale also benefitted from a bad clear by a Chargers defender that deflected into their own goal.
Miami Lakes U15 Boys 1, IMG Academy U14 1: Miami Lakes was trailing 1-0 in the second half when Bryant Hernandez received a cross from Brayan Figueroa and scored to even the game. Miami Lakes keeper Jeffrey Moriera kept IMG off the board the rest of the game as Miami Lakes escaped with a point in the first game of the tournament.
“It was a big goal,” Hernandez said. “We knew we were going to have to put pressure on them in the second half to come away with a point so we’re happy we were able to get a goal.”
Virginia Legacy SC U15 6, IMG Academy 2: Brianna Behm and Sofia Fox each scored twice in their team’s 6-2 rout of IMG Academy.
“We played solid from the beginning of the game to the end,” Virginia Legacy coach Kelvin Jones said. “Brianna and Sofia were outstanding and worked well together throughout the game.”
Behm and Fox also had an assist.
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