Super Y League Finals Day 1 Recap

Super Y League Finals Day 1 Recap
by Scott Lockwood
December 12, 2015
BRADENTON - The opening day of the Super Y League North American Finals kicked off on a picture-perfect southwest Florida December day with fierce and competitive action all across the IMG Academy Soccer Complex. Here are some of the key matchups from Friday's action.
 
Washington Spirit Academy U16 4, Atlanta Fire United U16 1
 
A contest between two of the more physical teams in the girls' U16 bracket lived up to its billing after several players missed some time during the game after rough collisions. Washington Spirit used three quick goals in the second half to pull away to a 4-1 win.
 
Alayna Kinkead put Washington on the board with a high shot in the first minute. Atlanta's defense responded to a flurry of Washington's attacks and kept the Spirit off the board for the final 39 minutes of the half.
 
Atlanta's Holly Page entered the game late in the first half and scored almost immediately, ensuring a 1-1 tie at the break. Washington came out firing in the second half, getting a terrific high-shot goal Hannah Godsey in the opening minutes and another goal on a tap-in by Leanna Choo.
 
Danielle Soto scored the final goal for Washington with about 10 minutes left, and the Spirit Academy held the Fire shot-less in the final minutes to preserve the win.
 
Midwest United FC (Grand Rapids, MI) U14 1, Met Oval (N.Y.) U14 0
 
Despite being without two of its top players in Regan Berg and Bria Schrotenboer, Midwest United kept the ball in their attack zone for over three-fourths of their game with Met Oval.

However, Met Oval's defense and goalkeeper Isabella Penaranda put on a defensive clinic for nearly 77 minutes, withstanding pressure and shot after shot until a late goal gave Midwest United a 1-0 victory.

Midwest frequently used mass-subs to keep the lineup fresh around center-midfielder Avery Lockwood, who helped lead the attack against a strong Met Oval defense. Met Oval's defensive rotation of Allison Buckley, Ana Berman Serena Home and Evelyn Marquez helped slow down potential scoring threats along with Penaranda, who made several spectacular saves in the first half.

With Met Oval struggling offensively it appeared the game was headed to a scoreless tie. Immediately after a corner kick in the waning minutes, Lockwood came out of the scrum and fired a shot that just got by Penaranda, who had more than 20 saves in the game. Midwest goalkeeper Alexander Laur made two saves in the end to end the threat of a comeback by Met Oval.

Internationals Soccer Club (Cleveland, OH) U13 6, FC Florida U13 2

A matchup between two heavyweights in the girls U13 division started off as a slugfest Internationals Soccer Clun and FC Florida trading goals in the first half.

But after a halftime huddle at midfield, Internationals clamped down on their southern counterparts and went on a scoring frenzy to take a 6-2 win.

FC Florida got on the board first when Abigail Duttenhofer went down the left side of the field and scored in the opening minutes. A couple of minutes later Internationals' Samantha Jablonski scored for the tie. Each player would score again in the first half, which ended in a 2-2 deadlock.

Jablonski helped Internationals grab the lead with an assist on the first of Christin Baumbick's back-to-back goals to open the second half. Nicole Kevdzja scored the final two goals in a two-minute span, even getting an assist from sister Victoria on the final goal.

Orlando City SC U12 10, Force Football Club Academy (MI) U12 0

The only thing missing from Orlando City SC's U12 game with Force Football Club Academy was a double hat trick Gabriel Toro, which nearly came in the closing moments of a 10-0 destruction of the Michigan-based squad.

Toro opened the scoring with a beautifully-placed high, arching kick that landed perfectly in the top right corner of the net. He scored in nearly-identical fashion moments later. Mark Chin and Jair Hernandez also picked up goals in the first half, with Hernandez scoring on a header after a perfect pass from Chin.

The floodgates opened for Orlando City in the second half. Toro scored two more times to open the scoring and later picked up his fifth goal with about six minutes left in the game. Jackson Moore, Michael Halliday and Remy McKechnie also picked up goals in the second half.
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