KELLY IN THE CAPITAL >>

Thursday, May 31, 2007

Good news Ottawa Fury is 1-0!  With the addition of some international flavor we started off our season with a 3-0 win over the Hamilton Avalanche.

Hamilton upset us in regular season last year so there was motivation to start off our season with a winning result. Although the performance was good enough for the win, our team expectations are still higher.

As we only had two weeks to prepare we definitely saw some gliches in our usually steady team performance. When training camp began on the 14th we received news that two players would not be joining us this season.

Although we’ve found ourselves in this position in the past, it was typically later in the season when we’ve become dependent on the contributions of those players. We consider ourselves lucky enough to be able to adjust without these players from the beginning, allowing us to gel and have a stable roster for the entire season.

Rachael Axon, English International, Jenny Jeffers and Vanessa Philips-Bosshart, Univ. or Tenn. Alumni, Kylla Sjoman, Arizona State Junior, Zoe "Zigga" Avner, former French International and Stacey Stocco former Austrailian International both returning players for our team give us a group of strong new comers and a core of irreplaceable returners. All of which made great first game contributions!

A brilliant save by Vanessa in the last minute of the first to tip the ball over the cross bar kept the score 2-0 and gave us momentum going into the second half. Keep it up Newby’s and Welcome to the team.

Also our season opener featured a doubleheader with our PDL team taking the pitch immediately following our game. Their youthful team gave a tenacious effort tieing Cape Cod 1-1, a team at the top of the league, with a goal from Anthony DiBiase. I wanted to wish our boys Good Luck in the season.

I’m looking forward to another intense week of training and building on an inspiring first game.

Take care All,

Kelly Parker
KP