USL News Release
Sunday, November 23, 2008 TAMPA – The unbeaten Atlanta Silverbacks girls (14-0-1) continued their historic run through the Super Y-League U14 North American Finals today, downing the top challenger in their group, the Chicago Magic in impressive fashion, 3-0. The goal scorers on the day for the Silverbacks were Meghan Hussey and Emily Sonnett. Sonnett scored both the second and third goal of the game for Atlanta. Jordan Morell assisted on the first and second goals of the match.
“Emily is one of the girls we had down at the Super Y-League ODP National Camps in January,” said Atlanta Silverbacks Head Coach Ignace Moleka. “She is headed down there again this season. Technically, she is brilliant. Her normal position is in the defensive mid but she does well anywhere. She has matured a lot this season.”
Although the final score reads otherwise, the Chicago Magic controlled the majority of the first half, nearly scoring mere seconds after the opening whistle.
“They got the better of the first half,” agreed Moleka. “But we stayed calm and got the goal. That’s the way the game can be sometimes.”
Nearing the end of the first half, Chicago’s pressure forced Atlanta into a long-ball strategy. In an attempt to alleviate the constant pressure, the Silverbacks defensive clearances found the head of speedy front-runner Cheyna Williams. Williams collected the ball with a turn-around header that split two Magic defenders and her resultant shot ricocheted off a defender and out for a corner.
Morell took the corner for Atlanta and drove a ball to the middle of the area where Hussey rose above a crowd to knock home Atlanta’s first shot of the game for a 1-0 lead heading into halftime.
“Cheyna was nicked up coming into today’s game but she found a way to stay involved,” said Moleka. “You could tell [Chicago] had seen us play before, they kept two defenders on Cheyna at all times.”
Atlanta began the second half with all the momentum, coming out of the gates as possessed as Chicago did in the first. Knocking the ball around efficiently, the Silverbacks earned a 2-0 lead early when Morell found Sonnett for her first goal of the day.
Several minutes later Williams broke lose again down the right flank, feeding a pass to Sonnett in the center. The pass took a fortunate deflection of a well-positioned Magic defender and bounced right into the path of Sonnett, who finished one-touch to the back post for a 3-0 lead.
Sonnett narrowly missed the hat-trick moments later via a breakaway that she sailed inches high over the head of Magic goalkeeper Danielle Callahan and out of play.
“We were the better team in the second half,” said Moleka. “We found our rhythm by switching to a 4-4-1-1. That withdrawn attacker up top spread them out a bit and we were able to convert on our chances.”
While Atlanta and Chicago were dueling it out, Group B’s pair of 2-0-0 clubs Quickstrike SC and Alliance Academy squared off in a showdown of two regular season unbeatens for a guaranteed birth into the semifinals.
Quickstrike had the lone good opportunity of the first half 30 minutes in when Lindsey Dzielak sent a corner into the box that Connie Gormley forced a good save on from 16 yards. Alliance would get their first good opportunity six minutes into the second half when Sophia Maccagnone put the ball off the crossbar from 25 yards.
Five minutes later, however, Quickstrike would take the advantage when Geena Kooner found Toriana Patterson near the top of the box. Patterson drove into the box and slipped a 13 yard shot past the keeper.
The Mid Atlantic champions had several opportunities to double the lead with efforts from Patterson and Rivera, whose second good chance saw her header off a corner hit the crossbar and ricochet down in front of the line.
Despite limited opportunities, Alliance would only need a little bit of stoppage time, scoring a minute in on a scramble in front of goal. Brianna Smith sent a shot from the left side off the far post, but it would roll back along the line with Chelsea Thompson beating several defenders and the keeper to the ball for the tap in and draw, splitting the points and ultimately sending both sides to the semifinals with Chicago’s loss.
Also remaining unbeaten for the year was U15 Girls Sunrise SC, who came into the match with an 8-0-2 season record and wins in their first two tournament games. MPS Boston, 10-1-1 on the season and 1-1-0 in the tournament, nearly ended the undefeated status in a battle of two possession-style clubs that were unable to extend their quality midfield play into the offensive third in the first half. Tatiana Penagos missed by just a couple yards in the 18th minute for Sunrise while Boston’s Erica Kozlowski beat a defender in the 34th only to see the goalkeeper make a good stop.
Boston would take the lead 13 minutes into the second half when Kozlowski again made a great play, stealing the ball from a Sunrise defender 35 yards out and driving in towards goal before sending a well-placed shot over the keeper to the far side of the goal from about 20 yards.
Twelve minutes later Sunrise was rushing toward goal with numbers and Penager struck from 20 yards out to tie the game up. From there Sunrise had the better of the opportunities with Soraya Martinez missing just wide from 23 yards and Kaitlyn Manning having an opportunity near the top of the box on a good cross stuffed by the keeper as she attempted to take the shot.
Boston had one last chance to hand the Florida side their first defeat in stoppage time when Kozlowski sent the ball from midfield to Alexandra Ferrera near the top right corner of the box. Ferrera’s shot from 20 yards out, however, missed just wide of the far post.
In a U13 Girls matchup to determine the group winner, the Atlanta Fire, 7-1-1 on the year and 1-0-1 in the tournament, were heads up with 1-1-0 Diablo FC, who were also 7-1-1 during the season. Diablo held the lead at halftime by converting the game’s best scoring chance in the 23rd minute when Anne Whipple scored from a sharp angle from about six yards out.
It took nearly 20 minutes of second half action for Atlanta to equalize. A scramble for the ball in the box ended with Rachel VanHorn burying the important tally for the Fire as the draw would send them through to the semifinals.
