Hockessin, DE Spring Classic

To get the Spring started, the girls trekked down to Delaware on Saturday, March 28 to compete in the Hockessin Spring Classic.  One of the most popular sayings on the Blaze is, "better to play well and lose than to play poorly and win."  Unfortunately, the winter cobwebs clearly had not been shaken off, as the team played poorly.  They tied the host team, Hockessin Freedom, 0-0 in the opener.  They then had command of the game against the eventual tournament Champion, Wall SC Lightning, but gave up two goals in the last five minutes to lose 3-2.  And finally, they generated no offensive pressure and paid for defensive lapses in a 2-0 loss to SJ Elite Force.  The results were disappointing, but the team is resilient and left  "The First State" determined to get their act together.  See below, for example, Round Two of the New Jersey Cup which was played the very next day.

NEW JERSEY CUP

For our US Club roster, there's also the fun of playing the New Jersey Cup, which is held each Spring. This is a single elimination tournament. 

ROUND ONE:  The Blaze were awarded a first round bye.  

ROUND TWO: The second round game was against the Marlboro Blue Sparks on March 29th in Hillsborough.  The word of the day was EFFORT, and the girls arrived ready to give the best effort they could.  Two minutes into the game, it began to look easy as Abby Seel dropped a throw-in right at Alyssa Giarrusso's feet along the left side of the field.  Giarrusso had an opening, and nailed the shot from 25 yards.  But, no more goals were scored by either team for the remaining 58 minutes of play.  Just one goal!

ROUND THREE: On Wednesday evening, May 6th, the Blaze topped US Parma Carmaggio of Springfield by a score of 3-0 to advance to the Final Four of the New Jersey Cup.  Lisa Grohn opened the scoring less than five minutes into the game, and repeated the feat less than five minutes into the second half.  With just 11 minutes left in the game, Alyssa Giarrusso worked the ball into the left corner, cut away from her defender and centered the ball to Andrea Niper standing in front of the goaltender.  Niper muscled the ball through the goaltender's legs for a 3-0 Blaze lead.  Inspired defense and the goalkeeping of Katerina Albanese prevented the swarming US Parma Carmaggio squad from putting the ball into the net.

FINAL FOUR: The quest for the New Jersey Cup came to an end for the Blaze against the Cherry Hill FC Wildcats on a neutral site at Cross Farm Park #10 in Holmdel Saturday May 9th.  Thanks in large part to the brilliant goalkeeping of Katerina Albanese, the two teams tangled through a scoreless tie for 67 of the 70 minutes of the match.  Cherry Hill generated more chances than the Blaze, but were repelled time and again by Albanese's stellar play and a defense that bent but did not break.  The Blaze had their opportunities as well, hitting the post twice and having an open net shot go wide.  The Warriors finally snuck a soft shot past the defense and Albanese with just three minutes left in the match.  The Blaze desperately over committed to offense to tie up the game, allowing the Warriors to pick up a second tally with seconds left in the match.

Hopewell Memorial Day Tournament

The Blaze make the short trip down to Hopewell to defend our crown from 2008 and to appear in this Memorial Day tournament for the fourth time.  The team open with a win against Hunterdon United Riptide by a 6-1 score.  The second game was against West Windsor Plainsboro Xtreme and proved to be more difficult with a 3-1 win.  Sunday morning started with a physical 2-0 victory against the Hopewell Valley Heat.  The Finals were played against Rancocas Valley  Lightning who entered the game undefeated and unscored upon.  The Blaze had their chances, but gave up a goal and played with a 1-0 deficit for most of the game.  In the end, the Lightning put in an insurance goal with minutes left, as the lineup changes designed to pump up more offense didn't succeed in time.

Hershey Kicks4Kids Tournament

For the fifth year in a row, the Hillsborough Blaze girls’ soccer team fielded a team at the Kicks 4 Kids charity tournament in Hershey, PA. The Blaze are no stranger to the Hershey playoffs, once losing the Championship in a shootout and twice making it as far as the semi-finals.  It turned out the fifth time was the charm as the Blaze won their first Hershey championship.

Blaze 1  - Monroe-Woodbury (New York) Galaxy 1.  The tournament began on the morning of June 20th in heavy rain with a Group A match against the Monroe-Woodbury Galaxy. The Blaze dominated the first half, with shots on goal registered by Lisa Grohn, Lisa Beck, Tessa Mayhew, Alyssa Giarrusso, Marisa Schwartz, and Katie Grammes. The pressure finally paid off when Ashley Landesman passed the ball to Rachel Chavkin, whose shot deflected off a defender and across the goal-line. In the second half, the Blaze continued to dominate. They nearly increased their lead with a good shot from Katerina Albanese, but the keeper made a terrific save. In the next five minutes, Heather Kuebler and Giarrusso both took shots on goal, but couldn’t score. With four seconds left in the match, the Galaxy caught the defense sleeping and scored to draw the match even. A Kicks 4 Kids tradition has each team pick for their opponent a Most Valuable Player. Giarrusso was awarded the MVP medal for this first match.

Blaze 2  - Loudoun (Virginia) Soccer 94 Black 0.   Midday on the 20th, the Loudoun Soccer 94 Black played for first place in their group. Owing to heavy rains disrupting the tournament, it was an abbreviated 35 minute match. The Blaze dominated all of it. Loudoun’s offense was completely shut down by the Hillsborough defenders: Kuebler, Beck, Lauren Sochacki, and Abby Goodrich. This allowed the Blaze to generate a lot of offense. At the five-minute mark, Sabrina Rodrigues took an excellent shot from 20 yards out that sailed over the keeper to give the Blaze the lead. She scored a few minutes later after her difficult shot hit the far post and the top post, before crossing the goal line. Two minutes later, Giarrusso’s direct kick from 25 yards out was a bit too high. With two minutes left in the match, Chavkin sent a nice cross that reached Mayhew, who headed the ball over the keeper, but it was stopped by a mud puddle just shy of the goal line. The Blaze won 2-0, and Rodrigues’ two goals earned her the MVP.

Blaze 3  - Warrington (Pennsylvania) Lightning 0.   On the morning of June 21st, the Blaze met the Warrington (PA) Lightning in the semifinals. The Blaze dominated the first half but had a hard time scoring. They finally found the back of the net when an excellent cross from Schwartz reached Anchi Numfor, who knocked the ball past the keeper. The Lightning had a chance to draw the match even with a minute left in the half on a direct kick from 20 yards out, but Blaze keeper Albanese made a good save.

Warrington answered the whistle for the second half determined to get back into the match. They nearly succeeded on a breakaway in the eighth minute, but Albanese moved up to make a terrific save. In the 18th minute, the Blaze got the insurance they needed, when Grohn raced up the right side of the field and sent a superb cross to Landesman, who drilled it past the keeper. Grohn repeated her performance with a minute left in the match, this time reaching Chavkin for the score. Grohn was awarded the MVP, and the Blaze were going to the finals.

Blaze 3  - Hershey (Pennsylvania) Wildcats 2.   In their first Hershey tournament four years ago, the Blaze lost a tough 1-0 semifinal match to the Hershey (PA) Wildcats. They avenged that loss and won their first Hershey championship in an exciting 3-2 double-overtime sudden-death victory.

The Wildcats scored in the fourth minute of the match, but the Blaze answered two minutes later when Numfor knocked in an excellent cross from Grohn. The Blaze took command of the game, and soon Giarrusso, Numfor, Mayhew, and Schwartz all registered shots on goal.  But the match remained even at the end of the first half. Four minutes into the second half, Goodrich sent a superb pass up the line to Rodrigues, whose score gave the Blaze the lead. Seven minutes later the Wildcats got their second goal, and most of the remainder of the match consisted of an exhausted Hillsborough squad fighting off Hershey attempts to score the game-winning goal.

While the match ended evenly at the end of regulation time, it appeared the Blaze may not have the energy necessary to hold off the Wildcats during two five-minute overtime periods.

But somewhere in those two minutes of talk before starting overtime, the Blaze team found the inspiration to get it done. For the remainder of the match, game MVP Heather Kuebler and the other Hillsborough defenders, Beck, Sochacki, Goodrich, and Rodrigues, completely frustrated the efforts of the Wildcats to generate offense. Meanwhile, in the first overtime period, Giarrusso registered two shots on goal and Schwartz registered another. In the second period, Giarrusso and Sochacki each had good chances to win the match.

Finally, with just 90 seconds left before the game would be determined by a shoot-out, Giarrusso lofted a superb corner kick across the goal mouth, and Numfor managed to get her foot on it and put it into the goal, to give Hillsborough their first Hershey Kicks 4 Kids championship.

MAPS/CAPS Tournament

One goal per game was the difference here, and yet the Blaze still played the final game with their destiny in their own hands to win thew whole thing. 

In the first game, a power line repair outside Ft Dix caused the team to start with just 9 players.  By the time the girls were up to their full roster of 13, they were down to SoneSoccer 3-0.  The girls battled back and were looking for the game tying goal as time ran out, but ended up with a 3-2 loss.

The second game was a rematch against the Logan Charge.  The Blaze scored less than one minute into the game, and soon jumped out to a 3-0 lead.  Logan Charge picked up their game and mounted a comeback, but the Blaze held on 3-2.

On Sunday morning, the girls squared off against the Jackson Freedom.  They dominated the entire game, except the part where they had to put the ball into the net.  They nursed a 1-0 lead into the final seconds, but gave up a goal and walked away with a disappointing 1-1 tie.

In the finals, the team met their favorite opponents, the Hazlet Finesse.  The Blaze jumped on a 1-0 lead, but gave up a goal with 30 seconds left in the half.  They battled evenly throughout the second half as well, until giving up a goal with minutes left in the game.

Ocean City Beach Blast

This was a one day non-results oriented day on the beach in Ocean City, NJ.  Nevertheless the ten girl squad went undefeated in three games in 6v6 action in the sand.