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Orange Crush Win Season Opening Tournament

Crush Wins MAPS Spring Challenge 2009 Tournament

The U-15 Crush got their Spring season off to a strong start as they took 1^st place in their flight of the MAPS Spring Challenge 2009 Tournament over the March 14/15 weekend.

The Crush started off the tournament with a workmanlike 2-0 win over the outmanned Deptford Mustangs. Angelina Liddy and Erin Sutphen scored the Crush goals, while keeper Lexi Golestani and the Crush defense shutout the opposition.

The Crush showed some of their Winter rust in their second game on Saturday as they had a disappointing performance in a 2-0 loss to the LDC United Green Pythons (Lancaster, PA area). While the Crush had the better of the play against the very physical Python squad, a couple of defensive breakdowns, an inability to find the net and a generally flat performance led to the surprising loss. Jane Smukler and Mason O’Brien were standouts for the Crush in the loss.

The Crush came out with renewed intensity on Sunday, as they needed a win in their first game to take 2^nd place in their bracket and advance to the flight’s semi-finals. The Crush delivered with a 1-0 victory over the AC Caldo side from Danbury, CT. Shelby Pedersen scored the lone goal of the game on a beautiful header off a Erin Sutphen corner kick. Defenders Caroline Survill, Alexa Kogan, Roni Nagle, Jordan Anderson, and Mia Haughton made the goal stand up for the 1-0 win.

With the win over AC Caldo, the Crush moved into the semi-finals against the Allegheny Force Legacy Premier (Delmont, PA), the 1^st place team from the other side of the bracket. The Crush continued to ramp up their intensity and thoroughly dominated the action in a 5-1 win. Erin Sutphen continued her strong play with a hat trick, while Marissa Edwards and Katie Reilly also chipped in goals. Kim Kornbluth played a strong game in the midfield.

In the finals, the Crush had the opportunity to avenge the earlier loss to LDC United Green Python which had upset the Crush on Saturday. While the team was definitely showing signs of fatigue in their fifth game of the weekend, they maintained their intensity and came away with a 3-0 win to capture 1^st place. Amanda Douglass popped in two goals to give the Crush the early lead and then Kate Kerr put the game away with an insurance goal in the second half. The Crush defense continued their strong play with their third shutout of the weekend.

While the Crush was pleased with their strong play on Sunday and their 1^st place finish, the weekend was marred somewhat by injuries to Shelby Pedersen and Priscilla Wiggins. Hopefully, these injuries are not serious and the girls will bounce back quickly.

Coach Mike Poller commented, “It was a great weekend to get the rust off after a long winter of indoor training and pre-season scrimmages. The loss on Saturday really put things in perspective for our team and showed us that we need to be prepared for any opponent. On Sunday we showed much better focus both offensively, as we scored 9 goals in 3 games, and defensively by not making critical mistakes. All in all it was a positive weekend and I think it will help us as we move into the spring season and state cup.”

The Crush continue the early season tournament circuit in Baltimore, MD, where they will participate in the top flight on the Baltimore March Madness Tournament on March 20-21.