Christina grabbed a hat trick, the first of the season!
The first goal game after Annabelle sent a perfect ball from her spot in the back four to Sawyer. Sawyer nudged it to Christina and the ball rolled past the Canton Celtic Black goalkeeper. Goal number 2 for #42 came in the "golden" -- not five minutes -- but 20 seconds following a Canton goal. Rhea, who was brilliant offensively and at mid-field all game, delivered a perfect ball to the streaking (always streaking) Christina. Goal #3 came, again, with some help from fellow frontrunner Sawyer. Sawyer took a beautiful long ball in the air with a beautiful first touch and fired -- but the Canton keeper came up big with a dive to her left. This led to a corner kick. Annabelle and Jill -- who had wonderful combinations all day -- but usually from defense to mid -- combined to get a short corner pass in front to Christina. Dig. Dig. Dig. This is one tenacious kid.
The bad news? The Force lost 7-3 and, with the exception of these offensive bright spots, were pretty much playing in their half of the field again. Sometimes they were just playing in their 18. Canton was big and skilled. And they were sportsmanlike. Having taken a 3 goal league their coach moved players around rather drastically. Their co-leader for first place, the Novi Jags, could take a cue. But Force defenders struggles under all this pressure and could not get in front of enough Canton crosses.
In other words, the Tigers hit 4 home runs but lost 15-4 to get booted out of the ACLS.
A vicious wind blew west to east across the Canton field the whole day. But this was really a factor only in one goal or two. The Force, again, were simply out(wo)manned.
Still, this shouldn't take away from the highlights. Christina just plays hard all the time. Sawyer was graceful with the ball when it got to her. And Rhea put on a ball control and passing clinic for U12. Kyra worked very hard in the second half when both teams started to drag under the momentum of the game. Sophia courageously took three hard passes to her body to keep the ball at midfield -- all after the outcome had been decided. This is just good team play.
Tomorrow, as Scarlet says to Rhett, is another day.
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