16 November 2008
Crush beat Newark 1-0! One win from championship game!
11/22/08 17:29 Filed in: Games
DUBLIN, CA -- The San
Ramon Crush played their second Crossroads game
against the Newark champions this afternoon at 2:30pm
at the Dublin Sports Ground Field #5. Similar to this
morning’s game, the sky was clear, the sun was out
and there was nary a breeze. Unlike this morning,
though, it was about 70 degrees out at the start of
the game. It was simply a glorious November afternoon
for a game of soccer. Exactly like this morning’s
game, Judy Kang got the ball late in the second half
and took it by herself past numerous defenders and
finished with a great scoring kick to give the Crush
a 1-0 lead. And just like the earlier game, the Crush
held on and kept another team scoreless.
The Crush came out a little flat in this game, probably due to the fact that most of the girls were still a little tired from the morning game. Newark had also played earlier in the day but they seemed to be more aggressive than the Crush. In fact, all throughout the game, the Newark team was very physical and a few of the Crush were intimidated by them. Early in the first half, Judy Kang got kicked in the ankle and was in too much pain to continue. Hannah Skrentny moved to stopper and did a good job of keeping Newark from getting too deep in Crush territory while Judy was out of the game. Judy’s father came over to the sidelines and helped Judy ice her ankle, so she was able to get back into the game late in the first half. In retrospect, maybe it was a good thing that Judy got the forced extra breather, because her coach probably wouldn’t have taken her out voluntarily.
Much of the first half was spent with the ball on the Crush side of the field, but the defense comprised of Jeanina Farmer, Dawn Ye, Vidhi Sachdeva and Caitlin Weber played fearless and tough once again and never gave the Newark team any clean shots on goal.
The Crush did have a few chances of their own in the first half, especially a close one by Emily Ball who was playing right forward. Emily was perfectly positioned in front of the goal and the ball came right to her. Emily took the shot, but it went just to the right of the goal. Both Korah Rose and Makena Woon had some chances in that first half as well, but the Newark goalie did a nice job of protecting their goal. So once again, the Crush went into halftime tied 0-0.
The Crush came out in the second half and continued bringing the pressure on Newark, but they couldn’t quite get the ball past the goalie. Midway through the second half, Newark split through the Crush defenders and the sweeper Emma Young was all that stood in the way between the Crush being down 1-0. But Emma cut off the angle and forced the Newark forward to miss wide left on her shot.
With less than five minutes to go in the game, Judy Kang put the team on her shoulders and took the ball at midfield and drove past a few Newark defenders to the goalie and blasted it right over her head for the lone goal of the game. It was a bit of deja vu from this morning’s game.
Coach Jim sent Judy back to be a double stopper again with Hannah Skrentny and they both helped fight off Newark’s final surge. Makena Woon, in the most impressive play of the game, (Judy’s amazing goal notwithstanding) got a hold of the ball deep in the Crush territory and took it all the way down to the Newark goal box, which effectively took away Newark’s last chance at a tie.
Although Isabela Escalante didn’t play the whole game, the time she was in there, she was impressive with her hustle and toughness, and it didn’t go unnoticed. Isabela and Makena shared the hustle patches for the game. The team voted on the defender of the game, and once again, Caitlin Weber won the defender of the game patch. An assistant coach of the Newark team could be heard yelling at her girls to “stay away from #43 (Caitlin’s number) because you just can’t get by her.” That’s two games in a row that Caitlin Weber played unbelievable defense which was a huge key in the two shutouts.
There really was no surprise who got the star patch of the game, because once again Judy came up big right when her team needed her. Nice game Judy and another fantastic game by the Crush! One more win tomorrow morning and the Crush will be playing in the Championship Game at 2:45pm! Go Crush!!!!!
Patch Distribution:
Victory patch: The entire Crush team
Goal patch: Judy Kang
Assist patches: Korah Rose
Blood Patches: Judy Kang
Defender of the game patch: Caitlin Weber
Hustle patches: Makena Woon & Isabela Escalante
Star of the game: Judy Kang
The Crush came out a little flat in this game, probably due to the fact that most of the girls were still a little tired from the morning game. Newark had also played earlier in the day but they seemed to be more aggressive than the Crush. In fact, all throughout the game, the Newark team was very physical and a few of the Crush were intimidated by them. Early in the first half, Judy Kang got kicked in the ankle and was in too much pain to continue. Hannah Skrentny moved to stopper and did a good job of keeping Newark from getting too deep in Crush territory while Judy was out of the game. Judy’s father came over to the sidelines and helped Judy ice her ankle, so she was able to get back into the game late in the first half. In retrospect, maybe it was a good thing that Judy got the forced extra breather, because her coach probably wouldn’t have taken her out voluntarily.
Much of the first half was spent with the ball on the Crush side of the field, but the defense comprised of Jeanina Farmer, Dawn Ye, Vidhi Sachdeva and Caitlin Weber played fearless and tough once again and never gave the Newark team any clean shots on goal.
The Crush did have a few chances of their own in the first half, especially a close one by Emily Ball who was playing right forward. Emily was perfectly positioned in front of the goal and the ball came right to her. Emily took the shot, but it went just to the right of the goal. Both Korah Rose and Makena Woon had some chances in that first half as well, but the Newark goalie did a nice job of protecting their goal. So once again, the Crush went into halftime tied 0-0.
The Crush came out in the second half and continued bringing the pressure on Newark, but they couldn’t quite get the ball past the goalie. Midway through the second half, Newark split through the Crush defenders and the sweeper Emma Young was all that stood in the way between the Crush being down 1-0. But Emma cut off the angle and forced the Newark forward to miss wide left on her shot.
With less than five minutes to go in the game, Judy Kang put the team on her shoulders and took the ball at midfield and drove past a few Newark defenders to the goalie and blasted it right over her head for the lone goal of the game. It was a bit of deja vu from this morning’s game.
Coach Jim sent Judy back to be a double stopper again with Hannah Skrentny and they both helped fight off Newark’s final surge. Makena Woon, in the most impressive play of the game, (Judy’s amazing goal notwithstanding) got a hold of the ball deep in the Crush territory and took it all the way down to the Newark goal box, which effectively took away Newark’s last chance at a tie.
Although Isabela Escalante didn’t play the whole game, the time she was in there, she was impressive with her hustle and toughness, and it didn’t go unnoticed. Isabela and Makena shared the hustle patches for the game. The team voted on the defender of the game, and once again, Caitlin Weber won the defender of the game patch. An assistant coach of the Newark team could be heard yelling at her girls to “stay away from #43 (Caitlin’s number) because you just can’t get by her.” That’s two games in a row that Caitlin Weber played unbelievable defense which was a huge key in the two shutouts.
There really was no surprise who got the star patch of the game, because once again Judy came up big right when her team needed her. Nice game Judy and another fantastic game by the Crush! One more win tomorrow morning and the Crush will be playing in the Championship Game at 2:45pm! Go Crush!!!!!
Patch Distribution:
Victory patch: The entire Crush team
Goal patch: Judy Kang
Assist patches: Korah Rose
Blood Patches: Judy Kang
Defender of the game patch: Caitlin Weber
Hustle patches: Makena Woon & Isabela Escalante
Star of the game: Judy Kang
|
Crush shock the Dublin Sabercats with 1-0 win!
11/22/08 11:29 Filed in: Games
DUBLIN, CA -- The first
game of the Crossroads Championship tournament for
the San Ramon Champions Crush was held this morning
at 9:15am at the Dublin Sports Ground Field #4. It
was bright and sunny, but decidedly brisk at the kick
off against the Dublin Co-champions Sabercats. The
Crush and the Sabercats met up back in September in
San Ramon and the Sabercats handily won the game 3-0.
There was no shame in the loss, though, because as
the season progressed, the Sabercats never lost a
game and in fact never scored less than 3 goals all
season.
The Crush definitely played this morning’s game differently than that game in September. Early in the game, the Crush was playing aggressively and took the ball deep into Sabercats territory. The Crush had multiple chances to score, but the Sabercats goalie played a good game and kept the Crush scoreless, despite some tough shots from Korah Rose and Emma Young. The defense of Vidhi Sachdeva, Dawn Ye, Caitlin Weber and Jeanina Farmer was stout and kept the Sabercats scoreless for the first half as well. The Crush MVP, Judy Kang, played her typical tough stopper position and even had a few chances at goal herself. Halftime came at a good time, as Judy and Korah were starting to get exhausted since their mean coach never took them out of the game.
Our goalie, Adrienne Lampo had a good first half, sucking up any Sabercats shots that made their way to our goal. Adrienne has been wanting to get out in the field more often, so Coach Jim was planning on using a different goalie for the second half, but Adrienne didn’t want to come out, so Adrienne ended up playing the entire game in goal, and she did a fantastic job!
As a reward for playing good defense, Vidhi Sachdeva and Dawn Ye got to start the second half up as right midfielder and left forward, respectively. Makena Woon and Emma Young took over on the defensive end and both played well. Caitlin Weber was in a lot of pain at half time, complaining of neck and upper back pain. Coach Jim, her dad, quickly had her lay down and adjusted her neck and upper back and threw her out in the game at the important center defender position. Apparently the adjustments worked, because Caitlin came out and played the half of a lifetime. Nothing and nobody was able to get by Caitlin who very deservedly won the defender patch of the game. The defense came up big in the second half and allowed only one really good shot on goal. Luckily, the Sabercats forward who took the shot lifted the ball a tad too high and it went up and over the goal.
With about 12 minutes left in the game, Coach Jim decided to go for the win instead of the tie and moved Judy Kang from the stopper position into the center mid/forward position. Hannah Skrentny took over the stopper position and played it admirably. The risk paid off when Judy got the ball with about 9 minutes to go in the game at the Crush side of the center circle. Instead of passing it up to the right midfielder Kaitlyn Tran or the right forward, Judy decided to dribble it up herself and managed to get by three Sabercat defenders. Judy got to the 18 yard line and had a sweeper and a goalie to beat. Instead of trying to dribble past the sweeper, Judy kicked it on the run and made a perfect scoring shot that sneaked under a diving Sabercat goalie into the far left corner. It was an absolutely stunning goal and the Crush side of the field erupted.
That left the Crush with a 1-0 lead with an agonizingly long 8 minutes to go in the game. Coach Jim quickly made Judy Kang go back to the stopper position and left Hannah Skrentny there as well. Judy played the more defensive minded stopper and came up with a number of big clears in the final minutes. The Sabercats played really aggressive at the end of the game in order to tie the game, but the Crush defenders kept coming up big and getting the ball out of danger.
At the final whistle, the Crush crowd went nuts, with Coach Jim leading the way, jumping up and down like a school girl. This was such a fantastic game and I’m proud to say I got to witness it.
The Crush still have another game at 2:30pm this afternoon and at least one more game tomorrow at 11:45am. If they can end up in the top two spots of their flight, they’ll get one more game tomorrow at 2:45pm. There’s still a lot of soccer to be played, but this game made my season, regardless of the outcome of the next two or three games. Thanks Crush!
Patch Distribution:
Victory patch: The entire Crush team
Goal patch: Judy Kang
Assist patches: none
Blood Patches: none
Defender of the game patch: Caitlin Weber
Hustle patches: Makena Woon & Korah Rose
Star of the game: Judy Kang
The Crush definitely played this morning’s game differently than that game in September. Early in the game, the Crush was playing aggressively and took the ball deep into Sabercats territory. The Crush had multiple chances to score, but the Sabercats goalie played a good game and kept the Crush scoreless, despite some tough shots from Korah Rose and Emma Young. The defense of Vidhi Sachdeva, Dawn Ye, Caitlin Weber and Jeanina Farmer was stout and kept the Sabercats scoreless for the first half as well. The Crush MVP, Judy Kang, played her typical tough stopper position and even had a few chances at goal herself. Halftime came at a good time, as Judy and Korah were starting to get exhausted since their mean coach never took them out of the game.
Our goalie, Adrienne Lampo had a good first half, sucking up any Sabercats shots that made their way to our goal. Adrienne has been wanting to get out in the field more often, so Coach Jim was planning on using a different goalie for the second half, but Adrienne didn’t want to come out, so Adrienne ended up playing the entire game in goal, and she did a fantastic job!
As a reward for playing good defense, Vidhi Sachdeva and Dawn Ye got to start the second half up as right midfielder and left forward, respectively. Makena Woon and Emma Young took over on the defensive end and both played well. Caitlin Weber was in a lot of pain at half time, complaining of neck and upper back pain. Coach Jim, her dad, quickly had her lay down and adjusted her neck and upper back and threw her out in the game at the important center defender position. Apparently the adjustments worked, because Caitlin came out and played the half of a lifetime. Nothing and nobody was able to get by Caitlin who very deservedly won the defender patch of the game. The defense came up big in the second half and allowed only one really good shot on goal. Luckily, the Sabercats forward who took the shot lifted the ball a tad too high and it went up and over the goal.
With about 12 minutes left in the game, Coach Jim decided to go for the win instead of the tie and moved Judy Kang from the stopper position into the center mid/forward position. Hannah Skrentny took over the stopper position and played it admirably. The risk paid off when Judy got the ball with about 9 minutes to go in the game at the Crush side of the center circle. Instead of passing it up to the right midfielder Kaitlyn Tran or the right forward, Judy decided to dribble it up herself and managed to get by three Sabercat defenders. Judy got to the 18 yard line and had a sweeper and a goalie to beat. Instead of trying to dribble past the sweeper, Judy kicked it on the run and made a perfect scoring shot that sneaked under a diving Sabercat goalie into the far left corner. It was an absolutely stunning goal and the Crush side of the field erupted.
That left the Crush with a 1-0 lead with an agonizingly long 8 minutes to go in the game. Coach Jim quickly made Judy Kang go back to the stopper position and left Hannah Skrentny there as well. Judy played the more defensive minded stopper and came up with a number of big clears in the final minutes. The Sabercats played really aggressive at the end of the game in order to tie the game, but the Crush defenders kept coming up big and getting the ball out of danger.
At the final whistle, the Crush crowd went nuts, with Coach Jim leading the way, jumping up and down like a school girl. This was such a fantastic game and I’m proud to say I got to witness it.
The Crush still have another game at 2:30pm this afternoon and at least one more game tomorrow at 11:45am. If they can end up in the top two spots of their flight, they’ll get one more game tomorrow at 2:45pm. There’s still a lot of soccer to be played, but this game made my season, regardless of the outcome of the next two or three games. Thanks Crush!
Patch Distribution:
Victory patch: The entire Crush team
Goal patch: Judy Kang
Assist patches: none
Blood Patches: none
Defender of the game patch: Caitlin Weber
Hustle patches: Makena Woon & Korah Rose
Star of the game: Judy Kang