SAN RAMON -- In the final regular season game of this very short season, the Crystals took on the Sapphires in a rematch of the very first game. In that first game, the Crystals overwhelmed the Sapphires with a 6-1 drubbing. After watching this game, it’s safe to say the Sapphires improved dramatically over the last few weeks. Other than a single goal by Jillian Weber, the defenses of both teams proved too much for either offense.

The star of the game for the Crystals was Brittany Jimena and her sturdy defense that she displayed, especially in the second half. In one play in particular, Brittany had to sprint to catch up to a Sapphires forward who had a breakaway and looked to have a one-on-one shot against the Crystals goalie, but Brittany amazingly caught up and disrupted the forward before she could take her shot. That was definitely one of the highlights of the entire season and it meant more than most as it was the difference between ending with a tie and ending with a win.

Nice game girls and a great way to end a good season. The girls finished with a record of 5-1 and outscored their opponents 23-8.


End of Game Awards
victory patch: entire Crystals team
goal patch: Jillian Weber
defender of the game patch: Kaylee Suarez
lightning hustle patch: Zoe Papadopolous, Grace Platts, Sarah Chi, Avalon Jones
star of the game patch: Brittany Jimena

Game Stats:

Goals:
Jillian Weber 1

Assists:

Season Stats:

Goals:
Jillian Weber 13
Brittany Jimena 3
Grace Platts 2
Sarah Chi 1
Isabella DeSanti 1
Zoe Papadopolous 1
Alicia Seronio 1
Joy Tuteja 1

Crystals 23
Opponents 8

Assists:
Alicia Seronio 2
Joy Tuteja 2
Jillian Weber 2

SAN RAMON -- The Crystals played the last U10G team that they haven’t played yet. The Diamonds came out playing tough and scored the first goal of the game within the first 5 minutes. That was enough to get Jillian mad, who was sitting on the sidelines to start the game. Jillian came out and scored twice in the first half and Brittany Jimena got a nice pass from Alicia Seronio to get her first goal in quite a few games. The Crystals went into half time with a 3-1 lead.

Alicia and Brittany hooked up again in the second half for another Brittany goal. Not only did Alicia pass to Brittany, Brittany asked for the pass and Alicia told her to spread out and go up. Brittany did and Alicia got her the ball and Brittany was able to take it all the way to the goal.

Isabella DeSanti got her first goal of the season after Zoe Papadopolous got the ball at midfield and passed it on up to Athena Aghighi who then passed it across the front of the goal to Isabella who had to fight with the goalie in order to get the ball past her, but she did it and was rewarded with a nice goal. Isabella almost got herself another goal a few minutes later, but came up just short.

Both Kaylee Suarez and Sarah Chi showed good hustle out there on both the defensive and offensive side of the field.


End of Game Awards
goal patch: Isabella DeSanti, Brittany Jimena, Jillian Weber
defender of the game patch: Kaylee Suarez
lightning hustle patch: Sarah Chi
star of the game patch: Alicia Seronio

Game Stats:

Goals:
Brittany Jimena 2
Jillian Weber 2
Isabella DeSanti 1

Assists:
Alicia Seronio 2
Athena Aghighi 1

Season Stats:

Goals:
Jillian Weber 12
Brittany Jimena 3
Grace Platts 2
Sarah Chi 1
Isabella DeSanti 1
Zoe Papadopolous 1
Alicia Seronio 1
Joy Tuteja 1

Crystals 22
Opponents 8

Assists:
Alicia Seronio 2
Joy Tuteja 2
Jillian Weber 2

SAN RAMON -- After a week off due to the mid-season festival, the Crystals faced off against the undefeated Emeralds. The Crystals were only missing Grace Platts, so there were 4 substitutes for the game. Jillian Weber came out of the gate quickly and took an uncontested shot on goal, but her shot went wide, which was a portent of things to come. After 10 minutes, the Crystals found themselves down 2-0 and facing a very stiff Emerald defense. Jillian missed on at least three more shots in that first half. But towards the end of the first half, Jillian Weber made a nice pass to Zoe Papadopolous, who was just a bit offside. The head ref didn’t call the offside immediately and let the play continue, and 30 seconds later the ball got back to Jillian who finally connected on a shot. Unfortunately, the ref then waved the shot off due to the offside that wasn’t originally called. It was one of the stranger calls that I’ve seen.

So, going into halftime, the score was 2-0 and the Crystals were feeling dejected. Early in the 2nd half Jillian came out and finally got a shot that counted to cut the Emerald’s lead to 1. Zoe Papadopolous was the second half goalie and she managed to stop and disrupt a few shots to help keep the Emeralds from adding to their lead. With about five minutes to go, Jillian Weber broke through the Emerald defense and shot it in the left corner of the goal. Two minutes later, one of the Emeralds passed the ball to Jillian who made a nice pass up to Brittany Jimena who brought it up towards the goal. Brittany ended up getting a ball to the face, but she kept going like a trooper. The ball ended up finding Jillian who had only one shot left in her, as she was exhausted because her mean coach left her in the entire second half. Jillian made the most of her last shot by shooting it right over the top of the outstretched arms of the goalie for the game winner. The Crystals managed to hold off a late Emerald rally and walk away with the 3-2 win.

The Crystals all played very hard and battled through various injuries. It was a nice win for the team against a tough opponent.


End of Game Awards
goal patch: Jillian Weber
defender of the game patch: Athena Aghighi
lightning hustle patch: Kaylee Suarez
star of the game patch: Jillian Weber

Game Stats:

Goals:
Jillian Weber 3

Assists:

Season Stats:

Goals:
Jillian Weber 10
Grace Platts 2
Brittany Jimena 1
Zoe Papadopolous 1
Alicia Seronio 1
Joy Tuteja 1
Sarah Chi 1

Crystals 17
Opponents 6

Assists:
Joy Tuteja 2
Jillian Weber 2

SAN RAMON -- In 100+ degrees heat, the undefeated Crystals faced off against the undefeated Garnets. Both teams had had two blow out wins, so this game was bound to be a good one, and it didn’t disappoint.

Jillian came out like she normally does and got a quick goal to give the Crystals a 1-0 lead. The lead didn’t hold, though. The Crystals defense had a couple of breakdowns and allowed two goals on uncontested breakaways. Near the end of the first half, Kaylee Scott, who was playing goalie, attempted a drop kick, but missed the ball. She panicked a little and went down to pick up the ball, which unfortunately was now out of the goalie box, resulting in an indirect kick just outside of the goal box. The Garnets played the indirect kick perfectly and passed the ball to one of their players in front of the goal and she squirted the ball passed the wall of Crystals, giving the Garnets a 3-1 lead.

Both Alicia Seronio and Grace Platts had near goals that were thwarted by the great goal keeping of the Garnets first half goalie.

The ball spent most of the time in the second half in the Garnets side of the field, but the Crystals could not get the ball past the fine second half goalie for the Garnets. With around 5 minutes left in the game, Jillian Weber finally connected on a left footed goal, cutting the lead to 3-2. For the final 4 minutes of the game, the Garnets goalie fought off shot after shot until the final whistle, allowing the Garnets to walk away with a well deserved win.

It was a tough loss for the Crystals, but it wasn’t for a lack of trying. The heat was oppressive, yet most of the girls played as hard as they could considering the conditions.


End of Game Awards
goal patch: Jillian Weber
defender of the game patch: Kaylee Suarez
lightning hustle patch: Alicia Seronio
star of the game patch: Jillian Weber

Game Stats:

Goals:
Jillian Weber 2

Assists:

Season Stats:

Goals:
Jillian Weber 7
Grace Platts 2
Brittany Jimena 1
Zoe Papadopolous 1
Alicia Seronio 1
Joy Tuteja 1
Sarah Chi 1

Crystals 14
Opponents 4

Assists:
Joy Tuteja 2
Jillian Weber 2

SAN RAMON - The Crystals faced off against the Pearls this afternoon at Quail Run Park. The Crystals got their first goal of the game when Jillian Weber got a pass from Joy Tuteja in front of the goal and then shot it over the goalie’s head. Jillian got her second goal a couple of minutes later after splitting a couple of Pearls defenders and then poked in a shot with her left foot.

Grace Platts took a throw-in from Jillian and drove towards the goal and slipped the ball past the goalie for the third and final goal for the first half.

Jillian was placed in as goalie for the second half again and had some spectacular moments back there. Early in the second half, Jillian came out of the box to get the ball and decided to just keep going. She dribbled all the way down to the Pearls’ goal box and shot it just over the goal. I had challenged her to try this and Jillian gave it a valiant effort. I figured she would try it once and that would be it. Well, Joy scored a goal as a very aggressive defender (a defender waiting in the Pearls’ goal box???) and then Sarah did a nice job of scoring as well, so the score was 5-0 and the game all but over. Well, Jillian was still in at goal keeper and the Pearls made the mistake of getting the ball down to her. Jillian had apparently decided she was going to get that goal as a goal keeper, so she sprinted past everyone up the left hand side of the field, did a move on the Pearls’ goalie so that she actually fell to the ground and then Jillian tapped the ball in with her left foot. It was a spectacular play, but the Pearls coaches were going ballistic. They were not appreciative of it and thought that I was showing up their team. I honestly didn’t think Jillian was going to go off again, but then again, I didn’t tell her not to do it, so I do have to take responsibility for that.

Regardless, because of the reaction of the Pearls coaches, it is not likely that we will see Jillian score as a goalie again, even if she is probably capable of it.

All in all, it was another great game for the girls. This next game will be against the Garnets and I think they will pose a much better challenge than the last two games.


End of Game Awards
victory patch: the Crystals
goal patch: Jillian Weber, Grace Platts, Joy Tuteja, Sarah Chi
defender of the game patch: Sarah Chi
lightning hustle patch: Jillian Weber
star of the game patch: Alicia Seronio

Game Stats:

Goals:
Jillian Weber 3
Grace Platts 1
Joy Tuteja 1
Sarah Chi 1

Assists:
Joy Tuteja 1
Jillian Weber 1

Season Stats:

Goals:
Jillian Weber 5
Grace Platts 2
Brittany Jimena 1
Zoe Papadopolous 1
Alicia Seronio 1
Joy Tuteja 1
Sarah Chi 1

Crystals 12
Opponents 1

Assists:
Joy Tuteja 2
Jillian Weber 2

SAN RAMON - The San Ramon Crystals played their first game of the 2009 season this morning at 11:30am at Quail Run Park. The Crystals came out of the gate looking like they knew what they were doing. Zoe Papadopolous started the scoring less than a minute into the game by plunking one into the back of the net. Unfortunately, the team videographer was not yet back from fetching some missing insoles, so we don’t have any video of Zoe’s goal. That just means Zoe will have to score again next week so we can get it on tape.

The second goal of the game came right in the middle of my first shift change. I called almost all the players off and luckily for us Jillian ran out there and pretty much took on the Sapphires by herself. The rest of her team hadn’t gotten on the field yet but Jillian wove through the Sapphire defense and got a quick goal after being in for less than 15 seconds.

In the rest of the first half, Grace Platts, Alicia Seronio and Jillian Weber each added another goal to bring the halftime score to 5-0. I’m not sure if our first half goalies, Avalon Jones, Isabella DeSanti and Jillian Weber, even got a chance to touch the ball. The only scoring opportunities the Sapphires got were a result of being grossly offside, in good part because the Crystals were playing their defenders very far up in an attacking position.

One of the highlights of that first half was a gorgeous pass to open space by Grace Platts, which was caught on tape and is now up on our website. I know it was only a pass at the midfield, but it was a great soccer play which was my favorite moment of the game.

The second half was fairly uneventful. The Sapphires got their lone goal of the game from a very rare penalty kick due to a hands call in the goal box. Jillian Weber was in goal and was not able to stop the penalty kick. Brittany Jimena scored the only goal for the Crystals in the second half off a pass from Joy Tuteja.

The most excitement in the second half came when Joy Tuteja screamed after getting stung by a bee while sitting on the sidelines. After icing the sting, Joy was ready to go back in there and she almost scored a couple of times and did end up getting the assist to Brittany.

After each game I give out special awards to the players. The defender of the game patch went to Isabella DeSanti, who I did not plan on playing in defense, but she really wanted to play it and she did a great job the last part of the second half. The hustle patch was given to Sarah Chi who was always running hard out there and always with a smile. The star of the game patch was initially given to Jillian Weber, but Jillian thought that Grace Platts actually deserved it and I agreed with her, so Grace got the star of the game patch.

Nice game Crystals.

End of Game Awards
victory patch: the Crystals
blood patch: Joy Tuteja
assist patch: Joy Tuteja, Jillian Weber
goal patch: Brittany Jimena, Zoe Papadopolous, Grace Platts, Alicia Seronio, Jillian Weber
defender of the game patch: Isabella DeSanti
lightning hustle patch: Sarah Chi
star of the game patch: Grace Platts

Game Stats:

Goals:
Brittany Jimena 1
Zoe Papadopolous 1
Grace Platts 1
Alicia Seronio 1
Jillian Weber 2

Assists:
Joy Tuteja 1
Jillian Weber 1

Season Stats:

Goals:
Jillian Weber 2
Brittany Jimena 1
Zoe Papadopolous 1
Grace Platts 1
Alicia Seronio 1

Crystals 6
Opponents 1

Assists:
Joy Tuteja 1
Jillian Weber 1