Seven goals scored in high-octane ECNL Girls National Selection Game in New Jersey

It was goals galore during Saturday night’s ECNL Girls National Selection Game from PDA Soccer Complex in New Jersey. (View Rosters)

The East got on the board quickly with two goals in the opening 10 minutes of the game. The first goal came when Clarie Hutton (World Class FC) got the ball in the box off a corner kick. Hutton found herself with space in the box and fired the shot home to give the East the first goal of the game. Just moments later, Ellie Garrison (NC Fusion) doubled the East lead making it 2-0.

In the 30th minute, Hutton found herself on the score sheet yet again. After dribbling through the midfield, Hutton launched a long range shot from well outside the box that dropped in over the head of the keeper and extended the East lead to 3-0.

Just on the stroke of halftime the West managed to claw their way back into the game on a penalty kick from Addison Halpern (PDA Blue). After a foul inside the box, Halpern stepped up and buried the penalty home into the right corner to cut the East lead down to 3-1 going into the half.

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The East was also led by some outstanding saves by goalkeeper Carson Proctor (FC Prime) throughout the first half.

“I was really aggressive off my line. That’s something I really wanted to focus on because it’s something I’ve been working on and I made several saves when I came off my line,” Proctor said.

As the second half started, the East was able to quickly regain their three goal advantage. Isabella Winn (World Class FC) took a long pass over the top of the defense and was able to get inside the box before curling a shot in with her left foot to extend the lead out to 4-1.

The West again had an answer. In the 46th minute, Carrie Helfrich (Virginia Union FC) found herself on the end of a corner kick and was able to fire a header to the far post to quickly respond to the East’s goal.

The West tried on a few occasions to cut into the East lead again throughout the second half, but the East was able to maintain their grip on the match.

Finally, in the 75th minute the East were able to put things away for good when Jolie Jenkins (Virginia Development Academy) found herself in the perfect position to fire home a rebound and extend the East lead to 5-2, which ultimately proved to be the final.

After the game, Garrison and Proctor both described how great their experience was playing in such a high level atmosphere with so many other top players.

“It’s such an amazing experience with all the fans and all the support from the players,” Garrison said. “It’s really great and I enjoy playing with really quality players around me.”

“I was so excited when I got the email to come to this. I’ve been wanting to have this opportunity to showcase myself,” Proctor said. “It was all I was expecting. The team was great. I love how they mix in really good, top level D-1 commits with kids like me who are just trying to commit and get recruited and I think we all played well together.”