ECNL: Blizzard greets Colorado Rush in wins at Utah Avalanche

By Jimmy LaRoue

The Colorado Rush went to Utah and played the Avalanche in a strong snowstorm, coming away with wins in the Under-14 and U-18s, with the U-15 and U-16 squads playing to ties and the Avalanche coming away with a win in the U-17s age group.

Rush’s U-14 win, 4-1, came on goals from Theresa Boade, Rebekah Burton, Madison Johnson and Civana Kuhlmann. Boade, Coriana Dyke and Amanda Porter added assists. Kuhlmann leads the U-14 ECNL in goals with 18 in 12 matches, but she is hardly the only prolific player on Rush’s roster, as Porter has eight goals and 10 assists, and Burton and Boade each have seven goals.

Rush’s U-14s (9-1-0) have scored a league-high 48 goals, but two others FC Stars of Massachusetts, have scored 46 and Colorado Storm (7-1-0), in the same Mountain West Conference as Rush, has scored 45.

The Storm’s Elisabeth Geraghty is just one behind Kuhlman in goals with 17, hers coming in 11 matches, and has also contributed six assists, while Madeleine Lucas has 14 goals and six assists, West Coast FC’s Sophia Serafin has 14 goals and two assists and Surf’s Brazilian star Catarina Macario has 13 goals and two assists in six games.

In two, 4-0 wins over the weekend over Sereno Soccer Club and SC Del Sol, Geraghty combined for five goals, including two against Sereno and three against SC Del Sol.

The U-15 matchup played out in a scoreless tie, with the U-16s playing a 1-1 tie. The Avalanche won the U-17 matchup 4-0, and Rush took the U-18 matchup, 2-0, getting goals from Kelli Drobney and Danica Evans, and assists from Darian Jenkins and Havana McElvaine. Evans has 18 goals and two assists in just eight games,while Drobney has 10 goals and three assists over the same span.

Evans’ goal total is second in the ECNL U-18s to Concorde Fire’s Savannah Jordan, who has 19 goals on the season in the Fire’s 14 matches. TSC Hurricane’s Elizabeth Keester has 17 goals and six assists in 14 matches, scoring the lone goal in TSC’s 1-0 win over Lonestar SC Saturday, and picked up two goals and an assist Sunday in a 6-1 win over Texas Rush. TSC Hurricane is 9-1-2, trailing first place Dallas Texans, who are 11-0-0.

Shelly Raper of the Storm has 13 goals in 11 matches, while Phyllis Anthony of Real Colorado (4-1-4) also has 13 goals, coming in just eight matches.