ECNL players hat-trick happy
By Jimmy LaRoue
Just five games into the ECNL’s 2012-13 season, Colorado Rush’s U-14 starlet Civana Kuhlmann has tallied 10 goals, picking up another three in two wins over the weekend.
In Rush’s 4-1 win Saturday over SC Del Sol, Kuhlmann put Rush (4-1-0) on top for good, then Amanda Porter, getting in on the goal scoring, added two in the second half. On Sunday, Kuhlmann picked up two more to go along with goals from Erynn Hargrave and Sage Digulio to shut out Sereno Soccer Club 4-0.
The Rush U-14s head to Chicago to play Michigan Hawks, Eclipse Select and Vardar.
The U-14s led a strong weekend for Rush, who went 7-1-2 over the weekend against Arizona sides SC Del Sol and Sereno SC despite playing shorthanded. Rush’s U-16s, which most recently won the ECNL national championship, was missing six players–four due to injury and another two playing up for a shorthanded U-18 team–but it hardly mattered as Jordan DiBiasi had a goal and an assist in a 3-1 win Saturday over Del Sol, and Rylie O’Keefe got the lone goal of the match in a 1-0 win for Rush Sunday over Sereno.
The U-17s played to a pair of draws over the weekend, while Rush’s U-18s had just nine players available due to injuries and Under-17 national team callups, and they lost defender Sigrid Kite to a broken fibula just before halftime of Saturday’s encounter with Del Sol. U-16 callup Betsy Brandon, though, scored, while another U-16 player, Kayla Hill, set up Kelli Drobney for her second goal of the match.
The U-18 Rush side also has a double-digit goal scorer in the early going of the season, as Danica Evans scored twice in Sunday’s 5-2 win over Sereno to up her season-tally to 11. Drobney added another goal, her eighth of the season, with Kaityln Brunworth and Jenna Geist adding goals in the win. Rush has outscored opponents 34-6. Its next ECNL match is Oct. 20 at Colorado Storm.
Out east, FC Virginia has opened strong to start the ECNL season, scoring four wins in five matches against Virginia Rush, with the U-18s picking up a 7-0 win, while Mia Hoen-Beck and Kaitlyn Forsht each scored twice for McLean Youth Soccer in a 5-0 win over Richmond Strikers in U-16s, the team’s first of the young season.
In the Southeast Conference, Charlotte Soccer Academy’s U-17s kept up its perfect start to the season with a pair of wins–3-2 over Concorde Fire and 3-1 over Birmingham United. In the win over Concorde Fire, CSA got goals from Morgan Baker, Sarah Moon and Allison Price, with three other players–Summer Edwards, Anna Estep and Lindsey Tully scoring in the win over Birmingham.
CASL Chelsea Ladies’ U-17s went 1-0-1 on the weekend, scoring a 5-1 win at Birmingham United behind two goals from Bayley Rigsbee and single goals from Mary Palmer, her third of the season, Colleen Markey and Cailyn Boch. CASL’s U-18s, defending national champions, played to a scoreless tie against Concorde Fire.
Gwinnett Soccer Association’s U-18s suffered their first blemish of the season in a 1-1 tie Saturday against Orlando City, but rebounded Sunday for a 5-0 shutout of VSI West FL Flames, getting two goals and an assist from Rachel Garcia, along with two assists from McKenzie Bricker, who scored the lone goal in Saturday’s tie. Taylor Donohue, Lauren Tanner and Taylor Wagnon added goals in the shutout.
In Texas, the Dallas Texans U-18s moved to 3-0-0 with a 4-0 shutout over Texas Rush, with goals coming from Julia Dyche, Kelsey Gorney, Sophie Groff and Jasmine Hart, while TSC Hurricane’s Tatum Wagner had a hat trick in a 4-0 win over Rush.
In the Mountain West Conference, Real Colorado’s U-15s have raced off to a 5-0-0 start, dominating in a pair of wins this past weekend–5-0 over Sereno Saturday and 7-1 over SC Del Sol the following day. Jayne Lydiatt, who has seven goals already this season, had a hat trick in the shutout over Sereno, while teammate Tatum Barton added two more goals.
In Real Colorado’s win over SC Del Sol, Cydney Billups and Mallory Pugh each had hat tricks of their own. Julie Mackin, a U-14 national team callup earlier this year, has seven assists on the season, adding two in Sunday’s win.
Real’s U-15s have given up just two goals while scoring 25 goals in five games.
A number of ECNL clubs have been impacted with the U.S. Under-17 callups to the World Cup roster. Games begin tomorrow in Azerbaijan.
