US Youth Soccer Region I Girls ODP teams complete two major events

(Via US Youth Soccer Region I) – US Youth Soccer ODP East Region teams have been very active as of late. Check out game recaps from both the Virginia Friendlies and international trips to Costa Rica.

COSTA RICA

Check out some information from the US Youth Soccer ODP East Region teams’ trips to Costa Rica…

Opponent:  Saprissa
Result: East Region 02 Girls 1-6 Saprissa

Region 1 Goal
In the second half Brooke Burzynski dribbled past the Costa Rican defender on the left side of the field and took a tremendous shot from 20 yards out to beat the keeper.

Goalkeepers: 
Madison Neuendorfer (1st Half) – 4 saves
Kirsten Petersen (2nd Half) – 3 saves

Recap: From the opening whistle, the East Region 2002 team had their hands full with the Costa Rica league champions, Saprissa. Their strong movement off the ball and high restraining line forced our players to adapt to a quicker style of play. The Costa Rican side also finished some good chances and the East Region found themselves down 4-0 at the half. The East Region regrouped at halftime and came out to play a much improved second half scoring a goal and only allowing two against. The East Region grit and determination showed through in the second half. We will take the lessons learned from this match into our next two matches. Chloe De Lyser was voted the USA player of the match by the Saprissa coaching staff.

Opponent:  Moravia
Result:  East Region 02 Girls 4 – Moravia 2

East Region Goals:
1 Giovanna Castorina
2 Chloe DeLyser
3 Megan Donnelly
4 Brooke Burzynski

Goalkeepers:
Kirsten Petersen (1st Half) – 4 saves
Madison Neuendorfer (2nd Half) – 3 saves

Recap: The East Region had a strong performance against Moravia on Sunday night and came away with a 4-2 win. The team adjusted well to the speed of play of the Costa Ricans and scored early in the half. The group defending was exceptional and the early goal gave the team confidence. The team showed tremendous growth from their earlier game and exhibited excellent possession and passing skills throughout the game. The team scored two more goals in the first half to go into the locker room with a 3-0 lead. Alex Taylor headed a ball off the goal line in the waning minutes of the half to keep the Moravia team scoreless. In the second half the East Region would score another goal early in the half. The spirited Moravia team did not back down and battled with 2 goals of their own. The East showed great team depth bringing on seven players in the second half to fight for the win. Hannah Antonick was chosen as the USA player of the match by the Moravia coaching staff.

Opponent:  Dimas Escazu
Result:  East Region 3 – Dimas 3

East Region Goals
1. Brina  Micheels – 13:00- Brina won the ball in midfield and dribbled centrally to beat her defender and then hit a left footed shot from about 30 yards to beat the keeper in the upper left corner.
2. Gabby Oudin- 39:00 – Gabby intercepted a pass and chipped the keeper from 25 yards out.
3. Megan Donnelly-50:00- Megan crossed a ball from the right flank to a forward running into the box. The keeper made a good save and Megan followed that shot and scored from ten yards out.

Goalkeepers:
Madison  Neuendorfer (1st Half) – 2 saves
Kirsten Petersen (2nd) – 1 save

Recap: The East Region had another strong performance for their third and final match in the  US Youth Soccer ODP Girls International Tournament in Costa Rica. The East scored three goals to tie Dimas Escazu 3-3 and finish 1-1-1 over the eight day event. Early in the first half Brina Micheels dribbled through two defenders in midfield and hit a rocket of a shot over the head of the Costa Rican goalkeeper. A few minutes later Gabby Oudin chipped the keeper, who was playing off her line, from about 25 yards out. Madison  Neuendorfer came up with a huge save at the end of the half off a direct kick and the East went into the locker room with a 2-1 lead at the half. Dimas Escazu would score 2 goals early in the second half. Megan Donnelly evened the score with a tremendous strike from 10 yards out to tie the game. The Dimas Escazu coaching staff selected Megan Donnelly as the USA player of the match. This event was a tremendous event for the players and coaches. We leave today with wonderful memories, new friends and many lessons learned to assist in our soccer journey.

The US Youth Soccer ODP East Region 2004 Boys team wrapped up its trip to Costa Rica after some great experiences on and off the field. Check out a recap of their adventures, along with some photos, by visiting this page.

VIRGINIA FRIENDLIES

The US Youth Soccer ODP East Region 2005 Girls competed against some talented 2004 squads at the Virginia Friendlies…

Opponent:  EPA 04 Girls A
Result:  East Region 05 Girls 2-2 EPA 04 Girls A

Goals:
2nd min. – Lilly Short rounded the goalkeeper to score from a tight angle on the right side of the goal after a wonderful combination between herself, Wrianna Hudson & Jillian Gregorski.

34th min. – McKenna Newcome scored a chipped finish over the keeper and into the top right side of the goal after winning a half-clearance from the EPA defense.

Goalkeepers:
Naomi Glassburg (1st Half) – 2 saves
Shelby Pollard (2nd Half) – 4 saves

Recap: Good start for Region 1 as we moved the ball very well and found the extra player when building out and in the midfield early on.  The first goal was an excellent team goal, starting with our right back and working through a 10 pass move to make the simple finish for Lilly.  They pressed us as we worked on our build-up play and found some success on 18 minutes for the equalizer, but we showed a great deal of resilience to keep building our possession, learning from the earlier moments in the game.  In the second half, we pressed them very well and closed the space between Midfield & Defense, which allowed us to regain possession in their half.  Much of their success came from the physical dimension and differences between the teams, but we stood up to it well until they finally got their goal with 2 minutes left in the game.  Shelby made 2 excellent saves in the second half on 1v1 situations to preserve the tie.

Opponent:  North Carolina NC04 Girls A
Result:  North Carolina NC04 Girls A 3-1 East Region 05 Girls

Goal:
1st min. – Wrianna Hudson intercepted a pass out from the NC goalkeeper, rounded her and passed into the open goal after some great pressure from Katharina Probst & Olivia Grenda.

Goalkeepers:
Shelby Pollard (1st Half) – 1 save
Naomi Glassberg (2nd Half) – 2 saves

Recap: We scored very early on as the result of a great team press as they attempted to build from the back.  We had good spells of possession in the first half and made some half-chances for ourselves but did not find the second goal during that time.  We saw our greatest success when we kept possession and were able to change the point of attack from sideline to sideline, something the girls are working very hard to learn & use from our game-plan.  We gave up goals on counter-attacking moments, when our possession broke down, however the girls kept working to integrate the plan and saw more and more consistent success as the game went along.

Opponent: Virginia VYSA 04 Girls A
Result: East Region 05 Girls 0-4 VYSA 04 Girls A

Goalkeepers:
Shelby Pollard (1st half) 3 saves
Naomi Glassburg (2nd half) 3 saves

Recap: Very good performance by the East Region girls vs a very direct and physical VYSA team. They pressed us high and had some early success as we adjusted to the tempo of the game but as the first half wore on, we did an increasingly good job of holding possession, changing the point of attack and building possession through our midfielders. The second half was an excellent display of possession soccer. Our girls strung together passing moves of 10-15 and even 20 passes at one point, and created some great chances to score in the process. Overall a great weekend of growth for the team and a very positive weekend!

The US Youth Soccer ODP East Region 2004 Girls competed against some talented 2003 squads at the Virginia Friendlies…

Opponent:  Virginia VA 03 Girl’s B
Result:  East Region 04 Girls (3) vs. Virginia VA 03 Girls B (0)

Goals:
15 min. — Corner Kick by Avery Parks, flicked on with head by Nicole Wilson with a half-volley shot/ goal by Taylor Menter to Goalkeepers left.
35 min. — Emily Riggins slid a ball to her left to Alyssa Kenealy who penetrated on a dribble into the box for a low cross, where a defender committed a handball violation in the box, awarding us a Penalty Kick.  Alyssa Kenealy shot low to the GK’s left and scored
45 min. — Natalie Zibinskas intercepted a pass by the opponent in midfield and played a penetrating pass to Alyssa Kenealy who went 1v1, dribbled by the defender and shot past the GK (to GK Right) from 25 yds out.

Goalkeepers:
Martine Royds (1st half- 3 saves)
Kayla Bower (2nd half- 1 save)

Recap: Virginia put us under a lot of pressure in first 10 minutes.  We battled defensively, then found our rhythm with early entry balls from our defenders to the midfielders, who then 1-2 touch combined with each other to link up and spring in the forwards.  Once we found rhythm, we defended high and pressured quickly to keep the ball in our attacking end to create dangerous opportunities.  VA then went to very direct play, in effort to break our press with long ball play.  Our backs did a fantastic job of dropping off to keep play in front of them.

Opponent:  EPA 03 Girls B
Result:  East Region 04 Girls (1) vs. EPA 03 Girls B (0)

Goal:
25 min. — Quick combination play to Daniela Michaels who played Alyssa Kenealy in on a run that allowed her break behind the defender.  Alyssa then cut inside for a shot far post and goal.

Goalkeepers:
Kayla Bower (1st half- 1 save)
Martine Royds (2nd half- 2 saves)

Recap: EPA had much depth and a lot of physical presence.  It took a couple minutes again for us to adjust, but our backs did another great job keeping their attackers in front of them, jumping on passes to intercept them and winning big tackles.  Our midfielders exhibited great composure on the ball with good ability to absorb hard contact in tight spots.  They were incredible in breaking the pressure by breaking lines with their initial pass or looking to switch the point of attack.  Our wing players were much more involved today, finding themselves in 1v1 positions and having the confidence to penetrate at them.  We had many threatening crosses with many players crashing the box for volley and half volley shots on goal.  This forced their goalkeeper to make many saves.  Extremely happy with back to back performances as such.

Opponent:  North Carolina 03 Girls A
Result:  East Region 04 Girls (0) vs. North Carolina 03 Girls A (3)

North Carolina Goals:
5 min. — Lost possession in central midfield and conceded a quick counter with our backs going forward.  NC player got behind and finished the 1v1 shot vs GK for goal.
20 min. — Lost possession in wide midfield, lacked pressure and slotted a ball between 2 backs with a backside runner getting in with a shot and goal
38 min. — Turnover on our goal kick, player in quick transition finished with a breakaway goal

Goalkeepers:
Kayla Bower (1st half- 2 GAA, 1 save)
Martine Royds (2nd half- 1 GAA, 3 saves)

Recap: The score does not truly represent how well the team played.  North Carolina punished us on a few mistakes we made, utilizing their pace and strength to quickly counter-attack on us and get in behind.  North Carolina was a well organized team with a plan to beat us with big passes and in transition.  They executed well.  We did not lack opportunities ourselves, earning 5 corner kicks, and a few threatening shots that had North Carolina on their heels at times.  Our team showed our technical ability with good ball movement and build up when we gained possession.  What has been impressive is how many numbers we get forward and into the box, at times getting 5-7 in the attacking third.  However, North Carolina got us when we had these numbers forward and too flat.  We did not have the balance in support to lay off or prevent the counter.  Though we made adjustments, 2 goals against proved too much to come back from as fatigue became a factor too.  This team made the staff and parents extremely proud with their will and determination.  They earned many great results, were extremely productive and very receptive to the game plans.