The South Jersey Elite Barons U16 Girls team have won their flight of the MSSL Winter College Showcase held at Fort Dix and Mercer County park. The MSSL showcase is one of the largest on the East Coast and attended by hundreds of colleges coaches. The Banshees were playing their first games together having just finished playing the season with their respective High School teams but didn’t take long to get back into playing their style of soccer.
The Girls started off strong in their first game against Alleycats Predators (New York East) but were unable to capitalize on any goal scoring opportunities, despite having the better of the play and possession it was the Alleycats who took the lead. A cross-come shot floated over goalkeeper Sarah Burke (Williamstown H.S.) head into the side netting, five minutes later Burke bravely snuffed out a 1v1 throwing herself at the strikers feet to smother the ball. The Banshees fought back and just before the half time whistle Katie Vecchio was put in behind the Alleycats defense, and calmly fired the ball hard and low into the bottom left hand corner of the net.
The second half had much the same feel as the first, with the Banshees on the ascendency with the majority of possession and creating the clearer chances. Its much testament to the teams defense that Burke would not have a save to make in the second half. Instead it was the Alleycat keeper who would see most of the action. The Barons dominance finally told as they were to score the game winning goal, a neat passing move resulted in Kristen Neidrach finding the back of the net.
The girls afternoon game was against Loudoun Soccer Club (Virginia) who proved to be a tough opponent who were quicker to the ball and technically more efficient. The girls struggled to get a foot hold in the game and could not get into a passing rhythm due to the opponents aggressive pressure. Most of the second half was spent in the Barons end however excellent defending limited Loudoun to only one shot at the goal that Burke watch go wide of the goal. The second half saw a much improved team performance and the girls could well have walked away with a win after several close attempts on goal in a 10 minute spell of dominance toward the end of the game, however the game finished 0-0 which was a fair result.
On Sunday morning the girls played Smithtown Kickers (New York East) and started of in dominant fashion, passing the ball with ease and dominating possession, however the final ball was missing and Smithtown were able to shut down all the Banshees attacks. With favorable conditions in the second half the girls class shone through and some excellent possession and combination play in the opponents half led to several clear cut goal scoring chances. The best one coming when Kristen Neidrach (Shawnee H.S) whipped in a cross that Danielle Spinuzza (Williamstown H.S.) volleyed into the side netting, only it was the outside of the net she found.
All the possession deserved a goal and with 10 minutes left Sarah Bockius (Shawnee H.S) picked up a loose ball about 40 yards out and set herself up on her right foot and hit a rocket that just dipped underneath the cross bar giving the Smithtown keeper no chance of getting near enough to make a save. The 1-0 win against Smithtown had the girls standing top of their flight with 7 points and the Alleycats hot on their tails with 6 points. A win in the final game would give the team their first tournament win in several years.
The final game was against STN (Pennsylvania West) who had only let in 1 goal in their first three games. The girls saved some of their best soccer for the last game and were in control of the tempo from the start. The girls were in a stingy mood and rarely gave up possession were first to most loose balls. The offense created several scoring opportunities in the first half but again weak finishing meant the score would be 0-0 at half time.
The girls started in the second half with a new 4-3-3 as they were looking to get ahead early in the half, and the tactical switch paid of as right winger Kristen Neidrach got free down the right and side and crossed the ball to the back post where Danielle Spinuzza was there again, this time she connected with her weaker right foot, and sent the ball looping over the goal keeper in to the top corner to give the Banshees a 1-0 win and a place in the history books as the MSSL Winter College Showcase Champions :-)
