The VYS Hurricanes won the NVSC Fall Classic Soccer tournament going undefeated in four games and only allowing one goal in the entire tournament.
Throughout the tournament, the team took the opportunity to showoff the skills, tactics, and teamwork they developed this season. Every player was at the top of their game. What a way to end the season!
We came out strong in the first game, defeating the PWSI Courage 3-0. Courage showed good skill and was a much more worthy opponent than the score reflects. However, they proved no match for our defense. Our attacks on goal nearly always started with our backs working the ball forward to our midfielders who leveraged combination plays to penetrate the defense. Christine scored our first goal on a beautiful cross from Sarah. Lauren scored our second goal, firing hard on goal and bouncing it off a defender, into the goal. Caitlin, receiving another superb pass from Sarah, scored the third goal.
The girls really shined in our second game, defeating McLean Silver 1-0. We limited their offense to only one shot on our goal while we took nearly twenty shots on theirs. Delaney, who normally plays sweeper, played forward for only five minutes in the second half and managed to take two shots on goal. McLean only crossed the midfield onto our defending half once in the second half. Caitlin scored our single goal.
Sunday morning we faced the NVSC Mystics Blue. The Mystics were hungry to win and they played a very physical game. Coach Robson told the girls that they had better skills than our opponents, and they should rely on those skills. The girls listened and turned in their best performance of the tournament, winning 3-1. Lindsey scored first, receiving a pass at midfield and driving to the goal to go one on one with the goalie. Not long after, Christine repeated the play, receiving a pass at midfield and driving to goal to go one on one with the goalie. Sarah sealed our win scoring a goal from the right corner, near the goal line on a powerful strike that went in just under the cross bar.
Our final game was played against NVSC Arsenal. They too played a physical game, but our girls were well prepared. We won 2-0. Sarah scored our first goal on a PK after Arsenal had a handball in the box. Caroline scored our second goal after receiving a pass from Caitlin. Arsenal came very close to scoring on us when they got the ball past our goalie and sent it to the center. Nicole, however, read the play, beat the ball to the center, and cleared it to save our shutout.
While our goalie, Hannah, had made many spectacular saves in the regular season play, thanks to the skill and coordination of our backs, she was not highly challenged (for the most part) in this tournament. Emily, Nicole, Katie, Rachel, were confident playing possession soccer on their defending half and sending the ball forward when a teammate got open up field. Delaney, playing sweeper nearly the entire tournament (she was only subbed out once for a few minutes in the second game), used her blinding speed to catch and stop every attacker who broke through before they could go one on one with the goalie.
Sarah, Caroline, Mia, Carolyn, Emma, and Caitlin played mid field and used accurate passes, verbal communication, and cuts and faints to penetrate defenses. Caitlin and Caroline were both very strong in the center, connecting with Sarah or Mia to attack on the right and Carolyn or Emma to attack on the left. The passing accuracy was the best of the season.
Christine, Lindsey, Lauren, Morgan, and Marisa were our primary forwards. These girls played very aggressively, using their speed and foot skills to get around defenders, connect with one another, and fire on goal.
The parents and coaches are very proud of our team.
