Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Dracut Soccer Girls State Finalists

Girls…. Are they tough enough? These girls were mentally and physically tough enough and it paid off. The Dracut, Girls Under-12-1 team finished an amazing season, full of hard work, endurance, lots of mud, ran, heat and humidity, as Finalists at the state championship at the Massachusetts Tournament of Champions (MTOC) in Lancaster.

It was not an easy road for these girls’ they had to fight for every inch to get to the MTOC final. The team finished with a regular season record of 8-2-0, good for second place. As a second place team they earned the opportunity to play for the “wild card” spot in the league semi-finals. To earn the “wild card” spot they played Chelmsford on a muddy, rainy Monday night. Still tied after a full game, and two overtime periods, they went to penalty kicks (PK’s). Dracut won after 9 penalty kicks, with their keeper Rebecca Fisher stopping the final Chelmsford attempt. The Dracut girls then won the second game against Reading on Wednesday night for the final spot in the league semi-finals. They were the “under dogs” on their way to the Commissioner’s Cup.

On Saturday morning Malden gave the Dracut girls a tough game in the semi’s. Still tied after a full game, and two overtime periods, the Dracut girls once again lined up for PK’s and won the semi-final. On Father’s Day, the Dracut girls played an excellent Tewksbury team in the finals. Tewksbury was tough opponent to play on a very hot and humid day. After being tied 1-1 at the end of regulation play the Dracut girls went to overtime & PK’s against Tewksbury and won. They are the Girls Under 12 Division 2 Champions for the Middlesex Youth Soccer League (MYSL) and went to the state championship (MTOC) in Lancaster to represent the league. This was definitely a Father’s Day to remember for coaches John Lane, Jim Fisher and all the team dads who watched their daughters work so hard all season.

In Lancaster, Dracut won two out of three of the round robin games which earned them the “wild card” spot in the state semi-final. They were again the “under dogs”. The MTOC semi-final was played on Sunday morning, with Dracut playing against an excellent Leominster team. The game remained tied after both regular time and overtime sending the game into PK’s. The Dracut girls took some excellent shots on net and won the semi-final 3-1 on PKs. That Sunday afternoon, Dracut played their final game of the season against a very talented Carver team. Dracut played hard, controlling much of the game but Carver scored the winning goal with 2 ½ minutes left in the game to win 2-1. Dracut simply ran out of time, if only it had gone to overtime & PK’s…

These girls, this Dracut GU12-1 team, the MYSL Division 2 Champions, the Second Place Girls Division 2 team in Massachusetts, are also known as Jessica Carnevale, Lauren Chapman, Hailey Cockroft, Caleigh Collamer, Emma Daly, Rebecca Fisher, Rachael Flores, Kayla Gooch, Joni Hill, Valerie Hines, Shaye Lane, Kendra Kukulski, Kiersten McElhinney, Rachel Santos and Emily Tierney. They were coached by John Lane and Jim Fisher this year, supported by their family, friends and of course their “good luck charm”. We are ALL so proud of each and every one of you girls!!