VISITING
AUTHOR/EDITOR ARTICLE
JULY
2011
Carpathia
Kickers
Newsroom
2011
Forwarded
by Carpathia Donauschwaben
The Undefeated
Kickers Win Portage Tournament
by
Shelly Watkins |
The Carpathia Kickers U13 girls team just put an exclamation
point on their undefeated spring season.
This
weekend, the girls claimed the championship at the Portage
Classic Tournament in Portage, Michigan, going 4-0 and winning
the final game in a dramatic penalty kick shootout. Winning
the tournament was a big feat for the team, as they’ve
played seven games in seven days.
The
Kickers defeated TKO 3-0 and Kalamazoo Crew 7-0 on Saturday,
then CATS from Grand Rapids 4-1 Sunday morning before
advancing to the finals. Against Michigan Alliance in the
championship, the match was scoreless after regulation and two
five minute overtime bouts.
In
the PK finale, the Kickers outscored the Alliance 3-1 and
helped themselves to first place trophies, hugs and high fives
and Creamstone Creamery ice cream before the 3-hour drive
home.
“I’m
very proud of the girls,” Carpathia Kickers head coach
Stefano Moraccini said. “They should be proud too. There is
one word that I’ve been preaching the girls all season and
that is ‘united’.” I tell them we go into a game united,
we stay united, we play united. They have worked hard together
and are learning to communicate more effectively and more
positively.”
Being
united has worked for the Kickers and it all started back in
November.
After
a tough fall season, the team completed a winter of strong
Saturday soccer. They went 19-1 indoor at Ultimate and 8-0 on
the 8v8 field at Liberty Park against U14 teams.
The
Kickers took that momentum outside this spring and went 8-0 in
league play and 2-1 in their state cup run. Their only loss
was to the eventual state cup winners, Hawks.
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Womens
Open A Win Big in Philly’ |
The Carpathian Women's team came in 1st at the 2011 National
Donauschwaben Tournament at the United German Hungarians Club in
Philadelphia, PA this past Memorial Day weekend. We beat Windsor
Teutonia 1-0 (Goal by Andi Redmond), Mansfield (defending
champs) 3-0 (goals by Shari Trandell 2 and Stephanie Plotzke 1),
and Philly UGH 1-0 (goal by Lyndsey Sleek). We went undefeated
and didn’t allow any goals against through the whole
tournament.
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Carpathia Kickers 2000 –
Girls Tournaments: 2011:
Carpathia Kickers 2000 – Girls Tournaments:
2011:
Novi Jaguar Cup 2011 Champions
Undefeated
21 Goals for / 3 against
Garden City Kickapalooza 2011
Champions
Undefeated
30 Goals for / 1 against
League weekend: The Saturday /
Sunday “Back to Back games weekend”:
Saturday May 21, 2011
CK’00: 4 / Midland Fusion Green (A): 2
CK’00: 6 / Midland Fusion Green (A): 1
Sunday May 22, 2011
CK’00: 8 / Vardar East ’01 (A): 0
CK’00: 0 / PSG Gators ’01 (A): 0
The Girls were able
to get 10 of 12 possible points this past weekend with 18 goals for /
3 against.
Womens Open A
Win 5th Annual Windsor Teutonia
Classic Tourney
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Back row from left to right – Stephanie Plotzke, Natalie Ennis
, Lisa Jesse, Lyndsey Sleek, Amy Trandell, Mary Leone, Front
Row- Katie Murphy, Andi Redmond, Megan Canty, Shari Trandell,
Lauren Turkington, Lisa Repicky on the ground Kasia
Przybyl(Coach). |
U11
’00 Boys Premier Take First Place in Nike Challenge Cup |
On May 1, 2011 the Carpathia Kickers U11 Boys were crowned
Champions at the Nike Challenge Cup in Dublin, OH. The weather
was dreary, but confidence was high as the Kickers team had won
this very tournament in 2010. On the road to the finale
Carpathia’s boys defeated teams from Bowling Green, KY, Beaver
Creek, OH and Pittsburgh, PA. In the preliminary matches they
managed to score a division leading 18 goals while surrendering
only 3.
The
Kickers showed true character in the final match coming back
from a 1-0 half time deficit. Their opponents, the Wolves of
Livonia, MI carried most of the play during the first half. The
coaching staff made some positional changes and fired up the
team with great success as the Carpathia squad dominated
possession and field position for the remainder of the match.
Tension was still very high as the match was tied 1-1 at the end
of regulation. After two 10 minute overtime sessions the match
was still tied sending the two teams into a shootout. The
Carpathia field players made 4 of their 5 shots. The Kickers’
goalie made in incredible save giving the team enough confidence
to go on to their 2nd consecutive Tournament
Championship.
Coach
Brian Birdsall commented saying “this was the most stressful
match I’ve ever coached.” No doubt it was also one of the
most rewarding. The team demonstrated their brilliant potential
in the preliminary matches. They also showed perseverance
battling through the conditions and a number of injuries during
the final. Michigan can be proud having two teams in the final
that played with such heart and dignity.
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The
Birdsall U11 A team as pictured from back to front, left to
right:
Coach Brian Birdsall, David, Noah, Steven, Alem, Alex,
Francesco, Coach Dino Cizmic, Nic, Parker, Blake, Grant, Evan
and Russ. As always, special thanks go out to the parents for
their tireless support and to Andrea Weidman, Team Manager, for
her time and efforts. |
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