The Wildcats travelled to Monclair to open their regular season as U12's. The girls were raring to go after having a two week rest following their 2nd place finish at the Branchburg Labor Day tournament. After a lengthy delay securing a referee, and then a lengthy chatty referee check-in the Wildcats and Cyclones finally took the field at 2:45pm.
Both teams opened up by struggling to control the ball on the very lumpy and bumpy field, but the Wildcats' hard work at practice to over-exaggerate technique paid off, as they settled down, maintained more posession and started to make things happen.
In the thirteenth minute a ball was fed up to Hannah Malian, who checked back to the ball, turned quickly to her left and released a beautiful defense-splitting pass to space on the right side of the 18. The lead pass was perfectly weighted for Amy Moore to run onto and release a powerful near-post shot that beat the keeper and put the Wildcats up 1-0.
Midfielders Sydney Sapir, Brianna Pinto, Siobhan McCarthy, Rebecca Weippert and Amy Moore along with defenders Mattie Gagnon, Liz Pensebene, Andy Janiszewski, Rachel Matthews and Breanna Dougherty shut down most attempts from Montclair to advance the ball which was evidenced by the fact that keeper Lindsay Hutton on touched the ball 3 times the entire first half. Forwards Julia Radosich and Hannah Malian worked hard to keep the Montclair defense and keeper on their heels all half.
After sitting out the first half with a headache, Chelsea Orban said she'd try playing, and started the second half in the back. Chelsea showed no signs of illness as she helped maintain a solid line of defense for the Wildcats. Brianna Dougherty stood between the posts in the second half as Lindsay Hutton took the field up front. The Wildcats continued their dominant play in the second half and were rewarded on the 11 minute mark when a ball was floated into the box to Lindsay Hutton who brought it down and re-directed it to the middle of the box where Julia Radossich ran on and pounded the ball home. As in the first half, Brianna Dougherty only touched the ball three times as the Wildcats' midfield and defense took control.
Wildcat team spirit was high all game long as we had our injured player, Paige Burton, make the trip to Montclair and spent the game on the sideline with the coaches and subs. The Wildcats continue their season next week with a home game at Rock Spring Park against Franklin Township