North American Finals Saturday
U13 Girls: Washington Crossfire 3 BW Rhode Island 1
 Saturday, November 17
TAMPA – The second day of group play at the Super Y-League North American Finals began on field six at Ed Radice Sports Complex in Northwest Tampa. A 9 a.m. match between the top two teams in the U13 girls group A bracket, Black Watch Rhode Island (9-0-2) met the Washington Crossfire (10-0-1) in a battle of undefeated northerners.
The middle of the pitch was not much good to the girls on either side and both teams attacked, end to end, throughout the opening ten minutes.
The Crossfire struck first. Nearing the midway point in the first half Washington’s Gwen Bieck found enough time in space to get off a shot from just inside Rhode Island’s half of the field. The ball hovered longer than the Rhode Island goalkeeper expected and dipped just under the crossbar to give the Crossfire a 1-0 lead in the first half.
Only the fourth goal allowed by Rhode Island this season, they looked to answer immediately with a deep ball and pressure up the end line. Midfielder Michaela Conners ran at Crossfire goalkeeper Julia Chusid before dishing back across the penalty area to teammate Paige Almedia. Almedia’s one-time strike had Chusid beat high and to her right, but the shot caught too much of the crossbar and was knocked down and out by a Washington defender.
Switching back to attack, the Crossfire hounded a ball send into Rhode Island’s defensive third. The torrent of pressure eventually forced a misread by Black Watch’s goalkeeper and an open look at net for a Crossfire striker. Shaylene Page was the beneficiary as she knocked home a 2-0 advantage for the Washington heading into halftime.
“Our girls have responded well to the long flight and playing at 6 a.m. our time,” said Washington Crossfire Head Coach Todd Schilperoot. “Coming in I was worried about that, but so far we have been ok. Our close combination play has been a bit out of sorts and we err on the side of long ball a little too often for my liking. We need to improve our play through the middle on the ground and stop relying on our speed advantage up front.”
Rhode Island answered their first half letdown with some offense of their own in the early minutes of the second half, but Washington’s Liz Zitnik dashed any hopes of a comeback midway through the frame with a waist-high driven ball to the back post from just outside the area.
The match looked to be in hand for the Crossfire but Rhode Island’s Taylor Levy made it a two goal game with enough time left to hope for a miracle. On the goal, a dead ball situation, Levy drove a ball at the back post, a shot very similar to the first goal of the game by Bieck, but to the opposite side of the net. It had the same result and made the final score 3-1.
“Teams from the Northwest have to travel quite a ways to see teams they are not used to playing against and this tournament is full of teams we would love to face,” said Schilperoot following the match. “Yesterday I watched the Atlanta Silverbacks play the team from Glendora California and both teams were very talented sides. I also caught some of the Quickstrike SC match and the Cleveland Internationals game. All four are tough. Hopefully we play another good game tomorrow and have the chance to advance to play one of those teams.”
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