U8 Girls Sapulpa Strikers Place Second!

There are 6 girls on the roster, but unfortunately only 4 of them were present to play in the tournament, so they were without subsutions (4v4).  Amazingly, they were able to hold their own against teams with as many as 8 players.  As shown in the attached pic from left to right they are Molly McCool, Katelin Hamilton, Tori Wolfe, and Kelsey Gordon.  Head coach Greg Hamilton and Randy Gordon istant.  Kelsey was the real stand out in the tournament as she always is, scoring 11 of our 13 goals.  Molly was our other forward and she added 2 of her own along with several ists.  Katelin and Tori did a great job holding up the defense allowing only 13 goals in 4 games (a pretty good stat in U8 4v4 soccer).  Here are the game breakdowns:

Game 1 Sapulpa Strikers V Union Cheetahs Saay 5/14 11:00 AM

Result: 2-2 tie.

Scoring: Kelsey Gordon 2 goals

Game 2 Sapulpa Strikers V Tulsa United Carnegie Courage Saay 5/14 3:30 PM

Result: 5-3 Strikers win

Scoring: Kelsey Gordon 4 goals, Molly McCool 1 goal.

Game 3 Sapulpa Strikers V Broken Arrow Swipers Saay 5/14 7:15 PM

Result: 3-2 Strikers win.

Scoring: Kelsey Gordon 2 goals, Molly McCool 1 goal

This was a must win for the Strikers to get into the championship game (a tie or worse would have allowed the Swipers to go to the championship game).  In the second half, the score was tied 2-2.  For most of the second half, the ball had been on the Strikers end of the field as the girls began to wear down from a long day of soccer with no subsutions, but the Striker defense did a great job of keeping it out of the net.  Then, with less than a minute left, Kelsey made a break away attack putting a great shoulder duck move on their sweeper and had the goal wide open to score the go ahead goal for us.  It was a great finish.

Championship Game Sapulpa Strikers V Broken Arrow Hornets Sunday 5/15 2:45 PM

Result 6-3 Hornets Win

Scoring: Kelsey Gordon 3 goals.

It was only a small let down for the Strikers not to win this game.  By this point in the tournament, we all knew the girls had given everything they had to play the games and we were all so proud of them just for being in the championship game.  I think they really had a chance to win it and were leading twice at 1-0 and 2-1.  In the end, I think the lack of subsutions and the other team’s ability to put fresh players on the field was the differing factor.

Also participating in the tournament from Sapulpa were the U8 Boys, Sapulpa USA coached by Mike Fielden and the U12 Boys, Sapulpa Predators coached by Mike Adams.  I think both teams did great in the tournament with USA at 2-1 and the Predators went 1-2.