Blaze Women Show Great Development

The New Jersey Blaze women continue to go from strength to strength in their inaugural season. Proving that they have great talent across all age groups, both the women and U20s squads put in a number of impressive performances against tough opposition in their respective leagues.

The squad includes many women from the region, including East Brunswick High School student Christina Estremera.

The senior team, who are up against some of the best squads on the east coast, are growing together to create a strong unit with every game they play. Having tied current league leaders New York Athletic Club (NYAC) with a very small squad at the beginning of the season, the Blaze are now five games into the 2011 campaign and head coach Erwin van Bennekom is extremely pleased with their progress.

"The team is getting better and better, using a good combination of experienced college players," he said. "Sara Keane, Nicolette DeLaurentis, Veronica Rhea, Sarah Senoyuit, Kaitlyn Wylie, Jody Sokol, Claire Thompson and Casey Walsh have all proved their worth as impressive individuals on the field. However, we also have some top-quality younger players working hard to become starters, giving us a lot of choice. Emily Hansinger, Olivia McEachern, Shannon Westhead, Alyssa Findlay, Courtney Kovac continue to give all they've got. I couldn't be happier with how they are working together."

A huge test came for the Blaze against the NY Fury on June 11. Another first-year organization that is aiming to develop a squad for Women's Professional Soccer, the Fury used a number of former WPS players to overturn a resilient but short-staffed Blaze 2-0.

"They were a top class team," van Bennekom continued. "Our young squad - including seven starting high school players - did extremely well by keeping them to only one goal per half. It was a great team performance despite the result."

The Blaze took what they learned from this experience to claim three points against Chelsea Metro on June 15. Thompson's strong work from central midfield allowed her to break through and score two goals, including a volley from 20 yards out, finishing the game 2-1. However, the Chesapeake Charge managed to work home field advantage in their favor as they triumphed 3-1 over the girls three days later on June 18.

"Despite a poor first half, we recovered after half-time and got back into the game," the head coach continued. "After Shannon Westhead scored from a Olivia McEachern assist, we had the momentum and could've tied it up, though it wasn't to be. Still, it was great to see us getting back into the game after half time."

Van Bennekom's confidence with the squad has recently been justified by the performance of his U20s squad. Using high- schoolers alongside a number of budding WPSL starters, the Blaze have claimed a full nine points from three games, including a resounding 5-0 victory against last year's YPSL champions and local rivals the Millburn Magic. They also had an impressive 4-2 triumph against FC Premier.

"All-in all, we are developing a great program for U16s and over," van Bennekom added. "Both teams are mainly based on juniors and seniors in high school, alongside freshman in college, making us a younger and less-experienced squad than most league rivals. However, our talent more than makes up for this and I can see us getting plenty more points in the next five games."

The Blaze women look to carry the organization's torch over the coming weeks, with games against the Chesapeake Charge (June 30) and NYAC (July 8). Also on July 8, the Blaze men resume their campaign after three weeks of rest, following on from their 6-0 defeat away at FC Sonic Lehigh Valley.

The New Jersey Blaze are members of the National Premier Soccer League and Women's Premier Soccer League, the highest levels of amateur soccer in the United States. They are part of the New Jersey Soccer Group, a management company for a family of soccer based organizations offering a full range of soccer services in New Jersey.