Sleepy Hollow Football Club Blaze are Winter Champions!

The Sleepy Hollow Football Club Blaze won the Chelsea Piers Connecticut 2007 Girls Winter League beating the Chelsea Piers team in an exciting back and forth match.

Chelsea Piers came into the game as the top seed after a compiling a very impressive 9 – 2 record in the regular season. The Blaze also had a very successful run in the regular season, coming in second place with an 8 – 3 record, with 2 of the loses coming against Chelsea.

The Blaze started the game as the aggressor with the trio of Julissa, Gemma and Lizzy bringing a consistent attack. The backline of Kayla, Gaby and Ellie supported them ably while bringing several booming shots on goal. Strong goalie work and a resilient Chelsea defense kept the game at 0’s long enough for Chelsea to regroup and begin counterattacking. Led by a strong midfield Chelsea had several scoring opportunities that were nicely thwarted with a determined defense and strong goalie work from Emily.

With the match opening up, Julissa was able to take advantage of a nice feed from the defense and outstanding speed to get the Blaze on the board first, 1 – 0. Continuing the attack Julissa was able to find Gemma on a nice combination play to put the Blaze up 2 – 0 at the half.

Not backing down in any way, Chelsea continued a strong push in the second half. The deep Blaze roster was necessary to keep the Blaze fresh and the Chelsea off the scoreboard. Meghan joined the strong backline making several key stops while distributing the ball nicely. Julianna joined the frontline brining her consistent tenacious play. Zoe joined the fray with several nice offensive runs and shots on goal. Cassie jumped in up front as well, distributing the ball nicely.

Despite continued strong play in the backline by Kayle, Gabby, Ellie and Meghan and great work in goal by Emily, Chelsea made things very exciting with a goal midway through the second half. With the game getting more wide open and the time running out both the Blaze and Chelsea kept up their strong play. The confident Blaze defense was able to stop some well-constructed Chelsea attacks and the offense was able to mount several counterattacks with their trademark power and speed, providing the Blaze with a well-earned 2 – 1 victory.

Coaches John Sutherland, Chris Junge and Annette O’Hanlon asked a lot of the girls (and their families!) this Winter and were very impressed with the way this dedicated group responded. The coaches and girls appreciate the huge fan support from the extended families and the 2002 SHFC Girls Mustangs who came out in support of the team this past Saturday.