91 Coastal United
NCYSA President's Cup Champions
The women of Coastal United finished their
fall season with an impressive victory in the President's State Cup as NC State
Champions. This past season saw the finest soccer in the history of the 91
team. They won the Adidas Labor Day Shootout in Greensboro in September. The
team finished third in their the Classic Eastern Division 1 bracket. Capping a
winning season, Coastal fought hard to win the State Title. Injuries, family
emergencies, hot weather, cold frost, and hundreds of miles of travel were not
enough to slow these winners down. The team now qualifies for the President's
Cup Regional's in Columbus, Georgia in June 2008.
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COASTAL UNITED WOMEN'S TEAM
DOMINATE 2007 REGIONAL PLAY IN TAMPA, FLORIDA
Dreams can’t come true? Don’t
tell that to the Coastal United U-17 Women’s soccer team based out of New Bern.
This group of Women won the right to represent the state of North Carolina in
the Southeast Region in Tampa, Florida by winning the Classic First division in
North Carolina this fall and the State Championship in Greensboro in December
06. Coastal had a perfect season, winning all 13 of their games and having
accomplished the success of never being scored on first in any game all season.
The trip to Tampa was a square off
against the best teams in the 12-state southeast region (from North Carolina
down to Florida across to Oklahoma and Texas and every state in between).
Coastal’s assignment was to take on the giants of the soccer world in Tampa
last weekend (Jun 8-10) and emerge the Southeast Region Champions of the
President’s Cup. This was no small feat for a bunch of girls from a very small
town in eastern North Carolina. In fact, no other Women’s team from New Bern
had ever made it to the Regional's.
For some of the ladies, playing on
the big stage at the University of South Florida was a bit intimidating as
whispered comments could be heard, “I just want us to give a better account of
ourselves than Charlotte (1-3 at last year’s regional)” or “hey, at least we get
to go to Disney World.” The soccer fears and thoughts of Disney came to an
end on Thursday night when Coach Jen Brennan addressed the team. “This is a
business trip,” she said. “You now represent not only yourself, your teammates,
and New Bern soccer, but the entire state of North Carolina. You must embrace
this challenge with class and commitment!” They got the message.
Out of the chute, they played the
17th ranked team in the nation out of Houston, Texas on Friday
morning. This was a titanic defensive struggle with both teams playing
hard-nosed defense. Berit Hansen anchored the defense with her sparkling goalie
play. She had great support from the defensive front led by Monica Golike,
Kelsey Hansen, Ashley Johnson, and Jessica McDonald. Though the scored ended up
0-0, Coastal United emerged from this game with a sense of confidence. The
whispers were gone and the talk of Disney World was put on hold, they now knew
they could compete with the best.
The pent-up emotions had been
unleashed and they showed it in their second game later that afternoon against
the Florida state champions. The team persevered through the nearly 100 degree
temperatures and it was now the midfield’s time to shine. This group of girls,
Elise Cader (just returning from ACL surgery), Lisa Clay, Megan Garris, Jillian
Reed, Alisia Gustafson, and Bethany Teague controlled the game and continually
fed the front line of Porter, Hemphill, and Allen, with passes leading to easy
scores by Reed, Porter, Garris, and Gustafson. The only thing that could stop
them in this game was mother nature. The game was held up in the second half
for over an hour due to lightening. However, the real lightening had been
bottled and released in the form of Coastal United as they won the game 4-0.
Prior to the start of the third
game on Saturday morning against the state champions from Tennessee, Coach
Brennan was heard giving Jillian Reed the low-down on the game. Her words were
that that the team had to go out strong and win 4-0 to ensure a place in the
semi-finals. Heeding the coach’s guidance, the team did just that, and again,
the offense took over. Forwards Katie Allen, Chaney Hemphill and Alisia
Gustafson were impressively fed the ball up the field by midfielders alternating
between Porter, Cader, Cella, Reed, Clay, and Teague. The defensive core of
Johnson, McDonald, Golike, Hansen, and Hansen were instrumental in this game
ensuring that no goals were scored against them, which could have been critical
in determining overall points and team placement in the semi-finals.
In the end, the combined speed and
athleticism of all of the Coastal players proved to be too much for the
Tennessee team. Porter, Reed, Hemphill, and Gustafson found the back of the net
early and often in beating Memphis with a score of 4-0.
Though enjoying the win, they all
knew the real test was on the horizon. A Texas shootout would be awaiting them
in the semifinals later that afternoon against the 8th ranked team in
the nation out of Dallas and only one team would be left standing.
Much like their earlier game with
the South Texas champions, this was a game marked by intense defensive play.
Credit again goes to Golike, McDonald, Johnson, Hansen, and Hansen as they had
their hands full early on keeping the ball out of the net during more than
enough attempts on goal by South Texas.
As the game progressed, the
intensity, excitement, and heat increased. But neither team backed off and
neither team blinked. Whatever physical play Dallas threw at them, Coastal
United matched. When the whistle blew and the dust had settled, it was a 0-0
tie and a real soccer shootout would ultimately decide who would go on to the
big Championship game.
Each team was given 5 alternating
shots from the penalty spot. Texas went first and their first shot was snuffed
out by goalie Hansen. Reed stepped up for Coastal and calmly tucked the ball
into the left side of the net for a 1-0 lead. Texas evened the score on their
next shot. Garris came up and smoked a ball to the right corner only to have
the goalie come up with a beautiful save. Texas came back with their third
kicker and scored to take the lead 2-1 and seemingly take the momentum. It was
short lived. Porter came through with a shot to the left to knot the score 2-2
with two kickers left for both teams.
The pressure was mounting which
made the 95 degree temperature seem like 195. The fourth kicker for Texas
struck a great ball that was heading to the upper right corner. Somehow Hansen
stretched her full frame and got two fingers on the ball. It was enough to push
the ball just wide. That save defined the grit and determination of this team.
They were simply not going to blink first.
Riding that new wave of adrenaline
Gustafson sent a rocket shot into the right corner for a 3-2 lead. Teague
awaited her turn as the fifth Texas kicker had to make their last shot just to
tie or it was all over with. The Texas player missed and Coastal United was
going to the championship game on Sunday morning. When Teague was asked later
was she glad she didn’t need to take her penalty shot her comment typified the
attitude of this team. “I have prepared my whole life for this moment, I was
ready if needed.” As one Coastal parent summed up the game, “I guess we really
can mess with Texas.”
The Championship was one for the
ages. It would have made all of eastern North Carolina proud. Coastal would be
playing the 3rd ranked team in the nation based on
nationalsoccerrankings.com out of Oklahoma with several of its players
having played on the national team. Oklahoma drew first blood with a blast from
about 25 yards out midway through the first half. Coastal now found themselves
trailing the game for the first time all season Compounding the challenge was
the fact that the hard-nosed play of Jillian Reed would be lost due to a knee
injury sustained near the end of the first half.
At halftime, Coach Brennan rallied
the girls by reminding them “it’s not the size of the dog in the fight but the
size of the fight in the dog that matters.” They took it to heart. They
unleashed a bombardment on Oklahoma. Hemphill took a shot that hit the post.
Gustafson made a great move and just missed wide left with one shot and hit the
post with another one. Teague just missed with a header wide right and Porter
was robbed by a tremendous goalie save. Though nothing seemed to find the back
of the net, the message was being sent –there would be no quit in Coastal.
Finally midway through the second
half, Gustafson found herself the recipient of a great pass from Hemphill and
nailed a shot in the upper right corner to even the score 1-1. The score
remained tied for over 80 minutes and set up the most dramatic two minutes of
the Coastal players’ soccer lives. With time ticking down, Teague threaded a
pass to Gustafson who was immediately taken down with a hard foul about 28 yards
out. McDonald, the calm and cool resident direct kick specialist, lined up over
the ball as the referee moved the defensive wall two yards into the penalty
box.
Jessica’s MO all game long had
been to set the ball out to the left and give the other players a chance to run
under it. So with her teammates on the left drawing the goalie slightly to that
side of the net, Jessica ripped a shot to the upper right corner of the goal.
It slipped in just under the crossbar and past the lunging arms of the goalie.
Coastal came away with a 2-1 victory to claim the Southeast Regional
Championship!
These girls had done it. Many of
them had been together since they were 8 years old. They had banded together
from four local High Schools - New Bern, Havelock, West Carteret and Gramercy,
and showed that dreams incubating over the years in the hearts of little girls
on backyards of eastern North Carolina can come to fruition on a national scale.
