United Quest Blue '85 Athena (U-14) - Spring 2000 Game 1 - Won 3-2 vs. Cherokee Lady Knights

This page was last updated on March 19, 2000.

Game 1 vs. Cherokee Lady Knights:

• Saturday, March 18, 2000, 12:00 Noon at Canterbury 3. Weather conditions: Sunny and cool with a strong wind. The field was in good overall condition. It was slightly moist from some recent heavy rains, but this didn't have any effect on the game.

We had played the Lady Knights twice last year when both teams were in the Athena U-13 "C" division. Cherokee dominated and won the first game 2- in the fall. In the spring rematch, the Quest came from behind on a picture-perfect goal by Sally to tie the game 1-1.

This was the Quest's first game of the spring league season. The team would be a little short-handed today. Christina was away at an orchestra event, so we'd play with only 1 substitute. Meagan took over Christina's normal stopper role, with Charlsey moving to sweeper (Meagan's normal spot) and Jillian taking Charlsey's spot at right defender.

The Quest got off to a good start. Quest midfielders and defenders were winning more than their share of loose balls, but the team was not yet clicking on offense. But that started to change.

In the 9th minute, Elisa got open for a ball at the top of the Cherokee penalty area. She took a touch into open space toward the right goal post and raced to the ball. But a Lady Knight defender stayed right on her shoulder. Elisa stopped the ball with the sole of her foot to set up a turn. She she saw Rachael coming in from behind, so she backed off. This froze the defender, which gave Rachael a clear view of the goal. Rachael was about 8 yards out from goal, just about even with the right goal post. She calmly hit a lofted ball over the keeper into the left side of the net. Goal Quest and a 1-0 lead! This was a great example of heads-up play by Elisa and Rachael.

The Quest struck again five minutes later. Jessica worked the ball up the right sideline, and as she got into the Cherokee half, she found Elisa with a pass just outside the top center of the penalty area. Elisa had two defenders on her. She turned, beating the first defender and getting inside position on the second one. This gave her just enough space to setup a shot. Elisa is an excellent finisher, and she showed her skill with a well-placed shot away from the keeper.Goal Quest and a 2-0 lead!

The Quest kept pressuring for most of the rest of the half, but weren't able to score another goal. Halftime came with the Quest looking strong and leading 2-0.

As expected, Cherokee came out fired up to open the second half. Three minutes into the half, they earned a corner kick. The Quest defended the first one, but gave up another in the process. Another defensive effort resulted in another corner kick. There's an old saying that "the third time is the charm." It was for the Lady Knights, as the third corner in the series sailed over the Quest's near-post defender, and a Cherokee player was there to knock it in. This cut the Quest lead to 2-1.

Six minutes later, the Quest gave up another corner kick on the other side of the field. The ball got loose in the penalty area. A Quest player tried to clear it, but didn't get a good foot on the ball and it went directly to a Cherokee player just outside the penalty area. She had time to setup a shot. She shot high. Jillian made a great effort to head it away, but it was too high for her and the ball grazed off the top of her head past Big J into the Quest goal. This was a great effort by Jillian, but a touch of hard luck. A 2-0 Quest lead was now a 2-2 tie with 26 minutes remaining.

The Quest looked frazzled for the next 10 minutes or so and never got into their normal offensive gear. The defense held tight, though, with Charlsey, Jillian and Meagan all doing well in their new positions and Lauren holding her own against Cherokee's most dangerous player (#22, Monica).

Slowly but surely, the Quest started to build a little possession and work the ball into the Cherokee end. With 9 minute remaining, Jessica got open for a pass in the Quest defensive end, just inside the right sideline. She beat the first defender and had open space in front of her. She setup the next defender and blew by her, then did the same to a third defender. The Lady Knights defense was now unbalanced, with only one defender in the middle to cover two Quest players. Jessica saw the number advantage and crossed the ball into the middle of the penalty area.

Kaelen and Elisa raced to the ball, as did the Cherokee defender and goalie. They all converged at the top of the goal area. The keeper missed the ball in the crowd. Kaelen got a foot on the ball and sent it toward the goal. The defender partially blocked it. The next couple of seconds seemed like a ketchup commercial as the ball ever so slowly trickled toward the goal line. The defender tried to get in position to clear it, but Kaelen was determined, and she fought through the crowd to get there first, pushing the ball into the far left side of the goal to end the suspense. Goal Quest and a 3-2 lead with 9 minutes remaining.

The Quest's will to win kicked into high gear now. The girls weren't about to give up the lead again. The defense denied the Lady Knights any more good chances, and the offense worked the sidelines and corners to control the clock. The final whistle came and the Quest celebrated a hard-earned 3-2 win.

Goalies: Big J (full game). Jessica was tested a few times and played well. She made the save of the game when she blocked a corner kick shot midway through the second half soon after Cherokee had come back to tie the game.

With today's win, the Quest's spring regular season record is now 1 win, 0 ties and 0 1osses. The Quest earns 5 points for the win.

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Created: 09/11/99 Revised: 03/19/00