Courageous U-15s Fall to Seacoast in Closing Minutes of State Cup Final

Aubrey Oulette Saving Yet Another Seacoast Shot

The U-15s took to the field in the NH State Cup Finals on June 1 against Seacoast United -- a team they have met twice this spring each time resulting in a 0-0 draw. This time no draws would be allowed. The girls started the game tentatively and the talented Seacoast attack brought persistent and dangerous pressure on the COE final 18. Aubrey Oulette's first half heroics in the goal kept the game from slipping away under the onslaught. Aubrey was nothing short of brilliant and despite several well finished shots, she brought her teammates to half time only down one nil.

The second half was a different story entirely. The Wanderers came out with purpose and energy and carried the play to Seacoast as often as did Seacoast. The game swung back and forth with gritty and inspiring effort from the midfield and up top. The COE girls broke through on a gorgeous ball delivered into the box by Alyssa Cappetta. Amanda Roberts leapt up and forward and headed the ball past the Seacoast keeper to bring the score even. Both sides pressed hard for the winning goal and Seacoast managed the task in the final few minutes of the game to take the State Cup and send the Wanderers home.

Granite FC's State Cup Runs

With Memorial Day almost upon us, the group stages of the NH State Cup are now concluded and its a good time to review how the four Granite FC COE entrants fared. Two of the four teams -- Steve's U-15s and Gary's U-17s -- are through to the finals (although in the interests of full disclosure it must be pointed out that the U-17s have been byed through to the final). The U-17s were State Champions in last year's U-16 bracket and we are all hoping that they will repeat again in June 1 against Seacoast.

The U-15s road has been more challenging. They have had to play World Cup, the Seacoast "A" and "B" teams as well as the Classics. They picked up two wins against the Classics and World Cup, drew 0-0 against the Seacoast "A" team and lost 1-2 against t he Seacoast "B" team. The best and most challenging match was last weekend against the Seacoast "A" team. the game was matched by very fast and physical play with scoring chances falling to both sides and with great defensive efforts and keeper heroics.

Aubrey, Dana and Jill Preparing to Defend a Seacoast Corner

Amanda Beating Her Seacoast Defender

This past weekend was another story. The girls' played two puzzling matches in which they struggled to find their form. Against the Classics, they drew first blood going up 1-0 but the U-15s then went flat allowing two goals and trailing 2-1 with as little as 12 minutes left in the match. At that point, it was as if a switch was flipped and the girls' started exerting consistent attacking pressure. The result was a four goal explosion that assured a 5-2 win for the Wanderers. These few minutes of explosive attacking play demonstrated to the girls exactly how dangerous they can be going forward. This late in the game effort assured the girls that they would go through to the finals regardless of the outcome of their final match against the Seacoast "B" team. In that match, a few players were forced to sit with nagging injuries. The rest took the field as if in a fog. Although the U-15s had passages of control, they never looked dangerous in the final 18. The lackluster effort was met with determination and effort by a surprisingly able Seacoast "B" squad. The COE girls' efforts were duly punished with a 2-1 loss.

Shawna Starting the Scoring Explosion Against the Classics with a Nicely Taken Penalty Kick

Alyssa Battling Hard in the Middle

While the U-15s have successfully charted a course through the group stage to the finals, the U-12s fell agonizingly short. Having drawn Seacoast 0-0 and beaten World Cup 6-0, all the U-12s needed to go through was a draw or a win against the Classics to get through to the final. In the end, the U-12s could not handle the task dropping a squeaker 1-2. Although the U-12s were storming the Classics' final 18 in the last 10 minutes of the match, the athletic Classics' players defended well and held onto the victory.

Tori Making One of Her Trademark Slides Against Seacoast

Averi Bringing the Ball Forward in Search of a Second Goal Against the Classics

The U-14s also had their share of bitter luck dropping an opening match against the Classics 0-2. The U-14s rallied to pick up a draw against the Express and a 4-0 win versus the Upper Valley Lightning. This left the Wanderers with the daunting task of extracting a win from the Seacoast United girls. The girls could not fulfill the task falling 0-3 to a very talented Seacoast squad.

Florida Spring Training

The girls styling their "Clearwater Beach" shorts

HC United and the Wanderers

Clearwater Chargers and Wanderers

Eleven of Len's U-12s returned last Friday evening from 5 days of training, friendlies and beach time in the Clearwater Beach area of Florida. The girls trained each morning for about 3 hours and played two evening friendlies against the Clearwater Chargers -- the girls' hosts for the week -- and HC United. The first friendly match against the Clearwater Chargers resulted in a 0-0 draw. The match was a physical affair in which both sides had opportunities in front of the net but neither side could convert. The second friendly match took place at the Ed Radice fields in Tampa against HC United. The HC United girls were very technical over the ball and were athletic. The Wanderers were reduced to ten players and two guest players from Clearwater -- Casey and Brianna -- but managed to hold their own in unaccustomed Florida heat. Nevertheless, for about 10 minutes in the second half the Wanderers lost their shape and concentration, made some poor decisions and paid dearly by giving up three goals in quick succession. Ultimately, the three goals stood unanswered resulting in a 3-0 loss. All in all, the week was a great experience of team building, training and play. It was a pleasure to get to know some U-12s from Florida and see the fine standard of play down there. It was also a pleasure to work with the folks from the Clearwater Chargers and we want to thank them for all of their hospitality. We hope that we can reciprocate some day.

Lenny Emerges From His Den (And Declares That Spring Has Arrived)!

Alby Showing Her Battling Qualities

Jo Getting Forward Nicely

Numbers Forward!!!!!

I am excited for the start of what is the most important phase of our year together -- the spring season. The most important soccer we play each season begins now and will end, hopefully, in nice State Cup and Paul Irwin Cup runs. I'm happy to say, the hard knocking we took last Fall combined with the work we've done this winter seems to have us well poised for those runs.

Our Fall season, simply by looking at results, cannot be considered a success. It was our first adventure into the top division of the MAPLE league. We did not let ourselves down and showed a lot of heart and determination in games that were real battles against some of the best teams New England has to offer. The girls always competed and were never out of even the toughest games. Technically we were behind a couple of the best teams in the division, but the real truth is that our physical size played the biggest part in getting on the wrong side of the score sheet. What the girls learned, however, was that they could find ways to cope with the sheer power of the best U-12 sides.

4 months on and going into our Spring season, the technical ability of the team as a whole has improved greatly. Speed of play has seen dramatic improvement and the movement of the ball is creating havoc for the teams we have played outdoors in the past few weeks. We dominated quite good sides in our 1-1 draws with Puma FC and Explosion FC not to mention the nice 3-1 win over Seacoast at the Western United Friendlies. Physically we are still not as big as the other teams, but the girls have developed such a winning mentality that they "Want It". We have come into the Spring season with a lot of confidence individually and as a team, showing a lot of vision and creativity, with and without the ball.

We have a number of big games this season and we will have our share of challenges to come. We can surely expect a much more cohesive and dangerous effort from Seacoast in May. You can never predict results but I am optimistic that we will see the best soccer yet out of this remarkable group of footballers.

Scorpions Bowl -- Part I

This past weekend, Len's U-12s took part in the first ever large outdoor tournament held in New England in March. Traditionally, outdoor play on a large scale in March has been impossible because snow is often on the ground or the ground is too wet and soft from snow melt or drenching late winter rains. With the growth in modern turf fields in the area, things have changed. It took the Scorpions to figure out that if you combine Progin Park in Lancaster and the Thayer Academy fields, with an area high school field here and there, you could host a serious tournament.

March 8 & 9 were the first two days of the tournament and it was a success despite heavy rains on Saturday afternoon and cold wind on Sunday. The fields were good and it was great to be outdoors against good teams. With the cancellation of the Nike Rush Cup in Norfolk, Virginia on the same weekend, it would appear that the days of New England teams being forced to Virginia tournaments in March may be a thing of the past. Props to the Scorpions for pulling it off.

As for the U-12s, they had a quality start to their spring campaign. The girls posted a 1-0-2 record over Saturday and Sunday and were edged out on goal differential from advancing to the semis and, who knows, maybe the finals. The first game against the Scorpions "B" squad kicked off in a cold fog at 9:00 am. From the outset, Len's girls were in command of the pitch. The midfield and back line controlled the game and generated nice sustained build up play that found our wide players and strikers in threatening positions over and over. The girls potted three unanswered goals and, had they been more clinical in front of the net, no doubt they would have put two or three more goals past the Scorps. Later that night, the girls would come to regret their profligacy.

The second game against FC Puma kicked off at 12:00 in cold and steady rain that picked up in pace as the game went on. FC Puma and the COE are well acquainted with each other having played three times over the past year. The girls know that if they do not concentrate from whistle to whistle the quick, technical Puma players are very capable of opening a 2 goal deficit in minutes. Despite the tough conditions, the girls buckled down and played a disciplined game. The center midfielders broke down most attacks. The defenders were calm and composed in dealing with the rest and distributed the ball forward with purpose and in a way that assured continued posession. The wing players got forward nicely and linked well with the strikers and other mids. The girls scored in the first ten minutes and threatened to do so several more times during the match. The second half performance was quite dominant and FC Puma rarely broke the COE down in the defending third. Alas, with a few minutes to go an errant goal kick and a little lapse in positional concentration allowed the ball to fall to a Puma player who cracked a nice shot from outside the box -- a cruel 1-1 draw was the result.

The girls came to rue the draw that night when they learned that FC Puma beat the Scorpions later in the day 4-0, allowing FC Puma to advance to the semis on goal differential.

Sunday came and the girls travelled to Thayer Academy to play a consolation match against Explosion FC -- another team that the COE girls know well. Like all of the matches played by these two teams, the game was very sharply contested. Again, the COE girls went up early 1-0. In the second half, Explosion threw numbers forward and put the COE flanks under progressively growing pressure. The girls' defensive shape suffered in the onslought and Explosion looked more and more dangerous. Eventually, Explosion found the net which resulted in a 1-1 tie.

All in all, a good weekend of play which highlighted some things for Len and the girls to work on. And unlike those teams that chose to attend the Nike Rush Cup in Virginia Beach, we got our games in!

Winter Hibernation, Hardly!

Historically, the chief impediment to maximizing soccer development in New Hampshire has been the weather. We are usually snowbound from late December or early January until mid to late March, with a two week, post melt mud season that further delays outdoor play on natural turf. Global warming seemed to be giving us more time on the front and back end but the middle has been as persistent as ever. This winter, its as if mother nature has decided it wants to strike back at the warming trend. Our field has been under a foot of snow since early December and a look at it on Sunday afternoon showed over a foot of the crustiest, toughest, multi metomorphosed snow clinging stubbornly to every inch of the pitch. We have yet to have a period of sustained warm temperatures so there has been no perceptible melting of the boilerplate that clings to the field.

Despite all of this, the COE teams have not traded in their cleats for skis (although we do have a number of skiers and boarders scattered across the teams) and we are not in a deep sleep someplace warm. The teams have all been training once a week at the NH Sportsplex. Many club members are doing weekly supplementary skills work and fitness sessions. The younger teams have been playing in indoor leagues and Len's U-12s, Steve's U-15s and Gary's U-17s have been hosting or attending 11 v11 tournaments throughout January and February. The level of commitment and training intensity has been good and we are hopeful that it will translate into results outdoors now that the season is upon us.

And the outdoor season is upon us, notwithstanding the snow still laying around the "Corp." Just to the south over the border and certainly south of Rt. 495, the snow is gone. The Scorpions' Bowl is upon us with Len's U-12s playing on March 8 & 9 and the U-15s playing on March 15 & 16. The Western United Spring Friendlies follow two weeks later for Len's U-12s, the U-14s and the U-15s. The U-17s will follow in quick succession with appearances at the MAPS/MSSL College Showcase and the PDA Spring College Showcase. MAPLE play commences the beginning of April for Len's U-12s and the U-10s, Region I subregional play begins for the U-17s and the U-15s the end of March and Ryan's U-12s will be picking up friendlies and GSYSL play in early April. The holy grail of youth soccer -- the State Cup -- beckons thereafter in the beginning of May.

So, its not easy to run a strong youth soccer program in New Hampshire from December through March but it can be done and it must be done to keep up the developmental pace set by our neighbors to the south and to develop to the highest levels possible. Good luck to all of the teams and players this month and into the Spring!

U-15s Go 1-1-1 in Texas

Megan Grass Winning in the Air

Hailey Kunkel Putting Dana On Notice that There Will be

Some Slide Tackling Competition in the Back Line

Aubrey Ouellet Setting Her Wall

McHale Perkins Making a Trademark Recovering Run

McHale Perkins Shielding After a Great Recovering Run

Amanda Roberts Flashing a Nice Stepover to Beat a Texas Spirit Defender

U-15s Styling the New COE Uniforms from LEGEA

We await full game reports from Texas, but this much we know -- the U-15 girls had a solid 1-1-1 outing in Dallas. They opened witha 1-0 win over the Texas Football Club, a very organized team that eventually went on to win the tournament. They fell 3-1 to the Texas Spirit and rallied for the thrid game on Saturday taking with a 2-2 draw against Blackwatch Texas.

Until we get more here are some photos from last Saturday's action in Dallas.