lavalamp, Our Roving Cup Reporter is at Oppenheimer. I missed his call last night and he's already back at the conference today. He'll be home tonight, so I'll probably get an update then (but Fox Chapel is playing Norwin tonight and a victory party is scheduled for after the game, so an update may be delayed until tomorrow morning).
On the soccer front, the U-12 North Stars handly beat the U-14 Hampton team 7-1. Emily played goal in the 2nd half and Hampton scored with 24 seconds remaining. The North Stars had built a 5-0 halftime lead and did a lot of experimenting in the second half. Emily played a fantastic game with little help on defense. The older girls made her much more agressive and it was a fun game to watch, even if it didn't end in a shut-out. After watching last night's play, it looks like the North Stars will do very well indoors. Indoors puts a premium on foot skills and even though most of the opponents are 2 years older (and 3 years older than Emily, who just turned 11), the North Stars literally run circles around the opposition. Nicole's Cup team (Pittsburgh Strikers) also had trouble finding decent competion when they were U-12. As U-13 they played the boys and as U-14 they played U-19, but most of the games were jokes. At this level, the girl's play, practice, and coaching help quite a bit, and it shows more in indoor than outdoor. |
