Fall 2006 Championship Game

Mid November has come to be known for a proliferation of leaves to rake, dwindling sun light, heated football rivalries and in the last three years exciting soccer playoff games between the Scotch Plains Blue Sharks U14 Girls intercounty team and Rahway.

The teams, which both entered the game unbeaten, had split their previous two plsyoff meetings making the November 18 matchup, won by the Sharks 2-1 as a rubber match between the squads, Like the previous two games, the 2006 rendition was also played at Rahway’s downtrodden field and contained many players who had participated in all three games.

Danielle Schweizer, one of the few Sharks who had not played the past two years, scored a goal in each half, the second on a brilliant breakaway midway through the second half. Schwiezer took a perfect through pass from Lauren Buckley and with a marksmen’s precision beat the goalie from twenty yards.

Schweizer had opened the scoring in the first half when she rebounded Emily Cohen’s shot that had hit the post. Rahway tied the score which remained knotted through the end of the first half.

Melissa McKenna was solid in goal as the Sharks took their first title in the U14 division after previously winning one in U12.

Also starring were Lauren Berk Erin Brown Amanda Rodriguez Jessica DiGiacomo Alyssa Young Rebecca DiGiacomo, Sarah Weber, Emma Kaplan, Sarah Lazarus, Toni Ann Capece and Kara Gaynor.

Fall 2006 Playoff Semi Finals

It was a game that had more twists and turns than a Coney Island Rollercoaster and as much suspense as the Virginia Senate race. It did not seem fair that there should be a winner and loser in such an evenly played game but with daylight dwindling in a brilliant November sky the rules said that penalty kicks would decide the semi final game between
the Scotch Plains Blue Sharks U14 Girls intercounty team and another Scotch Plains team and in that format it always helps to have a goalie as skilled as Melissa McKenna.

Like she had three times over the last three years, McKenna saved enough shots in the penalty kick shootout to allow her team to win. As in their championship game win against Rahway in 2004, Lauren Berk provided the winning penalty kick as the Sharks took the shootout 3-1 after the teams had battled through eighty minutes of regulation and two five minute overtimes to a 3-3 tie Saturday November 11 at Memorial Field in Scotch Plains.

Luckily for everyone involved, the coaches, sensing inclement weather for Sunday, switched the game and it was a classic with numerous lead changes and several spectacular goals.

Erin Brown put the team on top with a beautiful shot from a tough angle in the first minute but Scotch Plains bounced back to tie on a perfectly placed direct kick from Olivia Checchio. Amanda Rodriguez put the Sharks back ahead when she connected on a hard left footed shot before halftime but Scotch Plains tied it and then went ahead 3-2 with a pair of second half goals. It was the first time all year the Sharks trailed in the second half and the first time they had given up multiple goals.

With time running down, the Sharks were awarded a penalty kick on a hand ball and Jessica DiGiacomo tied the game with a well placed penalty shot. In the penalty kick shootout, DiGiacomo put the team ahead on the first shot and after Scotch Plains evened it, Alyssa Young put the Sharks ahead to stay with a well placed low shot. McKenna made her third straight save and Berk clinched it on the final round when her hard shot could not be held.

Also standing out for the winners were Rebecca DiGiacomo, Sarah Weber, Danielle Schwiezer, Lauren Buckley, Emma Kaplan, Sarah Lazarus, Toni Ann Capece, Emily Cohen and Kara Gaynor.

Fall 2006 Game 9

The chilly November air did nothing to cool off the Scotch Plains Blue Sharks U14 Girls intercounty team as they continued their relentless charge to a league championship
by blanking Kenilworth 6-0 in the first round of the playoffs Saturday November 4 at Memorial Field Scotch Plains.

Amanda Rodriguez provided the only scoring the team would need when she scored with her left foot from ten yards out in the first ten minutes. Sarah Weber added to the margin with a booming right foot shot from fifteen yards. Leading scorer Danielle Schwiezer also scored from long range as the team took a 3-0 lead into halftime.

Erin Brown opened the second half with a long left footed shot and Alyssa Young scored one of the most impressive goals of the game when she took a high cross out of the air and one timed the ball into the net. Lauren Buckley, a hero earlier in the week when she scored the tying goal for Park against Terrill, completed the scoring.

Melissa McKenna and Brown shared the goalkeeping duties.
Also starring were Rebecca DiGiacomo, Emma Kaplan, Jessica DiGiacomo Lauren Berk, Sarah Lazarus, Toni Ann Capece, Emily Cohen and Jessica Feeley.