Forget the Barclays Premier League title race for drama, this past weekend鈥檚 nailbiter was the Island Invitational Cup final which set Comox Valley鈥檚 U13 Girls Thunder sponsored by Tenth Street Chiropractic against their fierce rivals Saanich Fusion FC.
The first half was dominated by the Thunder with their high pressure defence compressing the Fusion in their own end and keeping them from mounting any sort of attack. Thunder were able to attack down both sides of the pitch with speed and clinical passing from Grace, Nikola, Brook, and Justine whipping crosses into the box for Thunder鈥檚 attacking players on several occasions.
In the middle of the pitch, Haley and Charlotte combined fantastically and had several opportunities to put Thunder ahead, but just could not get the ball past the steady Fusion keeper to the oohs and ahhs of the fans.
Time and again the CVUSC's attack would be thwarted by the stingy Fusion defence in the final third and yet so too was Thunder's defence with Rachel and Abbie giving no room for the Fusion attacking outside midfielders to turn or move the ball towards the Thunder end.
The dominance of the first half was clear in the manner with which the two centre backs, Jayden and Natalie, could freely move over the halfway line to keep the Fusion attack from getting into gear, knocking first time balls back into the Fusion end. At half time, coaches Ash Mohtadi and Sandy Grant noted the confidence, pressure, and strength the team had exhibited in the first half and urged them to keep up the pressure.
And within a few minutes, Thunder found the net with a beautiful finish by Olivia in the goal area from a corner kick set piece. This put Thunder up and surely with the strength of their defending would be enough to win the hard-fought game. But tell that to Camryn who a few minutes later made a fantastic counterattacking run by herself from near midfield to finish with a powerful strike putting Thunder up 2-0.
Surely now Fusion would concede the game and fold. But this was not the case, as they came back even harder pushing girls into attacking positions. Lizzie, Emma, Abbie and Danielle were courageous in keeping the unrelenting Fusion attack from capitalizing and it looked like Thunder would hold off until the end. Then with five minutes to go the unthinkable happened, a lovely dipping volley from about 20 yards out made its way just over the outstretched hands of the Thunder keeper and under the crossbar: 2-1 with four minutes to play.
Much to the surprise of the CVUSC coaching staff, this did not seem to phase the on-field Thunder girls who continued to mount attack after attack with fine midfield play from Maddie, Zoe and Brynne, hedging their bets in the process, but coming very close to scoring a third and fourth goal.
Sighs of relief and cheers of joy came when the final whistle was blown and Thunder's season came to a memorable end as Vancouver Island Cup 2012 champions. Well done to all the girls from both teams who played their hearts out on the pitch that day!
鈥� U13 Girls Thunder
