In some of the first games of the day on Saturday, the Girls U15 Rockville Centre Dynamite defeated the Brentwood
Thundercats, 4-2 to capture their second consecutive LI Cup championship, while the U13 Smithtown Fire, and the U16 Lake Grove Power also won titles.
For RVC, this was a bit easier than last year’s game, which went to penalty kicks. But you wouldn’t know it by the 1-1 score at halftime.
“We lost to Brentwood 1-0 in the middle of the season, so there was motivation at halftime not to repeat that,” said coach John McCarthy. “Everyone worked really hard, all 17 girls worked really hard in the second half, and that was the difference.”
“The girls were so flat in the beginning there,” added fellow coach Alex Hadjiyane. “The trainer had a good talk with them, telling them to play a little more aggressively, but play within themselves.”
The Dynamite came out firing in the second half and built a 4-1 lead against a very skilled Brentwood team. Their ability to keep the pressure on throughout the final stanza was a key in the victory.
“I think the girls came out in the second half and were really energized,” McCarthy said. “We scored a goal in the first minute or so after the break and the team just kept the pressure on after that, and that made all the difference.”
For the Smithtown team, it was a similar group effort that helped them defeate a very good Garden City team.
“It was a team effort, a complete team effort,” said coach Tim Harney. “The girls worked really hard and continued to try and push. I have to give Garden City a lot of credit. They’re a very athletic team and they worked very hard as well. The biggest thing for us was we moved the ball fairly well, so we tried to keep the ball moving. We played a lot of one touch, two touch, which I think helped us out in this situation.”
Lake Grove defeated a strong Valley Stream team, but according to the players, it was just their day.
We were just on today,” said Allie Merkle. “We passed well and possessed the ball. Most important, we didn’t let any goals in.”
“We possessed well, and we do a good job of communicating,” added teammate Katherine Cioffi. “The good thing is that we had a lot of chances and we finished them.”