The Breakers 98 girls played in their second tournament of the Fall 2013 season last weekend (Aug 17th/18th). They fought a great battle for the entire tournament and ended up taking 2nd place.
This tournament marked their first games without a Carson Cash, an extremely effective player who was usually able to settle the ball for the team, draw numerous opponents to her and then distribute out to open teammates (not to mention her uncanny ability to score from her midfield position and to fire off amazing set piece kicks). Her departure will be felt by the girls on and off the field for sure!
Along with Carson missing, the team, now numbering 15 players was also missing Alyssa Miller for the entire weekend, Keeley Christiansen for all of Saturday's games and Paloma Torres Hernandez for Saturday's late game. Luckily, they were able to pick up guest player Taylor Rivas from Breakers 99 for the entire tournament.
With only 1 - 2 subs on Saturday, the Breakers managed to win both games. Game 1 goals came from: Lauren Inman, who scored from a far out shot as she was playing as an outside defender who pushed up, saw her chance and nailed the shot from about the 35th yard line;  Paloma Torres Hernandez scored the second succinct goal off a cross delivered by Geneva Schlafly. Game 1 ended in a shut out of 2-0.
Game 2 ended in a score of Breakers winning 5 - 1. Scoring players included: Geneva Schlafly, who had a hat trick of 3 goals, Hannah Hansen scored 1 goal, Veronica Roth-Madrid also scored 1 goal. Assists were also made by Geneva Schlafly, Lauren Inman, Mackenzie Wessell and Lauren Winkler, who assisted on 2 goals. Unfortunately by the end of game 2, Hannah Hansen was knocked to the ground so hard there was concern of concussion and Taylor Rivas injured a leg muscle.
Game 3 on Sunday concluded in a tie of 0-0, followed by sudden death overtime where neither team scored. Breakers ended up winning in a penalty kick shoot out when their opponents shot 1 goal over frame and the Breaker's goalie, Sadie Collins, blocked the opponents last shot. All of the shooters for the Breakers made their goals (1. Genevieve Plageman, 2. Geneva Schlafly, 3. Paloma Torres Hernandez, and 4. Lucy Zicarelli...the last shooter wasn't necessary).
Game 4 was the play off game.  The Breakers scored first from a through ball given by Geneva Schlafly to Lauren Winkler. Lauren Winkler drove the ball with electric speed and an opponent at her side as far down the field as she needed until she launched a perfectly timed shot over the head of the goalie in to the back of the net.
The Breakers held their opponents, Mt Hamilton, all the way until the last 12 minutes of the last half...when Mt Hamilton broke down the defense.  This time Mt. Hamilton drove the ball down the left side of the field getting around the Breaker's  mid and  the outside defender, the goalie came out to make another epic save but this time Mt Hamilton managed to dink the ball around the goalie and shoot the ball into the net from the wide left side. Valiant efforts were made by every defender, including Lauren Inman who caught a piece of the shot and was almost able to block the ball from going in... but the shot was strong and too high to block. The Breakers came back w/ extreme intensity but mistakes started happening and the Breaker's normally sweet game of possession was turning into frenzied passes out to nobody in particular. The opponents took advantage of the Breaker's errors and ended up playing most of the rest of the game on the Breaker's defensive half. Numerous shots came off the Mt Hamilton boots and one more Mt Hamilton shot ended up in the back of the net with 6 minutes left in the game. Mt Hamilton took the championship this time, beating the Breakers 2-1.
If you'd like to see a Breaker's game first hand, the Breakers will play their league opener on Saturday (9/7) at 2pm at the grass field behind Cabrillo College. Sunday (9/8) the Breakers 98 g will play another home game, their first State Cup game at 2pm.Â
