Arsenal Flash Finish Second in the Lincoln Cup!

Tournament Recap:
Arsenal Flash, U11 girls finished 2nd this weekend in the Lincoln Cup annual soccer tournament. The girls played a great tournament finishing pool play 2-0-1 with the top seed in Sunday’s final. Arsenal defeated LSC Fire 5-0, tied CBFC 97 White 4-4 and trounced LSC Fever 4-0 to secure their place in the final. With a hard fought battle in a hot final, Arsenal came up just short and was defeated 3-4 with only seconds left on the clock.

Kali Coates led the offense with 5 goals and worked hard for the team in the goal as well as midfield and up top. Kelsey Gansebom, Mary Bennett, Jayden Barth, Jaden Thiem, and Kenzie Lambert all joined Flash as guest and/or secondary players. All contributed greatly to the team and Gansebom got her first 3 goals of the season stepping up at the midfield and forward positions. Jayden Barth helped support a hardworking midfield as well and got a couple of goals through the tournament to add to the tally. Mary added one as well. Kenzie helped out offensively keeping the opponents defense on their toes with her physical style of play. She also stepped up to help out in the goal.

Major Kudos go to our exceptional defensive efforts led by the 3 in 1 combo of Rachel Ballard, Kelsey Schense and Taylor Walenz. All 3 girls worked together as a unit and wreaked havoc for their opponents. Distributing the ball well for quick counterattacks helped the entire team continue to beat down the opposing goal.

Amanda Karstetter stepped up to score the first goal for the Flash in the championship match, lighting the fire for a major comeback on a 2-0 deficit. The girls all fought to a 3-2 lead with less than 10 minutes left in the match but fell just short in the 3-4 loss in the finals.

Other notable moments included the first run in with CBFC when Jayden and Mary both attributed goals in the last minutes to tie the game at 4 a piece. The girls cooled off on Saturday between games in a water balloon fight and of course managed to soak their coach after all was said and done.

Goal keepers for the weekend helping to allow only 8 goals and 2 shutouts were Lindsay Kalina, Kali Coates and Kenzie Lambert.

Thank you to all the parents for their support and the girls for working so hard through a hot and gruesome tournament!

Coach Amanda Sackett