Games 1 - 2 - 3 - 4- 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9
Tournament Games: #1 - #2 - #3 - etc.
* * First Playoff Game: Hillsborough 3 - San Mateo 0 * *
This was one of the team's best games of the season. Everyone played superbly. Despite having only 10-minutes per quarter, Katharine Wick and Nicole Carmine combined on two beautiful goals in the first quarter, one after a good pass from Emily. Victoria and Quincey had numerous nice dribbling moves to get past their defense and several nice passes, and almost scored on several occasions. Gianna scored on a pretty shot in the fourth quarter, after almost putting one in shortly before then. Emily, Meagan, Molly Gould and Nicky F. were quick and skillful all day, covering the entire field, controlling the ball, and preventing attacks by San Mateo. Kyla and Michelle both had very good games again, hustling well. The defense was outstanding. Katherine L, Melanie and Abby were flawless in the back, and Molly B played perfectly at sweeper. Christina and Molly G stopped the few chances San Mateo had, so it was a nearly perfect game. Great job, girls!
On the same day as the playoff, Coach Andy was presented with the Speilberg Award for his years of dedication to Hillsborough AYSO. Among other honors, Andy was distinguished as the founder and director of Winter League. Andy was extremely grateful for this award, as he knew Michael Speilberg and remembers him as a dedicated Hillsborough AYSO volunteer and wonderful person, and Andy is honored to accept this award. Go Coach!
Thank you to Coach Gene who complements Andy's character and personality like a glove, and offers his wonderful friendship, spirit and coaching skills to our team. To Janine Sturiale for organizing the impromptu pizza party, and to Brenda Wong who always remembers to rally the team to do something wonderful to acknowledge the coaches, and to the rest of the parents and familes whose support keeps this team, and our organization flourishing.
Game 1 - @ Burlingame 3 - 1
The team played a good first game of the season, losing to a tough Burlingame team 3-1. We started the first quarter well, with halfbacks Emily, Meagan, Katharine W and Molly G controlling the middle of the field, but we tired a bit and lost our defensive coordination for a minute, and Burlingame took advantage of it by dribbling free and then passing to the free player when our fullback was forced to step in front of the dribbler. The shot was unstoppable. We were not as strong in the second quarter, but we almost scored when Meagan took a beautiful shot that hit the top of the goal, and then Quincey's attempt to put it in hit the side goalpost. Later in the quarter, Burlingame made a nice through pass to its very fast forward (who apparently is the captain of SI's varsity soccer team), who scored on a breakaway. The second half was much better for us. In the third quarter, Justine and Victoria were working well at forward, setting up scoring opportunities. In the fourth quarter, Quincey kept getting free on the right side and finally took a shot that the goalkeeper deflected, but which Victoria put in the goal. We had several other opportunities, including a couple of great corner kicks by Molly G and good chances by Victoria, but we couldn't get one in. Burlingame scored with less than a minute left, when we were too tired to stay with their fast forward, who again scored on a breakaway. Overall, the coaches were not too disappointed, because we passed well and had more shots on goal than Burlingame did. Michelle, Gianna, Kyla and Bekah played well at halfback; Kirsten, Melanie (before she was too ill to play more), and Katherine L did a nice job at fullback; Nicky and Molly G were excellent stoppers; Abby did a great job with difficult corner kicks and high shots, and Nicole C and Molly B made many good clearing kicks at sweeper.
Game 2 -- 3- 2 Victory Over Real Millbrae
Our Hillsborough AYSO girls beat an excellent Millbrae team today (last yeaar's U-19 champions) in an exciting match. We dominated the first half, with Emily scoring on a corner kick from Meagan and Katharine W scoring on a corner kick from Justine, and then Nicole C scoring after a nice pass from Gianna, who received a pass from Emily. The defense held in the first half, with Katherine L making a great save, kicking the ball away on the goal line just before it went in, and Melanie, Katherine L, Nicole C and Molly B playing tough defense. In the second half, Millbrae scored on a deflection and a corner kick, but Christina made great saves to keep them from scoring any more, and the defense (with Abby and Emily also back) recovered after the two goals. Meagan, Emily, Justine, Kyla, Gianna, Katharine W, Melanie and Shannon (until she was injured) played very well in the middle of the field, helping us control the ball much of the time. Quincey had some great scoring efforts and passes. It was a wonderful effort by the team.
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Game 3 - San Carlos 1 - Hillsborough 0
We played the first half like most of the team had not practiced during the week -- which was true -- and like we did not have any of our regular forwards there, -- which also was true. Emily, Katharine W, Nicole C, Meagan and Molly G created some good scoring chances, but our shots kept missing or going straight to the goalkeeper. In the second quarter, we made one defensive mistake and they scored on one of their only shots. Other than that, our defense was great all day, with Molly B and Nicole C at sweeper clearing the ball well, Nicky and Melanie stopping the opponents repeatedly at stopper, and Rebekah, Katherine L, Abby and Melanie all having great games at fullback, and Christina and Abby doing well the few times the ball came to them. Our halfbacks played very well, with Meagan and Emily getting to anything near them, Michelle and Kyla hustling very well, and Katharine W and Molly G doing a great job covering the field and creating scoring chances. In the second half, Victoria gave the team a great boost at forward and the team played much better, but we still could not get it in the net. The ref says we took 47 shots to their 6 shots and we hit the post 2 or 3 times, but unfortunately for us, that's not what determines who wins.
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Game 4 - San Bruno 5 - Hillsborough 0
We were beaten soundly by a strong San Bruno team. Their forwards and fullbacks were too fast for us, and they did not make any mistakes. Meagan, Justine and Gianna were hustling extremely well today, and Molly G, Emily, Victoria, Quincey and Katharine W also created some good scoring chances, but we couldn't get a goal. Other than giving up a few breakaways, our defense played well, with Nicole C, Melanie, Molly B, Katherine L (In the second half), Michelle, Abby, Rebekah and Christina all having several good plays. Halfbacks Kyla, Emily, Melanie, Nicole C, Molly G and Victoria also had many nice passes in the losing effort.
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Game 5 - Pacifica 4 - Hillsborough 2
The team played a great first half against a good Pacifica team, scoring two goals. Abby played forward terrifically and had two assists, one to Emily (after getting a pass from Victoria) and one to Victoria on a great cross (after getting a pass from Emily). Pacifica's first goal was on a nice cross, but its second occurred when we could not clear the ball in front of our goal. Otherwise, the defense was great, with Katherine L and Melanie playing especially well, and Nicole C. and Molly B clearing the ball well, and Christina coming out well to catch the ball or force a bad shot. Molly G also had some nice offensive plays, and Michelle, Kyla and Rebekah hustled well on defense. It was nice for Quincey to come for the second half, but then Melanie had to leave, which hurt our defense. Still, the defense held in the third quarter, with Victoria playing center fullback to help Katherine L, Nicole and Rebekah, all of whom made many nice defensive plays. Quincey, Abby, Victoria, Molly G and Emily had some good scoring chances in the second half, but we couldn't quite find the net. In the fourth quarter, with Melanie gone, Nicole C out because she was not feeling well, and Molly B playing with an injured foot, we couldn't keep up with Pacifica. It was too hot to play 90 minutes with only one sub and expect to win. Good effort, girls!
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Game 6 - Hillsborough 3 - San Mateo 0
The girls played extremely well today, scoring three in the second half to win. Justine had 2 goals and an assist, Victoria had a goal and an assist, and Meagan had an assist, all on nice passes. Molly G, Emily, Quincey and Abby (who again played well in the field) also had good scoring chances. Kyla played one of her best games of the season, and Gianna also had a good game. Everyone passed the ball well, and did a lot of hustling to get to the ball. The defense was terrific, with Nicky F, Molly B, Katherine L, Michelle, Meagan and Rebecca at fullback, and Christina and Abby at goalkeeper, clearing the ball when necessary and combining to prevent any goals. It was great to have 15 girls at the game.
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Game 7 - Daly City Ninjas 1 - Hillsborough 0
Despite the score, this was one of our best games of the season. We passed and defended very well, and controlled the ball more than half the game. We had several scoring chances against a team that has allowed just 2 goals in 6 games. We played 90 minutes with only one sub. Great job, young ladies!
Meagan and Nicky were all over the place today, getting to nearly every ball that was near them, and making many great passes. Meagan also had a wonderful shot that the goalkeeper had to bat over the crossbar. Victoria, Justine, Quincey and Emily also played very well, hustling a lot, passing beautifully and creating numerous scoring chances, including a close shot by Victoria (after a great dribbling move and cross by Quincey) that the goalkeeper saved and a few shots by Emily that the goalkeeper was able to control. Kyla had another very good game, passing well. Michelle hustled well and got to many balls in traffic. The defense was great. Their one goal was a 35 yard high shot that the wind took into the top of the goal. Other than that, the defense was very solid, with Molly B in the right position all the time and clearing everything near her, Melanie stopping her player every single time, Katherine jumping in to get the ball numerous times, and Christina catching the ball when they shot from close range and kicking it well.
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Game 8 - Millbrae 5 - Hillsborough 1
The 12 Hillsborough girls at this game played quite well, but were outmatched by a faster, more skilled Millbrae team. It is tough for our team to play the better U19 teams, especially if we don't have a few subs. We had a particularly good first half, holding Millbrae to 2 goals and getting a few good scoring chances ourselves. Justine hustled very well all day, as usual, and had some nice give-and-go's with Victoria. Victoria scored our goal in the second half on a nice play, and had a number of good passes that created scoring chances.
Quincey just missed scoring (hitting the crossbar), and Quincey got open several times for crossing passes that just missed their intended targets. Emily had a very good first half, taking our best shot of the half, which Millbrae's goalkeeper just barely stopped, and making a number of good passes and other passes that just did not connect. Molly Gould had another very good game, defending Millbrae's best player (Stephanie) very well, running hard for the entire game, and taking a number of good long shots. Gianna had one of her best games, hustling so well that she often beat Millbrae to the ball and helped set up our attack. Michelle also had one of her best games, charging the ball often, getting open for passes in the middle of the field, and passing the ball well to the forwards. Melanie had a very good game on defense, stopping the super-quick Stephanie many times and clearing the ball many other times. Katherine also had an excellent defensive game, often beating Millbrae to the ball, and making many good passes to Molly Gould and others. Molly Barry cleared the ball away often, and had some nice defensive plays, especially in the second half. Nicole Carmine cleared the ball well in the first half and played aggressively at stopper, and then had several good passes when playing halfback/forward in the second half. Abby Jones had many terrific saves, including one where she dove and the shot deflected off of her face (ouch). However, Millbrae shot too well, getting one score on a nice looping shot just under the crossbar, another on a good cross right in front of the goal, and two on "bullet" shots by Stephanie.
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Game 9 - Belmont 1, Hillsborough 0
The team played another excellent game, although we lost again. Belmont scored in the first quarter, when we had only 10 players, and each team was scoreless in the remaining 3 quarters when it was 11 vs. 11 (although both teams had shots that hit the goalpost). Christina had a great game, making numerous tough saves. Meagan, Molly G and Nicky also had excellent games, hustling well throughout the game and giving us several good chances to score. Meagan and Molly G took some good shots, too. Quincey also had some good scoring chances, though their very speedy #6 was too hard to beat. Emily had a good game at center halfback, setting up several good scoring chances and almost breaking through for a goal until their #6 made a great defensive play from behind. Gianna played very well again at halfback, as did Katharine Wick. Melanie and Katherine Lebo were terrific on defense, often stopping their excellent, quick #7, and clearing the ball well. Molly B. also cleared the ball away many times to prevent Belmont from shooting. In the fourth quarter, Victoria entered the game and gave us some good scoring opportunities, making it exciting, but we could not get one in. Another great effort.
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