YANKEE UNITED F.C. - COLLEGIATE ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT
Fall 2015
SABRINA TOOLE ~ UCONN ~ SOPHMORE ~ CENTERBACK
Sabrina leads the University of Connecticut women s soccer team in total minutes played .The Freshman Centerback started all ten games for the Division 1 Huskies playing in all but 11 minutes.U Conn is currently ranked 2nd regionally in the NSCAA poll with a 8-2-1 record.
SHEA CONNORS ~ ST JOHNS ~ SOPHMORE ~ FORWARD
Shea is currently the second leading scorer for the Division 1 St Johns NY.recording 2 goals and a assist for 5 points. Both goals scored were game winners. Shea has played in all of the 4-5-0 Redmens games starting in two of them.
KIANA RUGER ~ UNIVERSITY OF ALBANY ~ SOPHMORE ~ FORWARD
Kiana a red shirt Freshman forward for the University of Albany was named Womens Soccer Rookie of the week in the America East Conference.Conference. Ruger scored the lone goal for her team vs URI capping of the week with a 2 goal 1 assist performance vs St Peters.
SHELBY MECKSTROTH ~ SEWANNEE ~ JUNIOR ~ FORWARD
Shelby has scored 11goals while leading her Division 3 Sewanne Tigers to a 5-2-1 record. Eairler in the year she was named the SAA Women s Conference offensive player of the week
2013
DANA COSMEDY - SACRED HEART UNIVERSITY
FRESHMAN - MONROE, CT
FORMER TEAM: YANKEE UNITED STARS
Fairfield, Conn.--After scoring her first collegiate goal on Friday in the Pioneers 2-1 win over Cornell, Dana Cosmedy (Monroe, Conn.) of the Sacred Heart Women's Soccer Team was named the Northeast Conference Rookie of the Week.
Cosmedy scored the game-winning goal to lift the Pioneers in the victory against Cornell. Six minutes after Cornell tied the game, Cosmedy netted the game-winner in the 57th minute on a cross from teammate Kristen Verette. This was also Cosmedy's first collegiate goal.
KRISTEN FORSTER - YALE UNIVERSITY
SOPH - TRUMBULL, CT
FORMER TEAM: YANKEE UNITED FORCE
JERSEY CITY, N.J. – On Saturday against Harvard, the Yale women's soccer team had a number of quality scoring chances early in the game but couldn't capitalize. Against Saint Peter's on Tuesday, the Bulldogs were far more efficient. Yale scored on its first two shots and cruised to a 2-0 victory over the Peahens on a raw night at Cochrane Stadium.
Miyuki Hino and Enma Mullo had the goals for the Bulldogs, while Kristen Forster added two assists. Ayana Sumiyasu made four saves in goal to post the shutout.
Yale (4-6-1) jumped on the board just 1 minute, 58 seconds into the game when Mullo tallied her second goal of the season.
Neither team had a shot over the next 14 minutes until Hino beat Saint Peter's goalkeeper Erin Ronan at 16:53. Forster and Kate Macauley assisted on the goal.
The Peahens (3-9) answered Hino's goal with a flurry, but Sumiyasu made two saves in the next five minutes to keep them off the scoreboard.
Saint Peter's best scoring chance came late in the first half, but Valerie Kay's shot deflected off the crossbar.
The Bulldogs controlled play in the second half, outshooting Saint Peter's 7-2.
The shutout was the 11th of Sumiyasu's career. Ronan finished with three saves for the Peahens.
MALLORY SMITH - WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY
SOPH - HAMDEN, CT
FORMER TEAM: YANKEE UNITED FORCE
Mountaineers Stun No. 5 Virginia
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The West Virginia women’s soccer team stunned No. 5 Virginia, 1-0, Sunday afternoon at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium behind Mallory Smith’s game-winning goal in the 83rd minute. Today’s crowd of 1,376 saw WVU defeat its highest ranked opponent in school history for the second straight season.
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Blake Miller jumps into the arms of Mallory Smith following her game-winning goal against No. 5 Virginia.
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All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks phot
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“I’m very proud of the effort our ladies gave this afternoon. We beat a College Cup contender in Virginia,” said coach Nikki Izzo-Brown. “Our defense was outstanding and our offense was dangerous at times. It was a hard-fought victory for this team in front of a great Mountaineer crowd.”
WVU, 2-1-1- against Virginia in its last four meetings, knocked off fifth-ranked Penn State, 2-1, last season at Penn State’s Jeffrey Field.
West Virginia maintained possession following its third corner kick of the match, leading to Smith’s team-leading third goal of the season at the 82:55 mark. Midfielder Bri Rodriguez played a ball into the middle that was knocked around in the box and not cleared by the Cavaliers. Smith stepped forward and struck a ball on the ground into the lower left corner for the 1-0 lead.
The Mountaineer defense was tough in the final seven minutes of a strong second half effort by Virginia to keep the Cavaliers off the board to record their third shutout of the season.
“The whole back line should be applauded,” said Izzo-Brown. “We held tight and competed against the nation’s No. 2 scoring offense. They had some chances but we made them earn them.”
WVU’s back line of Drea Barklage, Erica Henderson, Meghan Lewis and Bry McCarthy, along with goalkeeper Kerri Butler were stout in limiting Virginia to three shots in the first 52 minutes and six shots on-goal overall.
“We went in at the half and felt like we executed everything we wanted to,” said Henderson. “It really helped kick start our confidence along the back line and with Kerri. We knew Virginia would keep coming at us but we held strong in the end.”
Henderson was outstanding on the afternoon, winning 50-50 balls and challenging Cavalier forwards inside the box on countless possessions. The Rochester, N.Y., native came up huge with a pair of team saves along the goalline to keep Virginia off the scoreboard.
Virginia All-American Sinead Farrelly nearly put her team on the board in the 54th minute. Butler came off her line to force Farrelly to cut back inside, take a dribble and send a shot at the middle of the goal where Henderson stood tall at the goalline to deny the goal.
In the 60th minute, Henderson was there again to deny a Cavalier goal by stopping Meghan Lenczyk’s header in front of the net.
“Nikki talked about how good their front six was, so we were prepared to play this afternoon,” added Henderson. “Anyone who is competitive wants to be challenged, so I think our team embraced that and came ready to play.”
The Mountaineers had their best scoring chance of the second half in the 78th minute off the foot of forward Blake Miller. Miller received the ball at the top of box, turned on one defender and struck a ball just wide of the goal from 18 yards out.
WVU was dangerous at times in the first half, including the opening minutes of the contest. Forward Frances Silva raced up the right side on a ball from Lewis, attacking the goal as Cavalier goalkeeper Chantel Jones came up with the save.
Butler, who picked up her 33rd career shutout, made a brilliant save in the 22nd minute to deny Lenczyk. The senior goalie dove to her right, extending her arms out to make the save.
Five different Mountaineers recorded a shot on the afternoon while Virginia registered 14 shots led by Farrelly and Lenczyk’s four attempts each.
West Virginia improves to 4-3-0 on the season while giving Virginia its first loss at 6-1-1.
SOPHIE VALONE - BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY
SENIOR CAPTAIN
FORMER TEAM: YANKEE UNITED HEAT
Vallone hat trick leads No. 18 Brandeis women past Case, 5-1, in UAA opener
WALTHAM, Mass. – Senior forward Sofia Vallone (Westport, Conn./Staples) recorded her first career hat trick to lead the Brandeis University women's soccer team past visiting Case Western Reserve University, 5-1, in the University Athletic Association (UAA) opener for both teams.
With the win, the 18th-ranked Judges improve to 8-1-1, 1-0 in the UAA, extending their winning streak to seven matches and their unbeaten string to nine. The winning streak is their longest in a single season since 2004, while the unbeaten streak is the longest since 2003, both streaks that started the season. Case falls to 6-3-1 on the campaign, 0-1 in the UAA.
Many of today's goals were scored on long shots from outside the 18-yard box. The tone was set in the 10th minute, when senior Tiffany Pacheco (Rehoboth, Mass./Dighton-Rehoboth) sent a ball into the upper left corner from the top of the box for her sixth goal of the season.
Vallone scored the game's second goal in the 21st minute with a strike along the ground from nearly 25 yards away. Junior midfielder Alanna Torre (Weston, Fla./American Heritage School) picked up the assist no the play. The goal would prove to be Vallone's fourth game-winner of the season.
Case responded just 75 seconds later, cutting the lead in half when sophomore Kendra Simmons (Medina, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit) tallied her fourth goal of the season. She sent the ball just inside the near post from 20 yards out on a feed from sophomore midfielder Erica Sackett (Independence, Ohio/Newman Catholic) at the 22 minute mark. The teams went back and forth for the rest of the half, with the Judges taking just a one-goal lead into the break despite outshooting the Spartans, 11-6, and owning a 3-0 edge in corner kicks.
Brandeis extended the lead back to two in the 56th minute on the first of two connections between Vallone and junior midfielder Mimi Theodore (Walpole, Mass./Walpole). The two executed a nifty give-and-go at the top of the box, with Vallone finishing, giving her the fourth multiple-goal game of the season and third in the last four games. Torre added a 67th-minute goal when she snuck a ball just under the crossbar for her second goal of the season, while Vallone finished the hat trick with a strike from just outside the box in the 76th minute for her team- and UAA-leading 11th goal of the season.
Case forced the issue on the offensive end in the second half, edging Brandeis with 11 shots to Brandeis's 10, but Judge sophomore Francine Kofinas (Dix Hills, N.Y./Half Hollow Hills West) made five of her eight saves in the second stanza to pick up the win. Spartan sophomore Chelsea Lasky (Fairview, Pa./Villa Maria Acad.) made two saves and allowed two goals in the first half, while rookie Kerry Martenis (Southgate, Mich.) had four stops and three goals allowed in the second.
