The New Canaan Red U-9 Girls soccer team may have set the tone for the season with a dominating 7-1 victory in their debut pre-season friendly against Trumbull United U-9G Thunder.
New Canaan Red U-9 Girls celebrate their pre-season win over Trumbull. Contributed
The game began slowly as both sides shook off the cobwebs of summer and sought to establish their positions in early play. Trumbull took advantage of the early confusion and scored a quick goal in the 10th minute from the scrimmage in front of the NC Red goal.
Ignited by the early goal, NC Red struck back in the 16th minute with Sydney Patten finding Madeline “Maddie” Tully on a beautiful cross through traffic which she promptly lifted above the Trumbull keeper’s head. After several more offensive thrusts on goal by the NC Red team, Maddie Tully broke from midfield traffic, drove up the right side of the pitch and rocketed a shot off the far post to take a 2-1 lead. NC Red finished out the period holding Trumbull scoreless on the back of strong defensive play from Payton DeCamillo, Madison “Maddy” Harnett and Paige Place as keeper.
NC Red came out strongly in the second period and quickly forced the Trumbull team back on defense. After several attempts on goal by the NC Red team, Nikki Ferraro lofted a beautiful shot over several defenders and caught the Trumbull keeper off-guard to bring the score to 3-1. Katherine “Kallie” Patterson followed by stealing a weak goal kick and plowing into the back of the net to take NC Red to a 4-1 lead. Trumbull was left scoreless in the period as Lila Gizzie, Cecilia “Ceci” Patterson and keeper Payton DeCamillo anchored the defense.
The third period sealed NC Red’s domination of the game as Paige Place scored early off a mishandled ball from the Trumbull keeper and Kallie Patterson found the upper left of the net on a well timed pass from Maddie Tully. The NC Red team continued to control the ball for the rest of the period and cemented their lead with a quick strike from Julia McPhillips to bring the score to 7-1. The Trumbull team had no opportunities to score with the overwhelming defense provided by Katherine “Parker” Hanson, Sydney Patten and keeper Reese Quinn.