The Purple Panthers purred past the Candy Crushers 4-1 in U10 girls youth soccer Saturday at Creekside Park.
Riley Mairs put the Panthers up early, pounding one just under the bar. The lavender leopards tried padding their lead, but for the all-world goalkeeping of Aida Dempsey, who made seven acrobatic stops in the half.
Before the break, Lauren Cunningham dispensed a candy-coated pass through to Arwyn Thomas, and she tied it with a rollicking strike.
Early in the second half, Kyla Trottier tapped in Olivia Henderson’s goal-mouth pass. Camryn Steele and Trottier added goals with strong boots.
Crushers Erica Lovelace and Panther Brinnlee Magee played smashing defence. Sophie Challen was an orange blur all over the pitch, while Cora Van Fleet and Chloe Lu showed catlike reflexes in the purple net.
The Navy Knights delivered a 2-0 win over the Canadian Rebels in McDonalds U11 girls action Saturday at Marshall Field.
Both teams went in undefeated and the excitement started as Navy’s Sasha Austin nailed a shot off on a pass from defender Alecia Hughes. Rebel keeper Sierra Fernley made multiple saves as forwards Sasha Austin, Ava Tepper and Libby Hampshire sent balls sailing in at her.
Amelia Johnson finally scored with help from Tepper and later barely missed off the post.
A fierce rebuttal was made by the Rebels’ Jaden Dobernigg and Tori Piattoni carrying the ball into the Knights end but getting stopped by Charlie Chippendale and Hughes on defence and a fabulous dive by Navy keeper Cora McIntyre.
In the second half, the Rebels upped the ante when Fernley stepped onto the field as striker. Several attempts by Fernley were shut down by defenders Zion White and Hughes.
Navy netted their second goal when Sasha Austin tapped in a goal off of a rebound set up by Hughes.
Excellent effort was shown by Cassie DeFoor and Melody Fagerlund in the Navy middle by carrying the ball and making great passes. Chippendale sparkled on the back line.
Great defensive plays and stops were noticed by the Rebels’ Sara McCreight, Camille Hanry and Bella McKnight.
In McDonald’s U12/13 girls play, the McFlurry’s grounded Royal LePage White 4-1.
Saskia DeFoor tapped one in on a pass from Katrina Winstanley. Joyce Hao then dished a beauty pass to Winstanley for the 2-0 goal. Royal LePage held the McFlurry’s off with a solid defensive line for the rest of the half. Kiana Casanova and Alassa Johnson added second-half goals before the realtors replied.
