24 July 2015

Friday at Dana Cup and only a handful of teams  still  playing and both Stars 'n Stripes are among them.

Girls are first today and play a Swedish team and dominate with a 2-0 win.  Goals from Nicolette Casarcia and Dana Mcalpine helped the team win the game.  A few minutes of fear in the 2nd half but  beyond that, never a doubt  regarding the result. 

Boys missed the girls game as their  game time was similar but a different venue.  We play a Danish team and play pretty well.  It's an even game and right before half we allow a forward too close to our goal and he turned and slotted home to put them up 1-0. Once again a stern halftime chat to awaken the boys and they respond immediately as Gavin Elliott heads home the equalizer in the 20 seconds to start the 2nd half.  We end up tied and guess what, Penalty kicks once again.

Can we possibly win 3 games in a row with Pks?  

Denmark - goal                      Cannon Braggs - save
Denmark - goal (but poor call, ball never crossed the line          Matt Hopkins - save
Denmark - goal                      Cory Wright - goal
Denmark - save                     Luciano Brignone - goal
Denmark - save                     Patrick Hillyard - hits crossbar, no goal

We lose on Pks but a 1/4 final place is not too bad for my boys, Proud  of them.

Girls play next in their 1/2 final game vs. a Norwegian team
We give up 3 goals in 10 minutes before  we wake up.
Halftime score 3-0

Dana Mcalpine converts another penalty to give us life after 5 minutes and Rebecca Huffman scores from long range to pull us within 1 with 5 minutes to go. We threaten several more times and just cannot get the equalizer and we lose 3-2.

Also, a great tournament for my girls and although they are disappointed, they will  be proud when the loss wears off.

Dinner and relax tonight.  The cold and windy conditions wear us down and have a few kids with sniffles and are just worn out.  If the rain holds off tomorrow, hopefully a beach is in our future.

Kids doing great, meeting  lots of people, doing interviews and our teams have been followed by the  media so a great week so far.  Home is only a few days away, some excited, but  most a little sad as we have really bonded this week.

More tomorrow,
Ciao
Ed

Players of the  Day - 
Girls - game 1 - Bailey Blalock
Boys - Gavin Elliott
Girls - game 2 - Nicollette Casarcia