A swift breeze turned an overcast opening day into an event that sent polar bears scrambling for hot cocoa.  The Divas and the Mustangs  gathered near the sidelines (once we found the right field) and waited for the zebras (referees) to arrive.  And waited.  And waited.  And waited.  Once the corral door was opened and the blankets were removed, the referee’s whistle split the frigid air and the season was underway!

 The Mustangs took the opening tap and stampeeded to the left side.  Denied!  Caroline corralled a loose ball and ran free down the left side of the opposing box.  She pushed the ball past the last filly and started the scoring with a hard, low shot.  1-0 Divas.  Haley took a pass from our defense at midfield, passed off to Sarah, received the return pass and cut the Mustangs off at the pass for our second goal!  Kayla then proved we were not horsing around  with a blast from our own side of the field that eluded the goalie and found the back of the net on one bounce!  3-0 Divas.

Sarah pounced on a ball in front of the goal and worked her way free to hammer a 4th goal into the net.  Becca out-hustled everyone to notch our 5th and final first-half tally.  The defense was rarely tested, but responded to each attempt thanks to strong efforts from Shelby, Kayla, Tiana, Jinah and Cat.

The coaches were very proud of the girls’ effort.  Everything we practiced was on display for all to see - excellent spacing on offense, passes were solid, our girls maintained possession through midfield and passed to open space to create dangerous situations, defense was solid and kept all advances outside the box. 

In the second half, we switched offensive and defensive players and Lexi responded by scoring not only once, but twice in quick succession.  Maggie battled for a ball in the opposing end and completed the scoring with a strong left-footed blast.

In all, we fired 40 shots at their goal - every player had at least one shot on goal - and Cat recorded the save on the only shot on our goal.  It was an astounding first game that exceeded the coaches’ expectations.  Great job, Divas!

Final score - Diamond Divas 8  Mustangs 0