Allentown United play very well in Florida

Allentown’s Ashley Perritt slide-tackles the ball away from an opposing player during the United’s trip to the Disney Memorial Day Soccer Shoot-out Tournament.

The Allentown United U-13 girls soccer team made a special trip to Florida and was the only team from New Jersey to participate in the Disney Memorial Day Soccer Shoot-out Tournament.

A party of 72 Allentown United players and supporters headed down to the Disney Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando for this invitational travel soccer event.

Head coach Amaro Pereira had his squad ready to play, the girls having put in several extra training sessions in the weeks leading up to departure in addition to playing very competitive matches in their regularly scheduled MOSA games. Friday was travel day, up bright and early for an early flight down to Florida, with the afternoon spent poolside relaxing, before heading over to the complex for a light training session in the late afternoon.

Back to the hotel for dinner and an early night. The first game would be played 8 a.m. Saturday morning, ‘offsite,’ at another complex almost 20 miles away, which made for another very early morning.

The opponents for all three games were state-ranked Florida teams who, in addition to having the upper hand on skill and experience, would also have the distinct advantage of being acclimatized to the very hot and humid central Florida weather. Regardless, United came out strong against locals East Lake Arsenal, with forwards Ashley Perritt, Kelly Bailey and Carolyn Horner coming close on several occasions and being a constant threat to their bigger opponents. Supporting in midfield were Dawn Taylor, Brittany Worrall and Shelby Doll, who made constant runs into the East Lake Arsenal’s half, and fell back to help on defense when United were under attack. Against the run of play, Arsenal went ahead on a speculative shot that caught United goalkeeper Diana Braun off her goal line, only to see the ball loop over her head and into the net. The game remained that way with United’s defense, led by sweeper Meghan Valnoski, stopper Brittany Hodul and outside backs Ashley Pereira and Shannon Buckley, playing hard to shut down the Arsenal offense. The starting 11 were supported by Angelique Calise, Gabby Horner, Amanda Kyle, Samantha Myers, Brittany Holbrook, Katie Mottola and Danielle Turner, who were constantly asked to come in and give valuable minutes on the field, thus enabling a teammate to take a quick water break. This tournament would truly be a squad performance with every member giving their all for the team.

Back to the hotel for a quickcool down in the pool before heading over to Wide World of Sports for the second match, a 2:45 p.m. kickoff against the County Line Lightning. This would prove to be the most skilled and also biggest opponent United would face over the weekend. With the sun beating down and temperatures in the 90s, United would be stretched to the limit in this game. That being said, they took an early lead after Shelby Doll passed the ball to Brittany Hodul , who calmly hit a first time effort over the Lightening and into the back of the net. This is where United goalkeeper Diana Braun really came into her own. Working long hours throughout the season with goalkeeper coach Jeff Holbrook was about to pay off. She made several key diving saves to keep United in the lead, urging her defense on and distributing the ball efficiently, and saw United go in at the half with a slender one goal lead. It would prove to be too slender. The Lightning came out strong in the second half and were able to equalize on a well-executed play following a corner kick. Despite the intense pressure, United refused to buckle, and played hard throughout the remainder of the game. The last 10 minutes of play saw United win several corner kicks and come close on more than one occasion to getting the winner. The game ended in a 1-1 tie, with Allentown having the moral victory over another very good Florida team.

The last game of the tournament was on Sunday morning, 9:45 a.m. kickoff.

Despite having played two draining games the day before, the Allentown squad were ready at game time to go out and give it their all. After end-to-end play for the first 15 minutes, opponents Creeks Clash took the lead, and for a brief moment, both players and supporters heads went down, all no doubt thinking this was the beginning of the end for the only New Jersey team in the tournament. But the girls shook off their despair, and continued to battle on, going into the halftime break with just the one goal separating the two sides. On resumption of the game it was United that came out fired up and really took the game to the Clash. With constant pressure from the midfielders and darting runs from the front line, Allentown won a free kick on the 35-yard line. Ashley Pereira stepped up to take it and launched a perfectly taken kick towards Dawn Taylor, who controlled the ball and fired a great shot past the outstretched Clash keeper. The game was tied at one apiece. Down at the other end, team MVP Diana Braun and her defense were kept very busy, and time after time she was called upon to make key saves to keep United in the game. United played strong to the very end, shutting down any more opportunities the Clash had to get the winner, and the game ended in another 1-1 tie. It was a tremendous end to the tournament which saw Allentown United take two points from a possible nine, in a division that was won by a team with just four points. This was a very closely balanced division with just a single goal separating all of the matches. Notably, this tournament drew over 195 teams, playing in 20 different age/gender flights. Florida teams won outright in 17 of 20 flights.