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2000 Girls
Lightning - U10
2009-2010 Final Record: 22-6-9
The Anthem Soccer Club is excited to see the development of its U10 Girls team, aptly named the "Lightning." A few members of the team have been together for two years, but in 2009, several additional players have joined the team and filled out the roster with some excellent soccer players. The team is known for its pin-point passing and aggressiveness. The Lightning have the ability to score quickly, with five players having scored six or more goals already this season. They have a rock-solid defense and two great goal keepers as well.
In December, the Lightning won its first tournament, Christmas Angel 2009, defeating two opponents the final day of the tournament 5-0 and 2-0. For the second season, they have moved up from Division III, where they were 5-1, to Division II.
The second season the team started out with a 2-2 tie against the Arizona Girls Thunder team. In season one, the Arizona Girls Thunder was 6-0 and the Lightning was 5-1. Both teams moved up to Division II. Brenna Pillsbury made a great pass to Tessa Alexopoulos who blasted it in for the Lightning's first goal. Makayla Roe scored on a penalty kick. Goalie Cara Eley saved a penalty kick to perserve the 2-2 tie. It was an exciting start to the season! 
The December 19, 2009 game saw Sereno Girls White team make their way to Anthem. Sereno took advantage of the extreme wind conditions in the first half to post a 3-0 score at halftime. the Lightning came back fighting with second half goals by Tessa Alexopoulos and Makayla Roe scored on nice through ball from Hannah Baptist. Sierra Averill played a great game, matching the intesity and physical play of the Sereno team, as well as stepping in at goalie and saving three point-blank shots.
On January 9, 2010, the Lightning traveled to Scottsdale to play the Scottsdale Soccer 00 Blackhawks Red team. The Blackhawks had won 4 matches in a row and have an exellent team.
The Lightning dominated early and scored the first goal when Makayla Roe made a great pass to Jessica Zabinski, who blasted the ball past the Blackhawks keeper for a 1-0 lead. Ten minutes later, Tess Alexopoulos crossed the ball at the top of the box to Brenna Pillsbury. Brenna made a nice move and drove the ball off the corner of the goal post and in the net for a 2-0 lead. Coach Mark Kerlin's great training program was evident in the first half with some pin point passing and great give-and-go's. With just five seconds left in the first half, the Blackhawks tightened the game up with a goal on a corner kick. Abbey Castlen and Hannah Baptist played extremely hard in the first half, and Lauren Hidder earned the start at center mid and played exceptional, as well.
In the second half, the Blackhawks came out aggressively. Goalie Cara Eley and center fullback Olivia Landis had to stem the tide, and Brenna Pillsbury hustled back several times to stop good pushes by the Blackhawks. Sierra Averill moved to center forward and made a brilliant run but unfortunately her breakaway shot was saved by a great keeper play. Late in the game the Lightning really picked up the intensity. Kara Connolly sprinted back several times to thwart Blackhawk breakaways and MJ and Tess battled at the sideline to keep the Blackhawks at bay. With just two minutes left, the Blackhawks had a breakaway but the shot hit the post, bounced in the middle, but Kara Connolly kicked it out of danger to preserve the 2-1 win!
January 16, 2010 - Gilbert, AZ - the Lightning took the long trip down to Gilbert to play the Gilbert Arsenal 2000 Select team. Gilbert came into the game 2-0 in Division II play, and in first place. Despite very poor field conditions, the Lightning jumped out to a 2-0 lead with a goal by Makayla Roe, off from a beautiful pass by Tessa Alexopoulos. Then, forward Lauren Hidder pounded the goal past Gilbert's keeper on another great pass from Tessa. In the second half, the play shifted as the Arsenal came out an dominated play for the first 20 minutes. They expertly passed the ball to the wing and then sent one of their speedy forwards downfield, and converted on two goals to tie the game at 2-2. In the last 10 minutes of the match, Athem once again became aggressive and with just 7 minutes to go, Tessa beat the defender on the right side and blasted the ball past the keeper for a 3-2 lead! The Lightning were able to hold on to the lead and closed out strong, running their record to 2-1-1 in Division II. Sierra Averill played exceptional defense in the match. The Lightnings 7 points currently leads the division, but they have played one more game than the other top contenders. This weekend, the Lightning have entered CCV's Shoot for the Stars tournament and are in the top flight gold division.
January 24, 2010 - Although the games in the CCV Shoot for the Stars tournament were rained out, Anthem Soccer Club's U10 Girls participated in an exciting penalty kick shoot-out! The Lightning team performed very well, winning it's first two contest 4-3 and 5-4. Facing the CCV U10 Black Team in the finals, the Lightning players had several great shots but came up short 6-5 to finish in second place in the top Gold Division. Lauren Hidder and Hannah Baptist were two standouts, combining on 10 of their 14 chances! Goalies Cara Eley and Sierra Averill did a tremendous job sharing the keeper duties in the shootout.
January 30, 2010 - The Anthem Lightning came out on their home field and dominated the SC Del Sol 2000 Mcnaughton team (0-0-3) from the onset, winning the match by a 4-1 score and improving to 3-1-1 and a lead in the U10 Division II standings. Center Forward's Jessica Zabinski scored twice and Lauren Hidder scored once and left wing Makayla Roe carried the ball down the sideline and blasted it in for the final goal. Brenna Pillsbury, Tess Alexopoulos had assists in the match and made some excellent give-and-gos to move the ball in scoring position on several occasions. Olivia Landis saved a goal but her hustle play in the middle of the second half, and Cara Eley earned another victor as keeper, making two magnificent saves on point blank shots. Anthem Soccer Club's plays in the Desert Classic and doesn't play its final Division II game until February 20th.
February 5th - 7th 2010 - Desert Classic at Reach 11
The Lightning participated in the top Gold division and performed very well, going 1-1-1 over the weekend. The first game, against Division II rivals Scottsdale 00 Blackhawks Red, was an exciting game, ending in a 2-2 tie. With just a few seconds to go in the game, Makayla Roe hit a beautiful corner kick that went right to right wing Tessa Alexopoulos. She one-timed the ball towards the upper right hand corner of the goal and the ball sailed inches over the crossbar. The referee immediately blew his whistle and the game ended in the tie. On Saturday, the Lightning, played the Division I San Tan SC 00 Legacy Red squad. The San Tan team was more aggressive and struck early, going up 4-0. The Lightning came back and scored two quick goals, and almost had a third goal in a matter of five minutes, but the San Tan keeper made a remarkable save. The game ended 5-2 and San Tan would go on to be a tournament finalist. On Sunday, the Lightning played a great game and won 3-0 against another Division II opponent, FC Barcelona. Makayla Roe and Jessica Zabinski scored for the Lightning.
February 20th, 2010 - Chandler, AZ
The Lightning finished their regular season against FC Barcelona in an away contest. Prior to the game, there was some hard rain but by game time the rain had stopped. Anthem started sluggish but Abbey Castlen entered the game and provided a real spark for the team. She pressured the ball and made several steals and great passes. The Lightning got out to a 1-0 lead on a goal by Makayla Roe. The Lightning dominated the shot attempts in the game, with some excellent passes by Brenna Pillsbury and shots by Abbey Castlen, Jessica Zabinski, Lauren Hidder and Makayla Roe. Tessa Alexopoulos played a brilliant game, consistently beating the FC Barcelona's midfielders throughout the game and putting a lot of pressure on the FC Barcelona defense. Although Anthem was getting some good shot attempts, the FC squad was able to prevent any other goals. On defense, the Lightning also saw stellar play from first half keeper Sierra Averill and second half keeper Cara Eley. Olivia Landis was a stonewall with nothing getting by her all game. The outside defenders Hannah Baptist and Kara Connolly also played hard throughout the game. The game ended in a 1-0 score, and the Lightning finished their Division II regular season 4-1-1. They are currently in first place.
February 28, 2010 - Reach 11
The Anthem Lightning U10 Girls had another good showing this weekend. They entered the Gold Division of the Blackhawks Invitational Tournament and ended the weekend 1-1 in a rain shorted tournament. Abbey Castlen scored the go ahead goal in the first game, as the Lightning prevailed over the Blackhawk Red team 4-1. The Lightning played one of their best halves, as they outscored the tough Blackhawk team 3-0 in the second half. Jessica Zabinski scored two goals and Makayla Roe scored the other to account for the 4-1 final. In the second game, the Lightning went up against the Sereno White team. Both teams played tough in the first half, which resulted in a 0-0 tie. After intermission, Sereno got the wind and broke through for two goals, using their speed and quickness to attack the Lightning's defense. The Anthem team made several nice runs in the second half, but could not convert and the final score was 2-0 Sereno. The Anthem girls are taking a two week break, and then pick back up with Spring Break camp and then the Stars and Stripes tournament on March 26th-28th.
Stars and Stripes Tournament - March 28, 2010
Lightning Take 2nd Place in Tournament!
The Anthem Lightning U10 Girls finished 2-1-1 and second place in this very competitive tournament. The first match of the tournament was Friday night under the lights at Reach 11. The Lightning were led by Brenna Pillsbury who had 2 amazing goals and 1 assist, as the Lightning won a tough match against the Colorado Pride, 4-3. Olivia Landis played a great game on defense and Abbey Castlen had a beautiful goal on a cross from Jessica Zabinski in the game. The Saturday contest saw the Lightning battle the Scottsdale Blackhawk Red team. It a tough game with both sides playing well, the final score ended in a 1-1 tie. The Lightning almost had a chance to win when Makayla Roe sprinted towards the goal but was taken out from behind in the box. Lauren Hidder, who has the strongest foot on the team and almost single handedly won a previous tournament for the Lightning in a shootout, took the penalty shot and drove it off the crossbar and it bounced back in the field of play. Lauren sprinted to put in the rebound, but the goalie made a great save and secured the ball. The defensive line of Kara Connelly, Olivia Landis, Hannah Baptist, and Sierra Averill all were phenomenal in this match.
Sunday, the first game against the 2000 SC Del Sol McNaughton was a thriller. Makayla Roe led the way with 3 goals with new addition Katie Coats adding the fourth goal, as the Lightning held on to win the match 4-3 to earn a spot in the final game. Katie's goal was made possible by the hustle play of Jessica Zabinski who pressured the keeper and dislodged the ball, with Katie sweeping in to pound the ball in the back of the net. Cara Eley made several stunning saves, and even earned an assist as her punt went three-quarters of the way down the field, was settled by Makayla, who finished off the play with a goal. In the championship game against the Blackhawk team, Jessica kept up her stellar play by scoring her third goal of the tournament to tie the game at 1-1. The Blackhawk team, with the wind at their backs, scored 2 more goals in the second half to win the final game 3-1. Congratulations to the 2000 Blackhawk Red team, who are a classy group of players and coaches, as well as congratulations to all the Lightning players and fans for a great tournament!
U10 Girls Lightning WIN Yavapai Cup Soccer Tournament!
April 25, 2010 - The Anthem Lightning launched an all out offensive assault on the competition at this weekend's Yavapai Cup. Winning by scores of 5-1, 4-1, 6-3, and 5-2, the Lightning put together their best scoring stretch of the season. It was a tremendous way to end a 22-6-9 season. In the offensive explosion, Brenna Pillsbury and Makayla Roe had six goals each, Sierra Averill scored three times, Lauren Hidder scored two goals, including the team's first header goal of the year, Katie Coates added two goals, and stellar goalie Cara Eley not only was amazing all weekend in goal, but scored a goal and assisted on another.
Olivia Landis was absolutely amazing on defense, as was Hannah Baptist, Abbey Castlen and Kara Connolly. This group of tremendous defenders stopped almost everything that came there way and were a key to the offensive push, as well. Hannah's throw-in all the way to the near post made Lauren's header possible.
Tryouts for the 2010-2011 Lightning Team will be held on Tuesday May 18th at 7:00 PM on Soccer Field #1 in Anthem. Please e-mail Doug Pillsbury at dougpills@cox.net if you are interested in trying out for the team.
If you are interested in finding out more information about this U10 girls team, contact Coach Doug Pillsbury at 623-398-8269 or e-mail at dougpills@cox.net.
Christmas Angel 2009 Champions - U10 Girls
Roster
Game History
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