U-12 Striker Coed Team Finishes Season Strong, Tying Kinzua And Defeating ORSA (11/01/15)

(By Mindi Verdill

The Striker Team met up with the always strong Kinzua Team on a rare Saturday game, Oct. 24th. The Striker team looked good from the first touch on the ball. They put a lot of pressure on the purple defense, with Lexi Coull making the first goal for a score of 1-0.

(Photo by Matt Lerch) Clarion River Valley Strikers Fall 2015 12-Under Co-Ed Team Photo

Kinzua answered quickly, catching the Striker defenders of Keagan Phillips, Charlie Franchino and Kaleb Wolbert pretty close to midfield and unable to recover quickly enough, to get one past goalie Tyler Bingham to tie the game at 1-1.

Bailee Verdill was able to shoot one in from outside the 18, for a score of Strikers 2 Kinzua 1. Kinzua answered with a goal right before the half, to tie the game at 2.

 
The Strikers came out strong after halftime and they were able to make the score 3-2 off a shot from Verdill.

Even though there were several shots taken by Strikers Max Southworth, Nate Megnin, Lexi Coull and Eva Lerch, they were unable to get any shots past the Kinzua goalie.

The Striker defense of Phillips, Franchino, Wolbert, Brett English and Hayden Condon held strong throughout the half. Kinzua was able to get one in the net to tie the game at 3-3, which was the final score.

The Strikers looked great and both the players and coaches were happy to end the game in a tie with the tough Kinzua team!

On Sunday, Oct. 25 the U12 Striker Coed Team played their final game of the season against
homestanding Oil City. The Oil City Team replaced their usual blue uniforms with pink, in support of breast cancer awareness.

The Strikers came out strong with a goal from Bailee Verdill to start the game off with a score of 1-0.

Nate Megnin was next to make the score 2-0. The third goal came from the rookie Striker Max Southworth, who has had some great shots all season, but was unable to get one in until today for his first goal of the season to make the score 3-0.

Oil City was able to work the ball into Striker territory but was unsuccessful at getting past the defenders of Kaegan Phillips, Charlie Franchino, Kaleb Wolbert, and Brett English. Goalie Tyler Bingham only had to make a few saves that got past the Striker defenders. Lexi Coull was next to score for the team for a score of 4-0.

Nate Megnin had his second goal of the game and Lexi Coull had a beautiful cross pass to Max Southworth, who had his second goal of the game, to end the half with a score of 6-0.

Coach Laura Domena made some interesting changes for the second half to get some of the Striker defenders upfront with an opportunity for a goal. Tyler Bingham was the first to make the most of being out of the goalie box to score his first goal of the season to make the score 7-0.

Several of the front line and midfield players had a chance to be in the goalie box. ORSA was able to get a great shot in past typical midfielder Bailee Verdill for their first goal of the game for, a score of 7-1.

Kaegan Phillips and Charlie Franchino had some shots on goal but had a difficult time giving up their defender positions! The next goal came from defender Kaleb Wolbert for a score of 8-1.

With several Strikers rotating in and out of the goal box, it was defender Brett English who had to make several saves and proved to be a pretty good goalie for his run in the box! ORSA was able to get a second goal in, right at the end of the game, for a final score of 8-2.

Great Season U-12 Strikers!!

Thank you to Coach Laura Domena and parent Coach Rob Coull for a great season and your
commitment to the club!!

(Thanks to Mindi Verdill for this article and to Matt Lerch for the photo. Congratulations of a fine season, Strikers!!!!)