U10 Grafton Girls Academy
NSU Academy Tournament
Grafton Ranger Girls played in the U10 Girls Academy bracket at the spring NSU tournament and competed amongst a group of 6 teams, NSU, Brookfield, Milwaukee Sports Club, Waukesha SC, Sussex United, Grafton. We started off Saturday with wins against NSU(14-0) and Waukesha SC (6-2). Sunday, our 3rd game, we came up with a big "TEAM" win against Brookfield (7-1) and after 3 games led all 6 teams in total points and most importantly our half of the bracket to advance into the championship game Sunday afternoon against Sussex United. Sussex struck first and we answered back after 5 minutes(1-1), but Sussex was one step quicker and seeming a little more pumped up for this game. They managed to beat our strong Grafton defense for a 4-2 halftime lead. Both teams seemed to settle into a back and fourth battle all second half. Sussex managed 1 second half goal and our Rangers were shut down! Sussex had a 5-2 championship game victory.
I would like to tell you all this was a great weekend with excellent soccer played by our U 10 Rangers: Lizzy, Laura, Abbie, Hailey, Karsen, Kaitlyn, Hannah, Jaden, Ava, Payton, and excellent goalie play by Corbin Woessner. A little bit short this time, but a nice second place trophy. Wish all Ranger teams good luck and hopefully a great finish to the spring season!
U14 Ranger Boys Blue
This weekend saw the U14 Ranger Boys Blue team play a tough stretch of 5 games in 4 days. They started the weekend off hosting the run-and-gun Howard Hurricanes under the lights of the GHS soccer stadium. The game was shortened due to the thick fog, but the Rangers came away with a quality 2-0. One goal was scored by Jose, and the other by Brendan with an assist by Jake.
Play continued over the weekend with a trip to the Tom’s Drive-in Classic in Menasha. This was a 3 game round robin bracket where the Rangers earned 3 victories to take home the crown. The first game was a convincing 3-0 win over Washington County FC. Jan had one goal, while Jake put away a “kick from the mark”, and scored another with an assist from Dominic. Game two was a hard fought 3-1 win over United FC. The Rangers got a 3-0 lead and held off a late fight from United FC in an attempt to get back in the game. Bradd had one goal and Brendan put in two. The Rangers were able to diffuse the host Menasha Explosion in the third game to bring home the 1st place hardware by winning 3-0. Goals were scored by Jack, Bradd, and Brendan. But perhaps the most notable play was the backward-bicycle-donkey kick almost-goal by Ben. Congratulations Rangers on a solid tournament against some quality teams.
For the final game of the long marathon weekend, the Rangers returned to league play in a home game versus the Tosa Redbacks. Despite the lack of fireworks early, the Rangers eventually broke through on a goal by Jose who reeled in his defender and then raced past him to the goal, burying the ball in the side net. Jake had a nice goal where he took the rebound off his own corner kick, and bent it past two defenders with a left foot. The scoring ended with a hustle goal by Alec who followed-up on a shot and rebound off the post to finesse it into the back of the net.
Keep the momentum going this weekend at the State Championships!
