ORANGE CLASSIC RECAP


Sunrise places two teams in finals at Orange Classic

January 1, 2008 - Sunrise entered three teams in the Orange Classic and two of the teams made it to the championship game. One team, the U15 Premier, fell in the title game in penalty kicks while the 96/97 (u11) girls won the title.

The U15s, playing in a sixteen team field in the Millenium division, advanced all the way to the finals. The girls dropped their opening match to Oyster Bay (NY) 3-1, but came back to win their next two games, defeating Albion (TX) 4-0 and the FC Stars of Massachusetts 1-0.

That 2-1 record put the team in the semi-finals against Charlotte United (NC). The game ended 0-0 and went to PKs where Sunrise advanced. The championship game against the Rough Riders Elite (NY) also ended 0-0. The Rough Riders prevailed and won the championship on PKs.

The Sunrise 96/97 (u11) girls won the championship for the second consecutive year. The team continues to get better and won all four of their games, and in the process improved their all-time Orange Classic record to 9-0.

In the opening match, the team played the Eagles. Sunrise pretty much controlled the entire flow of play in the first half except for one monster punt by the Eagles keeper that was chased down and knocked in by an Eagles forward just in front of the net. That gave Plantation a 1-0 half-time lead and made for an interesting second half. Sunrise played a good second half and scored four times for the 4-1 victory.

The second match against Cape Coral was close. The girls won the game on a corner kick in the second half. The third game, against Weston, was a 3-0 victory.

In the championship, against Cape Coral, Sunrise scored early on a bullet by the center midfielder off of a throw in from about 25 yards. The second goal was off of a pass from the left midfielder that found the Sunrise forward at the 18 where she put the ball inside the near post. Cape Coral scored a goal with about 10 minutes remaining to make it 2-1. The game ended with the Sunrise 2-1 victory and championship.