St. Jane's 9U Cherry Bombs Blue Take OC Sand Duels Title

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By Colin Murphy

On June 11, the 9U St. Jane’s Cherry Bombs Blue girls soccer team captured the Ocean City Sand Duels Beach Soccer Challenge 9U championship with a 1-0 victory over the Soccer Club of Maryland Pythons in the tournament’s final game. The Cherry Bombs were comprised of Kelsey Lauterbach, Brianna Mattoon, Taylor Stahl, Emily Barrett, Ashley Moody, Shyanne Seymour, and Abby Dailey and went undefeated in the tournament (2-0-1).

Head Coach Beth Smith was thrilled to see her players perform so well in their first ever appearance at the Sand Duels Challenge. “They’re an awesome group of girls,” said Smith. “They’ve improved so much over the year, so for us to win something like this, it means so much to the girls and parents.”

The Cherry Bombs’ championship run began with a 2-2 opening-round tie against the Southern Chester County Sand Sharks, with goals scored by Lauterbach and Seymour. The Cherry Bombs flexed their muscles in the second game, a 4-1 victory over the Southern Anne Arundel County Storm. Goals by Lauterbach, Dailey, Stahl, and Moody; excellent defending by Mattoon, Lauterbach, and Moody; and outstanding goalkeeping by Barrett powered the Cherry Bombs past the Storm and into the tournament final.

The hard-fought tournament came to an exciting finish in a nail-biting championship game, with the Cherry Bombs edging the Pythons, 1-0, on Lauterbach’s third goal of the tournament.

Smith could not say enough about the outstanding play of her team both as a group and individually. “Taylor, Ashley, and Brianna did such a great job defensively for us. They saved quite a few goals and they had to do a lot of running. Shyanne is one of the newest players, so to see her play so well was really exciting. Abby was like a beast out there, and she even kept playing when she got hurt. Kelsey…she’s a whole year younger, but she’s a monster out there, nobody comes near her because they don’t want to get run over, and she just kept putting shots on goal…and Emily was simply outstanding in goal for us, and she even played well in the field, making some nice passes.”

As for the entire experience, Smith was thankful to the effort of her players and support of the parents in making the weekend and enjoyable time for all. “We had fun and they were very excited to win,” said Smith. “I can’t say enough how lucky I am to have these girls and parents…we‘re going to do it again next year.”

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