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Posts Tagged ‘Gillian Crossley’

Young guns step up for depleted Islanders!!

Posted in Girls Soccer, GU19 Whidbey Islanders, tagged , , , , , on January 11, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Lydia Peplinski

Lydia Peplinski

Technically, they won.

Despite playing without several key players, including all of their regular goalies, the GU19 Whidbey Islanders select soccer squad was responsible for two of the three goals scored in its game Saturday.

Unfortunately, one of those scores was the dreaded own goal, as a miscue resulted in a ball being dumped into the Islander net by a Whidbey player.

Unable to overcome that misfortune, the Islanders eventually fell 2-1 to a visiting Crossfire team.

Even in the loss there were bright moments, however.

Lydia Peplinski, who narrowly missed on her own one-on-one chance, set up teammate Gillian Crossley on the Islanders’ lone goal into the other team’s net.

Taking a pass from Bailee Olson, Peplinski dumped it off to a streaking Crossley, who slammed home the score into the side netting with one swing of her super-charged left foot.

That tied the game up, but was also the final burst of offense from the Islanders.

Trying to hold on to the tie until the bitter end, Whidbey surrendered the eventual game winner on a corner kick.

With a chunk of his roster missing, Islander coach Sean LeVine dipped down and plucked three players from the local GU16 squad. He came away impressed with the trio.

“Jenna Cooley, the only freshman, did very well for us again and created several offensive chances,” LeVine said. “Emily Brown, and her golden left foot, helped out our very depleted back line today as a left back. Her patience and solid defending helped us keep the game close.

“Ebony “The Fearless” Campbell, who played goal keeper for us, really did well,” he added. “Her shot stopping, bravery, and timing in coming out of the goal really saved us many times. Without her today the game could have really gotten ugly. She really kept us in this game.”

The Islanders have a bye next weekend, returning to play Jan. 24 with a game in Bellevue against Newport FC.

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“Best game for this team so far!!”

Posted in Girls Soccer, GU19 Whidbey Islanders, tagged , , , , on July 19, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Gillian Crossley

Gillian Crossley netted her first goal as an Islander Saturday.

Bounce back, big time.

A day after being drilled by the #9 team in the nation, the GU19 Whidbey Islanders select soccer squad roared back Saturday to play their “best game for this team so far!”

While the Islanders ended up with a 2-2 draw against Tacoma FC at the NCSAA College Showcase Tournament in Puyallup, Whidbey coach Sean LeVine came away pleased with 99.2% of what he saw go down.

“What a great game, and we really deserved the win,” LeVine said. “Tacoma FC was a good team, and I warned the team that if we let up at all they could easily get back into the game, and that’s what happened, but we looked like the better team for most of the game.”

The two teams had fought to a draw three weeks ago, but in that game LeVine felt Tacoma was the better squad. Not so Saturday.

“Our possession, speed, and hustle looked the best it’s ever been today and we really looked like the better team for 70 minutes of that game,” LeVine said.

Newcomer Lydia Peplinski “was a difference maker today, battling hard for the ball as our center mid.”

Her defining play came when she set up fellow first-year Islander Gillian Crossley on a perfectly-placed header.

That allowed Crossley to go one-on-one with the Tacoma goalie, beating her on a ball neatly plopped into the side netting.

Leading 1-0 coming out of halftime, Whidbey “let up a little for 10 minutes”, allowing Tacoma to rattle off back-to-back goals.

The Islanders refused to buckle, however, as the veterans stepped up and took control.

Becca Pabona knocked “a beautiful cross into the box” that goal-scoring machine Jacalyn Hefflefinger nimbly redirected with her head into the back of the net, leaving Tacoma’s goalie looking foolish as she grasped at empty air.

Neither squad could get a tie-breaker after that, but the Islanders used their entire roster, giving every girl substantial playing time.

The three-day tourney is a showcase event for college coaches looking for possible recruits for their programs.

Whidbey will wrap play Sunday when it faces Chinook United from Calgary. On the menu, according to assistant coach Scott Rosenkranz, is “Canadian bacon for lunch tomorrow!”

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Speedy Crossley burns up soccer pitch!!

Posted in Girls Soccer, GU18 Whidbey Islanders, tagged , , , , on June 30, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Gillian Crossley

Gillian Crossley

Crossley and her Islander teammates prepare for their season-opening tourney, where they threw down three straight shutouts. (Kali Barrio photo)

   Crossley and her Islander teammates prepare for their season-opening tourney, where they threw down three straight shutouts. (Kali Barrio photo)

Gillian Crossley made a major change in her life when she was in the fifth grade.

A youth football cheerleader up until that point, Crossley began to hang out with soccer players. What began as a sideline activity soon transformed into a new way of life and a soccer junkie was born.

“I would go out at recess with them and kick a soccer ball around with them,” Crossley said. “That’s when I decided that I would like to try something new and join recreation soccer.”

Crossley, who will be a sophomore at Oak Harbor High School in the fall, never looked back.

After playing rec soccer for three seasons, she tried out for her first select squad, the GU13 Whidbey Islanders. Waiting for the call back put her on pins and needles, but paid off nicely.

“My friends that had been playing soccer for a long time wanted me to try out for their team,” Crossley said. “I was really nervous, but two long days passed, waiting for call backs and I had made it!

“My first season on select, my coach, Ryan Baker, would put me nowhere but center defense,” she added. “He pushed me to get better and become a stronger player. That is how I became a forward.”

Now in her fourth season of select soccer, Crossley, who bounced between JV and varsity for OHHS as a freshman, made the jump to join the GU18 Islanders this season.

She made her debut at a tournament this past weekend and immediately drew praise for her play.

“Gillian was a pleasant surprise at the striker position,” said Islander coach Sean LeVine. “Her speed and strong beast-like presence up top opened up several opportunities to score and we expect her to do very well.”

Crossley, who enjoys the camaraderie she has with her teammates (“I enjoy playing soccer with my friends. Soccer has caused me to develop strong relationships with some of the most amazing people”) is still a work in progress, like most younger players.

“As a player, one of my strongest strengths would be my speed,” she said. “It’s always nice to have speed as a forward.

“If there was something I had to work on, I would work on my foot skills and trapping the ball out of the air,” Crossley added. “I will really need to get used to trapping the ball out of the air with (Islander goalie) Kenzie (Perry’s) amazing drop kicks.”

When she’s not on the soccer pitch, Crossley enjoys her science classes (“I have always been best at science. I am lucky I enjoy science, because there are very few things I like”) and spending time with her friends.

And, since many of her friends are equally involved in soccer, so much the better.

“I am great friends with a lot of people from the Islander teams,” Crossley said. “It’s nice having friends that all have something in common.”

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