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Posts Tagged ‘GU18 Whidbey Islanders’

Seven straight!!

Posted in Girls Soccer, GU18 Whidbey Islanders, tagged , , , , on March 17, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Erin

Erin Rosenkranz heads up field in pursuit of the ball. (John Fisken photos)

Coupeville's Fab Five

The Islanders bring together players from North, South and Central Whidbey. Coupeville’s own Fab Five — (l to r) Jacki Ginnings, Tori Wellman, Rosenkranz, Jenn Spark, Micky LeVine.

Micky LeVine (John Fisken photos)

LeVine battles for the ball under pressure.

Hefflefinger scores, Islanders win.

The song is stuck on repeat, but no one seems to be complaining, as it’s catchy, has a good beat and is being played by a team that has swept into sole possession of first place.

The latest victim of the supremely hot Whidbey Islanders GU18 select soccer squad was the Northshore Evolution, who fell 2-1 Sunday afternoon at Ft. Nugent.

It was the seventh straight win for an Islander team that now finds itself sitting at 8-2, alone in first place with two games left to play in the season.

And the win played out in familiar fashion, as Jacalyn Hefflefinger and Jenn Spark set the table, while Kenzie Perry slammed the door shut.

Hefflefinger shook things up early, banging home a ball in the fifth minute of the game for her seventh goal in as many games.

She and teammate Bailee Olson were fighting for the ball in the Northshore box, and, with the help of a puddle that stopped the ball and set her up nicely, it was golden leg time once again for the goal-scoring phenom from Oak Harbor.

Keeping the pressure on, Whidbey got a second score ten minutes later.

Spark lofted a patented near-perfect corner kick, laying it right at the feet of Selena Medina, who, without an ounce of mercy in her body, calmly lashed it past a helpless Evolution goalie.

After that, it was all about defense, and the Islanders were near-stifling. With Perry in net, and her band of scrappy defenders guarding her turf, Northshore had few opportunities to score.

The Evolution finally did, on a goal that benefited from the refs going blind — twice.

First they awarded Northshore a questionable free kick, then they allowed a goal to stand after an Evolution player kicked the ball free from Perry’s hands — a no-no.

“In my mind, that’s a 2-0 win,” Islander coach Sean LeVine said. “Second half was all us. Our defense was stout and they never got behind us in the entire second half.”

Whidbey kept the pressure on, with multiple players ripping shots on goal. Olson, Micky LeVine, Erin Rosenkranz, Becca Pabona, Kendra Warwick, Hailey Erbe, Morgan Zylstra and Paige Waterman all rattled the Evolution netminder.

LeVine, after some thought, tabbed Warwick as his player of the game.

“Kendra really held down the midfield today, battling much larger opponents and winning, controlling possession, and helped to relieve the defense from having to pressure the ball in the middle,” LeVine said. “Kendra is our own Ozzie Alonso! Great job today!”

The Islanders host their next game, Sunday, Mar. 23 (2 PM) at Ft. Nugent, then hit the road for their season finale.

For more photos, including pics of Islander players who call Oak Harbor and South Whidbey home, head over to:

http://www.shutterfly.com/progal/album.jsp?aid=768a5498cf350b8730ec

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Islanders can’t be held down!!

Posted in Girls Soccer, GU18 Whidbey Islanders, tagged , , , , on March 16, 2014| Leave a Comment »

The Whidbey Islanders GU18 select soccer squad players (most of them, anyway), winners of six straight. (Kali Barrio photo)

The Whidbey Islanders GU18 select soccer squad players (most of them, anyway), winners of six straight. (Kali Barrio photo)

Jacalyn Hefflefinger owns the goal right now.

Scoring her sixth goal of the season Saturday, to go with an awe-inspiring score from teammate Jenn Spark, Hefflefinger sparked the Whidbey Islanders GU18 select soccer squad to its sixth straight victory.

The 2-0 home triumph over the Issaquah Arsenal lifts the Islanders to 7-2 on the season, and they get right back at it with a home game at Ft. Nugent (2 PM) Sunday.

Saturday, Whidbey dominated Issaquah from the moment the two teams stepped on the field. The Islanders peppered the Arsenal goalie, claiming a 20-3 shot on goal advantage.

With Morgan Zylstra manning the net for Whidbey, that freed goalie Kenzie Perry (“like a pit bull up front”) to play in the open field, and the fleet-footed one helped kick-start the offense.

Perry moved back into goal in the second half to combine with her teammate on the shutout.

The Islanders broke through when Spark took advantage of a free kick earned by Erin Rosenkranz.

Spark blasted a shot from 20 yards out that neatly curved over the Arsenal wall and plopped right into the corner of the net as the Issaquah goalie could only watch the shot in horror.

Pressing hard in stoppage time, Whidbey sprung Hefflefinger for the game-capping goal.

With mighty mite Micky “Two Fists” LeVine pressuring the defense, Tori Wellman pilfered the ball and slapped a picture-perfect crossing pass to Hefflefinger. Two seconds later, the golden-toed shot-maker had scored again and the celebration was on.

With contributions from every one on the roster, Islander coach Sean LeVine picked Paige Waterman and Becca Pabona as his players of the game.

“Paige matched their big, fast bruiser stride for stride and showed how strong she can be,” LeVine said. “We know Paigey is a great defender, but she battled their toughest player all game and won and took her out of the game!

“Becca played hard from box to box, battling for every 50/50, and really helped to control our possession,” he added. “Great job!”

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Five straight wins for red-hot Islanders!!

Posted in Girls Soccer, GU18 Whidbey Islanders, tagged , , , , on March 10, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Jacalyn Hefflefinger (right) has scored five goals in the last five games.

Jacalyn Hefflefinger (right) has scored five goals in her last five games.

Not even the refs can stop this team.

Despite “900 offsides calls,” the Whidbey Islanders GU18 select soccer team rolled to its fifth straight win Sunday afternoon, bouncing their hosts, Tracyton Velocity, 2-1 in a game that wasn’t remotely as close as the score might indicate.

Now 6-2 in league play, the Islanders got big goals from Jacalyn Hefflefinger and Bailee Olson, and would have netted more if over-eager refs hadn’t blown the whistle every three seconds.

It was Hefflefinger’s fifth goal in as many games, while Olson netted her first score as a member of the Islanders.

Whidbey used a superb bit of teamwork to grab its first goal.

Jenn Spark, the master of the corner kick, popped a ball to Paige Waterman, who laid it off to a rampaging Erin Rosenkranz.

Her shot on goal whacked a Velocity defender and bounced cleanly to Hefflefinger, who did what she does better than just about anyone on the pitch — put it in the back of the net while the goalie grasps at empty air.

Frustrated by Tracyton’s offsides trap, the Islanders turned it to their advantage on Olson’s goal.

Timing her run perfectly to keep the whistle dry in the ref’s mouth, she snared a beautifully placed pass from Hailey Erbe and crunched the ball past the diving keeper.

With a lead to hold, Whidbey goalie Kenzie Perry and her rugged band of defenders were fairly spotless, shutting Tracyton down.

“Our defense remains, easily, the best D in the league!,” said Islander coach Sean LeVine. “The D made one error today and they capitalized, which is a fluke! I’d be perfectly happy with one error per game.”

The Islanders, who sit just one point out of second place in league play, now host three straight home games at Ft. Nugent.

Whidbey plays twice next weekend — Saturday, Mar. 15 (12:30 kickoff) and Sunday, Mar. 16 (2 PM).

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Can’t lose! Won’t lose!!

Posted in Girls Soccer, GU18 Whidbey Islanders, tagged , , , , on March 2, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Jenn Spark (John Fisken photo)

  Jenn Spark was a two-way terror Sunday, scoring the winning goal and nabbing her first yellow card for a “nasty, almost legal” slide tackle. (John Fisken photo)

The win streak lives on for another week.

It’s at four straight and counting for the Whidbey Islanders GU18 select soccer squad, after it capped a perfect weekend with a 2-1 win over the ISC Arsenal in Skyline Sunday.

With two wins in two days, the Islanders are 5-2 and in third place in their league. They’ll try to keep the streak alive next Sunday when they travel to Tracyton.

Sunday was a tale of two halves — one virtually flawless, one horrid, but not bad enough to snatch victory away.

“The second half shall be ‘the half to never speak of’,” said Islander coach Sean LeVine. “I’m not really sure what happened; I’ll have to review tape, but it was … well, I won’t speak of it.”

The “cold, wet, nasty weather” seemed to sap the life out of the Whidbey players, but they held on, surrendering just one long, booming goal into the left upper corner of the net.

The first half, by contrast, had been an impressive show, as the Islanders dominated, controlling the flow of the game and raining down shots on the Arsenal goalie.

Hailey Erbe opened the scoring with her first goal of the season, deflecting a shot from Jacki Ginnings into the back of the net.

After numerous close calls from Ginnings, Kendra Warwick, Micky LeVine, Jacalyn Hefflefinger and Bailee Olson, the Islanders got that elusive second score on a free kick from Jenn Spark.

Olson was gang-tackled by two Arsenal defenders at the top of the box, giving Spark her opportunity. She immediately responded, “ripping a laser shot over their wall, deflecting the ball off the bottom of the crossbar and into the net.”

It was one of two highlights for Spark, who later notched her first yellow card for a “nasty, but almost legal, slide tackle.”

Olson, who left the game after being taken down by a hard slide tackle, was LeVine’s choice for player of the game

“Bailee continues to put so much pressure on their defense that it creates many opportunities for her teammates,” LeVine said. “It also frustrates the defense and earns us free kicks in dangerous areas.

“I suspect she doesn’t even realize how much she contributes with her hustle and tenacity,” he added. “But she definitely deserves a lot of credit for our recent offensive success!”

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Hefflefinger has the magic touch!!

Posted in Girls Soccer, GU18 Whidbey Islanders, tagged , , , , , on March 2, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Jacalyn Hefflefinger is en fuego on the soccer field.

Jacalyn Hefflefinger is en fuego on the soccer field.

Jacalyn Hefflefinger is a young woman on fire.

And yes, I could have gone for the easy “Hunger Games” reference there, but Hefflefinger is no mere girl. She’s a goal-scoring machine tearing apart soccer foes in a way even Katniss Everdeen would respect.

Saturday she threw down two more goals, giving her four in her last three games, to spark the Whidbey Islanders GU18 select squad to a thrilling come-from-behind 2-1 victory over host NSC Evolution in Bothell.

Trailing at the half, the Islanders started feeding Hefflefinger in the second half, and her golden leg put the boom down.

Jenn Spark set her up on a corner kick for the tying goal, while Micky “Two Fists” LeVine out-battled the Evolution keeper in the box, winning the ball and putting it on Hefflefinger’s foot for the win.

Islander coach Sean LeVine, basking in the afterglow of his team’s third straight win, praised his players left and right, starting with his unstoppable striker.

“WOW! I don’t recall having a player with a stat line like that (four goals in three games),” he said. “She has been outstanding this season, but the move to striker is paying off!

“The downside for Jac, is now we expect her to score, ha!,” LeVine added. “Just kidding, keep working hard, you are an inspiring player for our team!”

The soccer guru also sidestepped tradition and gave a player of the game nod to his own offspring.

“I almost never do this (one of the many down sides of being a coach’s kid), but Micky cannot be denied today!,” LeVine said. “She was on fire at right mid today! Especially second half, she just seemed to win the ball and have a positive play every time she was near it.

“She played from their box to our box and saved us at least twice when the ball found itself in our box with only her and a white jersey near it!,” he added. “Great job today, Micky! By the way, you’re my favorite player and I love you!”

Capping the day’s strong team-wide performance was a surprise yellow card handed out to mild-mannered Erin Rosenkranz. While it caught LeVine by surprise, he liked the chippiness it rewarded.

“Erin’s yellow card was another inspiring moment,” LeVine said. “I think we were all too shocked and confused to argue with the ref about that, but I’m pretty sure he got that wrong.

“Unless she’s been secretly hitting people all this time and just not getting caught!,” he added with a laugh. “Hmmm, we’ll have to keep an eye on her…”

The Islanders will try to stretch their win streak to four when they hit the road again for a Sunday morning game against ISC Arsenal at Skyline Community Fields.

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