Courtesy: The Trentonian


Hibernian U16 Girls win Futsal national championship

20/07/2012

By Rich Fisher

Hamilton Township’s Hibernian Club is known for lots of things, such as Irish celebrations, Monday Night Football gatherings, Rick “The Web King” Taylor and lots of strong travel soccer teams. One thing the Hibos were never known for, however, was a national championship team on the pitch.

And while it wasn’t traditional soccer, the Hibernians did finally get a national champion when its U16 Fusion girls’ team won the U.S. Under-16 National Futsal Championship in Anaheim, Calif., this past Sunday. Futsal, which features 5-v-5 rather than a full side, depends more on footwork and quicker use of the feet than regular soccer.

While many of the Fusion players were playing the sport for the first time together, they adapted well and it climaxed with a 2-1 win over defending champion LaRoca (Utah) in the title game. The Fusion qualified for nationals by finishing second in both the state tournament at Rutgers and the regional tournament in Wildwood during the winter. The top two finishers in each tournament advanced. In the nationals, the Hibos were pitted against LaRoca in their first game and took a 6-4 win. “When we scored our first goal that’s when we knew we were gonna win,” said Kaitlyn Ragolia. “It made us want to work ten times harder, and we knew we needed to win this. It got us more pumped for the rest of the weekend.”

The Hibos followed with an 8-0 win over Futsal of California and a 7-1 win over Hawaii before defeating LaRoca 2-1 on goals by Sam Barlow and Darah Wagner. “After we won all the parents came on the field,” Barlow said. “It was pretty cool.” “It’s crazy, I can’t believe it,” Wagner said. “We knew we could go far, but we didn’t know we could go this far since we hadn’t really played Futsal together before. We were hoping for the best, and as we kept winning we got our confidence up.”

The remainder of the team included Rachelle Ross, Julia Tampellini, Kayla Carlen, Joan Logan, Emily Vogel, Courtney Bennett and Cagnie Antczak. Tom Bayless and Mike Antczak were the coaches. “It all started off as something just for them to stay in shape,” Bayless said. “And now we end up with this outcome. Unbelievable.” And history-making.




Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com