All-Star Express 2008 Recap
All Star Express 2009 Team Report
Ok, another 95 degree playing day in MD, what's new? The only thing missing from the 09 Comets first trip to MD some years ago was the skin tight gray uniforms and 3 more ‘09 players! The rising senior Comets again played without subs on Friday and outplayed all the opponents including Nesll, Jets Pink, Metro Green, Ct Chargers. Except for one game against the top Rev 09 Black team, whom we lost to by 4 goals, the Comets controlled all the games. That being said, the team played well with Becky Bracken, Maddie Brown and Katelyn DeBlois coming in to help the 09 class all day and Shelby Hickox playing D for the first time. The attack, midfielders, D and, of course, our goaltender were tired, some sick and all definitely hot, but continued to run hard until the last game which we tied against the CT Chargers ‘09. We know it can be discouraging when the other teams sub entire lines out at once however one college coach that saw us this past weekend as well as at Champions Cup said that the Comets are getting a reputation as being the most fit team out there. Way to go girls!
Saturday was another 97 plus day with a crazy heat index and the toughest opponents. We had help from Anna Mack stopping by from some college visits as well as Amanda Rost, Anna Carr, KK Villareal and Sami Pilavin, along with Olivia M and Laura D. providing the cheerleading. We played even with a very good LI Express team that we would definitely have beaten in a full 50 minute game. The LI Yellow Jackets top 09 team drew many college coaches and the comets played valiantly but went down by 4. The game was much closer than this differential and two college coaches complimented us on our play after the game. The final game of the weekend saw us "rolling" over a CT Lightning 09 team to end the showcase on a positive note. In summary, we had some great efforts in the heat by the entire team and I can speak for all the Comet coaches and parents that we were proud of the work ethic out there and the never quit attitude.
Coach Bogan
All Star Express Underclass Team Report
What a STEAMER! "It was SO hot… " Fill in whatever you want - It was that hot. Not even an occasional cloud on Friday to stop that searing feeling. Saturday morning wasn't any better. The girls deserve a round of applause for stepping up to a very tough schedule and playing their hearts out in conditions that were testing even the most conditioned athletes. Due to a couple of last minute surprises we had to shift some of our team up to the 2009 team and, in fact, arrived in Maryland faced with playing five games on Friday man down. Our core team consisted of three 2010 players, four 2011 players and four 2012s.
You will note that the numbers above add up to 11. We need 12 for a full team. No one flinched. It was time to play. "The coaches will figure something out" (Yikes!). And we did. A couple of our players from the 2009 team helped us in our first game on Friday and in our Saturday games because our schedules didn't conflict. Also, Peter Brock and Jen Brocking loaned us two players from Jen's Riptides Underclass team for our 2nd-5th game on Friday. I was told it was an easy sell for Jen. In fact, one of her kids came back for seconds in another game of ours!
With game faces on, we stepped onto the field for our first game…
So how tough was it? Here is a little perspective to set the stage: There is a trend starting to evolve wherein college coaches look at kids earlier. The Underclass teams we faced were incredibly strong as many of the more intense programs consider this to be where you want to be looked at.
Here is the graduating year breakdown of the rosters for the teams we played. I did not include team player counts because this data was pulled from the Showcase program book, so the total player counts are high. Suffice it to say that, for all intents and purposes, we were playing true All Star teams, loaded with 2010s and all the teams had plenty of subs:
REV 10 (Massachusetts): All 2010s
SJSL 10 Pink (Southern NJ): All 2010s
NewLax Orange (Select players from all over USA to form a tournament team): Four 2011s, the rest 2010s
Relentless Hustle 11 (Upstate NY): All 2011s
LI Express (Long Island): They had two teams (!), all 2010s
Granite State (New Hampshire): One 2012, all the rest 2010s
X Team 10 Fight (Metro NYC): All 2010s
Lady Roc Rubies (Upstate NY): All 2010s
Hmmm… three 2010 players, four 2011 players and four 2012s… We had our work cut out for us. The first game ended in a tie and we came up short on the rest of the schedule. No excuses here, just the data, as it would be unfair to diminish the effort of our players with excuses. The Comets played hard, never gave up and, most importantly, improved throughout the two days of play. As a coach, it's all you can ask for. I'm proud of the girls and they should be proud of how they held themselves up during this trial by fire.
Some names to highlight:
The kids on the 2009 team who helped us out in our first game and on Saturday morning (If I forget anyone, please forgive me):
Becky Bracken, Katelyn DeBlois, Maddie Brown, Emily Bogan, Linnea Fulton, Nikki Gilbane.
Our Rising Stars, who jumped into the way-deep end of the pool and stepped up without complaint:
Sarah Hawthorne, Olivia Mattyasovszky, Caitlin Villareal and Laura DeBlois.
Our A-Wings and D-Wings who ran all day, both days:
Kiani Carroll (operating on about three hours of sleep), Kit Mocarski, Anna Carr, Meg "the shooter" Hawthorne
Laura DeBlois who, once again, stepped into the cage and toughed out 8 very busy games. While at times difficult to maintain, her million dollar smile and "why not?" attitude was a big motivator for all.
Sam Pilavin, who was sick, but played Defense in all of our games and then helped the 2009s Saturday afternoon.
Special recognition goes to Sarah Hawthorne, a Rising Star, who threw her equipment into the car just in case, got pressed into service, listened, learned, applied the coaching, and served notice that she was there to play. She never complained. She just played as hard as she could. Sarah gets the "Gamer" award.
Even though the W/L record wasn't what we wanted, the Comets showed mettle that is a rare commodity these days. Things don't always go our way. Sometimes you have to take the hit, suck it up and play on regardless. That's life and the Comets rose to the challenge.
Good job Girls, you did yourselves proud.
Next stop, Long Island for the LI Elite Showcase, our last tournament of the year. Lets get back on the gas and end the season with a bang! See you at practice.
-Coach Carr