Over the Memorial Day weekend, the Stars participated in the Oswego Soccer Classic. Since they are a highly skilled team, they did not play in their U10 division. Instead, they played up a year in the U11 division. The Stars played hard in each of their 5 games and captured a 2^nd place trophy for their efforts.

On Friday night, the Stars played the TCSA Thunder. The defense of Angeline Lewis, Holly Gotchie and Maddie Woolf prevented all but a few shots on goal. Maya Bonie, playing keeper in the first half, cleaned up anything her defense let through. Lauren Gotchie tallied the only score of the first half after Kaylee Zimbelmann sent her a pass in front of the net. During the first half, the ball was almost entirely in the Thunder’s side of the field. In the second half, Brittni Ice prevented a goal that would have tied the game, making a tremendous save. After that, the Stars poured it on offensively, with Kaylee Zimbelmann scoring twice, once after a centering pass from Riley Cassian. Guest players Katherine Stephens and Allison Pfister also combined for a nice goal. The final score of game one was Stars 4, Thunder 0.

On Saturday, the Stars took on TCSA Fury. Brittni Ice scored both Stars’ goals with assists from Kaylee Zimbelmann. Holly Sutkay, Rachel Savaglio and Riley Cassian played hard throughout the game and the defense of Holly Gotchie, Maya Bonie, Maddie Woolf and Angeline Lewis was stellar. The Fury avoided a shutout when they scored on a penalty kick. The final score was Stars 2, Fury 1.

On Sunday morning, the Stars faced TCSA Tornadoes. Rachel Savaglio sent the ball to Brittni Ice who scored after settling the ball and blasting it to the right of the goal keeper. The guest players combined for another goal when Allison passed the ball to Madison Sterling. Madison controlled the ball well, sized up her shot and sent a low shot on the ground into the left side of the net for the 2-0 lead. The Tornadoes managed a goal just before halftime to make the score 2-1. Despite tough play, the Stars gave up the game tying goal with just minutes left and settled for a 2-2 tie. It turned out that the Stars had enough points to make it into the semifinals even before playing the Tornadoes, but the tie dropped them into the wildcard position behind the Panther Magic.

The semifinal game was one of the most exciting games of the tournament. The Stars took on the TCSA Geckos, a U11 "B" division team that is doing very well in league play. The Geckos took an early lead. The Stars managed to battle back with strong play by the defense and midfielders. Offensively, the Stars had shots on goal, but just could not place the ball in the net. The Geckos had a very athletic goalkeeper who seemed to stop everything. During the game, the Stars had at least 10 corner kicks that were unsuccessful. Finally, Kaylee Zimbelmann struck a corner kick that bounced around in front of the goal until Maya Bonie came to the Stars’ rescue and put the ball in the back of the net to tie the score at one.

Regulation time ended with the score still knotted at one. After two 5 minute periods, the teams settled in for penalty kicks. The Stars had never been faced with a penalty kick situation and the tension could be felt by the entire crowd, which had become quite large. The Geckos shot first, missing wide left. Kaylee Zimbelmann then netted her kick. The Geckos nailed the next kick past a diving Brittni Ice. Ice then missed her PK, tying the score at 1. Brittni Ice then stopped the next shot with a tremendous diving save. Angeline Lewis kicked the ball at the keeper and the score remained knotted at 1. The Geckos scored on their next shot and Rachel Savaglio made her kick to tie the tally at 2. The next Gecko’s kick deflected off the crossbar and Ice helped it away from the goal. Guest player Katherine Stephens waited for the whistle and calmly deposited the ball into the net for the win. The Stars and their fans went crazy after Katherine nailed her shot, sealing the win and sending the Stars to the finals. It was later learned that the roar of victory could be heard at field #6.

In the finals, the Stars faced a rematch with the TCSA Fury. Early in the game, Kaylee Zimbelmann passed to Brittni Ice who then sent the ball to Rachel Savaglio. Rachel put the ball in the net for the 1-0 lead. Unfortunately, the Stars simply ran out of energy. The Fury tied the score and the game remained tied for most of the second half. Brittni Ice played great in goal, but the Fury had several big and fast forwards who were just too much for the Stars’ exhausted defense. With just minutes to play, the Fury added a second goal and the Stars just could not respond. The final score was 2-1 in favor of the Fury.

The Stars should be very proud of their 2^nd place finish. Playing up an age level and playing 9v9 instead of the normal U10 format of 7v7, they scored 11 goals while giving up only 6. The Stars needed 3 guest players since they only have 10 players and needed a few players to give much needed rest during the games. Katherine Stephens, Allison Pfister and Madison Sterling deserve a special thanks for doing so much to help the Stars win. Not only did they play well and contribute to the Stars’ success, they were great girls to have around for the weekend. The Stars have one remaining league game and can secure at least 2^nd place with a victory. Congratulations to the Stars for a great weekend of soccer!