U12 Thunder win
The East Windsor PAL U12 Thunder kept place at the top of the standings with a 3-1 victory over the Hazlet Mustangs. The Thunder avenged their opening day loss to Hazlet with a dominating performance played on the Hightstown High School Turf Field.
Teresa Alison scored two goals in the first half, the first coming from a 35-yard direct free kick. Isabella Benitez gave the Thunder an extra cushion with a second half goal with an assist from Izzy Del Toro. The game was controlled by the midfielders of Thunder, especially Kaela Solari, Lara Koppel, Calleigh Kosman and Bella Cammarata.
U10 Arsenal prevail
The East Windsor PAL U10 Arsenal got back in the win column with a 2-1 victory over Old Bridge Octane.
This was a tight, physical game that was scoreless at the half despite the Arsenal controlling ball possession for most of the half and creating several scoring opportunities.
Angelina Benitez scored the first Arsenal goal in the second half, but Old Bridge answered right back with a goal of its own. The Arsenal kept up the offensive pressure and Rachael Charsky put home the game winner with 5 minutes to play. Anna Zappola, Megan Khazem, and Marcella Hirshman had outstanding games in front of goalkeepers Radha Ghate and Alayna Giampolo.
Storm falls
A short-benched Storm traveled to face Wall’s Tsunami Sunday losing 3-1.
Meg Regan put on a defensive clinic for Storm keeping Wall’s offense at bay, backed ably by Jessica Gratkowski, Lili Iavarone and Lizzy Barrett.
Wall got on the board first off a mad scramble in the box but the Storm quickly responded with Payton Rupp making a heads-up pass through to Julia Gorajek who beat the keeper with a shot to the far post.
Wall took the game from there scoring once at the end of the first and again to start the second and holding steady on defense for the remainder.
Blue Dragons roll
The East Windsor Blue Dragons kept their winning streak going with a dominant 8-3 win over Holmdel on their home turf May 8.
The Blue Dragons wasted no time finding the net with a quick corner kick by Alexander Garcia that ended in a score by Sebastian Rincon with a second effort kick. Within minutes the Dragons were on the move again with a breakaway run by Elliot Vertiz and goal number two followed by another quick score by Alexander Garcia.
The defense managed to keep Holmdel from having very few kicks on goal in the first half and a free kick by Lionel Aguilar led to yet another rebound goal by Jael Miguez. Elliot Vertiz scored his second goal with a speedy race downfield and a well-placed high kick. Then Lionel Aguilar was the fifth Blue Dragon to find the net to make the score 6-0. Dylan Stables blocked a breakaway run by Holmdel to preserve the shutout just before the half. Jayden Baffoe-Bonnie also shared goal tending duties in the first half.
In the second half, Ilias Bettendorf played goalie. Holmdel came storming back and scored its first goal to make it 7-1. Alexander Garcia’s long shot on goal bounced back and Sebastian Rincon came up with the rebound and scored his second goal of the game. Holmdel mounted a quick offensive strike and found the net again to make it 7-2 and then scored its final goal of the game to make the score 7-3.
The Blue Dragons then regained control of the game and had one goal called back on an offsides, but ended the game with a beautiful pass from Sebastian Rincon to Alexander Garcia to make the final score 8-3.
