Chatham Girls Strike Gold
Chatham Strikers U-15, Milton tournament champions – Contributed Photo
Their 1st game on Saturday was against the host team Milton Magic ‘A’ and Chatham despite the long road trip held their own until near the end of the 1st half when Milton was awarded a penalty shot off of a questionable hand ball call in the box. Milton scored to go up 1 – 0 at the half. Chatham started to get their legs in the 2nd half and built momentum and mid way through the half a Mikayla DeMaiter cross was mishandled by the Milton goalie and the rebound bounced around until it was headed from Emily McFeat to Allyson Huckle who finally headed the loose ball home. The game would end in a 1-1 tie.
Chatham’s 2nd game on Saturday afternoon was against Milton Magic ‘B’ and Chatham was looking for a win to keep their hopes of playing in the finals on Sunday alive. The skies opened up and with the rain came the mud and slippery field conditions. Both teams struggled to accomplish anything in the 1st half. Chatham did manage to battle through the elements in the 2nd half and Rhea VanHelden sent a cross into the Milton box that Ceara Travis was able to corral and fire low and away and into the back of the net for the 1-0 win. Brooke Foster had the shutout in net.
Chatham had to play a 3rd game late in the afternoon on Saturday against Mississauga Croatia. By now the fields and the players were drenched and mud covered. So the game was a battle of who could adjust best to the sloppy game conditions. This played right into Chatham’s hand as they controlled the game throughout and kept Croatia pinned in their own end for the majority of the contest. It did take Chatham until early in the 2nd half to find the back of the net when an Allyson Huckle corner kick was cleared out directly to defender Brooke MacKinnon who made no mistake in burying a low hard rocket blast through all the traffic to secure another 1 – 0 victory. Brooke Foster again made sure there would be no come back for Croatia with a couple of timely acrobatic saves.
Chatham’s 4th game of the tournament on Sunday against Dixie Athletic was now just a warm-up for the final later that afternoon as both Dixie and Chatham had the top 2 spots locked up and a place in the final secured. But bragging rights were at stake as Dixie had scored 10 goals in 3 games and allowed 0, so Chatham were huge underdogs going into the last round robin game. Chatham was not intimidated by the Dixie side as they battled hard in the rain and mud to make sure they would not be taken lightly by Dixie. Chatham managed to outplay Dixie in the 1st half and they were rewarded for their hard work when Allyson Huckle sent in a long cross that Alissa Burd ran down and tucked past the Dixie goalie right before the half. The 1 – 0 lead would hold up despite immense pressure from Dixie in the 2nd half as Chatham’s defence and goalie made sure Dixie would not get untracked. The 1 – 0 win gave Chatham 1st place overall going into the rematch for the title against Dixie and more importantly a huge confidence boost knowing they could play with and beat one of Toronto’s best. Brooke Foster continued to frustrate her opponents making timely saves and robbing would be goal scorers and earning her 3rd shut-out of the tournament.
The Final was now a survival of the fittest as the field was a quagmire of mud and puddles and Chatham had lost a few key players to injury along the way. With 3 girls now out due to injury and 1 already out for the entire tourney, Chatham would have to juggle their lineup just to survive another full game. Dixie came out motivated to avenge their earlier loss and were able to keep Chatham pinned in their own end for extended periods at a time. Chatham goalie Brooke Foster and her defence were able to turn away everything that Dixie threw at them and with the help of the crossbar they were still tied at zero at the half. Chatham mustered every ounce of energy they had and summoned every healthy body available to trudge through the muck and mire and battle Dixie to a scoreless tie that was now headed into golden goal overtime. Brooke Foster looked unbeatable and Dixie was frustrated and clearly losing confidence that they would ever score a goal.
Chatham again dug deep and showed huge hearts battling through the 2 scoreless OT frames to set up a penalty shoot out to determine the Champion. Chatham shot 2nd and Ceara Travis made her kick to tie the shoot-out at 1 each. Allyson Huckle then stepped up and buried her chance to keep the penalties tied at 2 each. Brooke Foster then save the 3rd Dixie shot, and Brooke MacKinnon calmly stepped up and side footed home a shot to give Chatham a 3 – 2 lead. Dixie made their next shot to tie it up again at 3, and Alissa Burd’s shot for Chatham was saved so it was all tied up going into the 5th and possibly final shooters. Goalie Brooke Foster wasn’t let this opportunity slip away as she dove right and robbed the Dixie shooter to give Chatham’s 5th shooter a chance to win the Championship. Paulina Maslak shook off the nerves and tucked a low shot just inside the post for a 4 -3 shoot-out victory and Tournament Gold.