MYSA Lunachicks Soccer

'Torch' sends the ball upfield

The 96 MYSA Lunachicks, coming off an undefeated season in the U13 Girls Triad Challenge League this Spring (7-0-2), participated in the NCYSA Challenge State Cup in Raleigh to wrap up their season. Facing teams from CASL and North Meck, the Lunachicks won their preliminary group with a 2-1 record and were the only U13 Girls TCL team to advance to the NCYSA Challenge Cup Final Four. The NCYSA Final Four weekend sees teams from across North Carolina playing to win the State Cup for their level and age, so it was exciting to play this match while almost a dozen other semifinal matches were underway across Bryan Park in Greensboro, NC.

The Lunachicks faced off against the CASL Rockets G on a cool grey morning at beautiful Bryan Park. Both teams mounted numerous attacks on goal, with neither team leading by more than a point. As regulation drew to a close, the game was tied 2-2 and overtime seemed likely. However, the CASL team setup a far field attack off a throw in in the final minute of play and snuck the ball just inside the left post to win the game in the final minute of play. While the Lunachicks were disappointed at not advancing to the championship match, they held their heads high knowing they were the first MYSA team to advance to an NCYSA Cup Final Four and had such an exciting and close match against the eventual Challenge Cup champions from CASL.

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Three years ago, a group of random 10 year old girls from Mebane’s Rec league showed up for travel team tryouts. Some coach had contacted their parents encouraging them to come out – to have the chance to play on an all girls team and travel around NC to play soccer. Some were excited, some were hesitant, some were ambivalent. But they went through the activities and worked hard. Some girls were tripping over the ball, others had an almost unbridled fury in their intensity, but no ball control, and others hung back not entirely sure WHAT they were doing there. Except for one who was already picking out team names and had suggested ‘Lunachicks’ much to the other girl’s delight. In the end, 13 girls came out, and 13 girls made the team. We picked up a 14th player that summer and the MYSA Lunachicks were born.

Our first match was a wake up call. Against a team that had been playing travel for a year, we got utterly run over, losing 0-9 to our cross town rivals. The next match we lost 0-6 and it could have been much much worse. But this group of girls got through that and kept working hard. They were working hard and showing off stuff they had learned in practice. Suddenly matches were being won or lost by a point or two. Their next season they finished 6-2. Suddenly this team of random players was a team to be reckoned with. We picked up a few players, said goodbye to a couple players and soldiered on. They moved up to Classic, but never believed believe they could play at that level. In 2009 they won four matches, but lost 30. Yet this group of girls stuck together. Of the original 14 Lunachicks, 9 still play on the team.

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Congratulations to the ’96 MYSA Lunachicks for advancing to the Final Four/SemiFinals of the NC Challenge State Cup! Playing in unseasonably warm weather in Raleigh, NC, the Lunachicks finished the preliminary round 2-1-0 and will face the CASL Rockets this Saturday at 8AM in Greensboro’s Bryan Park. Despite stumbling in the early morning hours Saturday, the team recovered nicely and played some fantastic soccer Saturday and Sunday afternoon. The girls controlled possession throughout much of their final two matches and enjoyed showing off a variety of tricks and skills. Great job ladies and good luck next week!

The Lunachicks traveled to Greensboro to participate in the Guilford United Friendlies to get warmed up for the start of the Spring 2010 season. After a tough fall, the girls were hoping to turn things around, and for the most part, they did. Facing one of their regular season opponents, the Lunachicks won easily with a 5-0 victory. They stumbled a bit against a past 2nd Div opponent in the afternoon, but held them scoreless in the first half playing on artificial turf. Sunday morning turned out to be the highlight of the weekend for the girls. Facing a very strong 1st Div team, the girls played with intensity for the entire 70 minutes, losing 1-2. The match was VERY close with one allowed goal coming off a simple mistake and we failed to capitalize on two very dangerous breakaways towards our opponent’s goal. Torch played the entire match in goal and made some spectacular saves.

So despite the loss, it was a great match for the team and showed the girls are ready for the upcoming season.

GO LUNACHICKS!

The Lunachicks are heading to Winston-Salem, NC this weekend to participate in the TCYSA Twin City Classic. They’ll be participating in the U13 Blue division against teams from Catawba Valley, Matthews, and South Carolina (CESA). For friends and family coming along for the ride, here are the details for this weekend:

Schedule (TCC Official Schedule)

• Sat Aug 22nd 9:45AM vs CVYSA Blast Blue, Hine Park #3
• Sat Aug 22nd 4:45PM vs MUFC Navy, Hine Park #3
• Sun Aug 23rd 9:45AM vs CESA Premier, Hine Park #5
• Sun Aug 23rd 2:00PM U13 Blue Championship, Sara Lee #1

Directions to each complex and complex field maps can be found below:

• Directions to Hine Park Fields 1-4
• Directions to Hine Park Fields 5-7
• Directions to Sara Lee Fields 1-3
• Hine Park/Sara Lee Overview
• Hine Park Field Map
• Sara Lee Field Map

Good luck ladies and make the MYSA proud! Results can be tracked online at the tournament website.

GO LUNACHICKS!

The Lunachicks have started their preseason practices in preparation for a busy preseason in August. We’ve been accepted into the Twin City Classic tournament scheduled for August 22nd and 23rd in Winston-Salem, NC, which is always an exciting tournament. These will be the first official 11v11 matches the girls will play.

To help prepare for that, the team will face off against a couple of teams from Guilford United Soccer Club on August 15th in Mebane during the MYSA’s friendly weekend.

The team will be holding a Car Wash fundraiser at Advance Auto Parts in Mebane (1008 Mebane Oaks Road) on Saturday August 29th from 10AM through 4PM. So come get your car cleaned and help support the Lunachicks! All proceeds will go towards travel and tournament expenses.

We’re looking forward to another exciting (and hopefully more successful) season!

GO LUNACHICKS!

Congratulations Lunachicks on a fantastic weekend of soccer!

The Lunachicks went to the Beat The Heat tournament this past weekend and advanced to the semi-finals after going 3-0 in the group stage, shutting out all three of their opponents. The team played what arguably was their best match of soccer ever in the group stage, providing parents and coaches alike with a great display of ball movement, teamwork, and intensity. It was clear their hard work this season had paid off.

Despite the disappointment of our semi-final loss to the eventual champions, the girls had a lot of fun and did a great job. Coach is very proud of their effort in the sun and heat!

Onward to the Seaside Classic!

The Lunachicks wrapped up their Fall 2008 season in Greensboro at the Adidas Challenge Clash. The team played two teams they had faced before in previous tournaments and hoped to make a run to the finals. The one wildcard (or so we thought) was the weather, which was unseasonably cold for this time of year. Matches were delayed both mornings due to frost and it was barely above freezing when the girls took the field Saturday morning. It was COLD.

The Lunachicks played a good match against the SSA Crush and came away with one point in a 1-1 draw. Having lost to the Crush last year, it was good to see improvement and matches between our two teams are always fun and exciting..

KrossBar makes a run towards the goal

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As luck would have it, we’ll be playing our last tournament in unseasonably cold weather! For us to have seen snow on a November morning is rare indeed and while snow is not expected tomorrow, frost is, which may delay the schedule some Saturday morning.

With temps not expected to get above freezing tomorrow morning until after 10AM, it will be cold for our first match. The girls absolutely should wear Under Armour, leggings if they have them, knit hats and knit gloves. The gloves are the one kicker – making it very hard to throw a ball, so the best kind of gloves have leather surfaces on the fingers. The hats/gloves cannot have ANY type of plastic or metal. The cloth covered ear muffs that are popular these days MAY be allowed at the discretion of the referee. Any extra clothing they want to wear on the field, MUST be worn under their soccer uniform! The girls should bring a HEAVY coat that zips/snaps that they can wear on the bench. If anyone has beat up heavy blankets the girls can use on the bench, that would be great.

Leslie and I will keep everyone updated regarding any delays. Please make sure Leslie has your latest contact information if it is not correct in your parent portal account on the MYSA Website. Click Your Profile to check it.

The current schedule and directions to Bryan Park can be found in the original GYS Clash post. Here is some other useful information:

• GYS Challenge Clash Website
• U12 Girls Blue Schedule and Results
• Current Bryan Park Weather

Even though it’ll be very cold, I’m looking forward to the Lunachicks showing off what they’ve learned this season and hopefully bringing some of the confidence they gained last weekend in Charlotte.

GO LUNACHICKS!

The Lunachicks headed to Charlotte, North Carolina this past weekend to play in the CUFC United Cup. This was a somewhat unique experience for the team, as they play at the ‘Challenge’ level normally, but were slated to play at the ’2nd Division Classic’ level in this tournament. We had asked to face stronger teams to see how the team stacked up against teams that normally played at a higher level. In the end we were not disappointed. We were placed in the Premier division and our bracket consisted of a number of strong 2nd division teams. To keep the girls from getting too nervous, we didn’t tell them exactly who they would be playing at first, just that they would be strong teams. Coach Mike was extremely nervous that week, hoping upon hope that they would do alright and not make this a wasted trip as it was also the first big overnight tournament for the team.

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Make sure the girls get plenty of rest. Yes, I know getting 11-12 year old girls asleep when they’re staying in a hotel out of town is pretty much impossible. But TRY to get the girls asleep by 10. Thankfully we don’t have a match at 8AM! But we should be at the fields no later than 8:45AM to get ready, do some warmups, etc.

I told the girls last night they need to start preparing for this tournament in how they eat. That means refrain from drinking soda from last night through the weekend (yeah they laughed too). Stick with water, sports drinks, juice, milk, etc. Eat GOOD meals – stay away from junk food. Everyone should eat something Saturday morning and it should be fairly early (7:30-8AM) Cereal, energy bars, fruit, stuff like that. Same holds true for lunch – light energy packed meals are best to prepare for the 1PM match. Bringing some granola bars, etc. can be useful too.

As Leslie noted, not every tournament is going to be during clear and sunny weather. This is one of those weekends. The tournament committee will do everything they can to get the matches played. CUFC just sent out a phone broadcast stating the tournament is ON as of 9:15AM and they will be sending out updates every three hours. We’ll definitely keep you posted. Read the rest of this entry »

[UPDATE - I had the hotel address wrong. Make sure you print out the updated directions!]

The schedule for our first post season tournament is out. Looks like we got some nice time slots and no 8AM matches! Here’s what we have so far:

• Sat 11/15 9:30AM McKee Road Park #4 – Wear BLUE
• Sat 11/15 1:00PM McKee Road Park #4 – Wear YELLOW
• Sun 11/16 9:30AM McKee Road Park #2 – Wear BLUE
• And if we win our group – we advance directly to the final:
• Sun 11/16 2:00PM Ramblewood #11A – Wear BLUE

If the schedule changes, I’ll update everyone ASAP. All matches except the final will be at McKee Road Park. Here are directions to the McKee, which is right of I-485 South/West:

• Directions from the Mebane Soccer Complex to McKee Road Park
• Directions from Mebane to the DoubleTree Hotel
• Directions from the DoubleTree Hotel to McKee Road Park
• Directions from McKee Road Park to RambleWood Park

Here are the street addresses for each park and the hotel for those of  you with GPS systems, and each complex name links to the field map for that complex:

• Charlotte Doubletree Hotel – Airport – 6300 Morrison Boulevard, Charlotte, NC, 28211
• McKee Road Park – 4101 McKee Rd, Charlotte, NC 28270
• Ramblewood Park – 10200 Nations Ford Rd, Charlotte, NC 28273

Driving time from Mebane to the McKee Road Park is just over two hours, so some of you may choose to only stay Saturday night. Please try to arrive at the complex no later than 9:00AM as we play at 9:30AM. I expect warm-up space to be limited, so we won’t need to be there an hour ahead of time. 30-45 minutes ahead will be plenty. Make sure the girls bring BOTH jerseys to every match in case we need to change due to a color conflict.

The schedule for the 2008 Challenge Clash has been published:

• Sat 11/22 10:30AM vs SSA Crush – Bryan Park 05 – Wear BLUE
• Sat 11/22 1:00PM vs CASL Cyclones – Bryan Park 06 – Wear BLUE
• Sun 11/23 9:15AM U12 Girls Blue Semifinal – Bryan Park 05 or 06
  • If we finish 1st or 2nd in our group Saturday
• Sun 11/23 11:45AM U12 Girls Consolation (BP05) or Championship (BP06)
  • Consolation if we don’t make semifinals OR Championship if we win a semifinal

If the schedule changes, I’ll let everyone know ASAP. We face a team we played last November in the Clash (SSA Crush) and also the CASL Cyclones, who we played at Challengefest in the semifinals. If we finish 1st or 2nd in our group – we’ll play in a semifinal at 9:15AM Sunday. Otherwise we’ll play the consolation match at 11:45AM.

All the matches are at the main part of the Bryan Park Soccer Complex. Instead of going straight after the railroad tracks, turn left towards the Dynamo Stadium. Fields 5 and 6 are at the far end of the complex – go past the concession stand and keep walking – you’ll be at field 6. Field 5 will be on your left. Here is a map of the Bryan Park Complex.

Getting to Bryan Park is easy – most of you have been there before. Here are directions using I-40 West to I-840 North. Take Rt 70 West to Hwy 29 North. Exit at Hicone Rd, turn left and follow the signs. The address is 6105 Townsend Rd, Greensboro, NC, 27401. If your GPS can’t find it, try using Browns Summit, NC, 27214 for the city (same street address).

You can usually get to Bryan Park in just over 30 minutes. Make sure the girls bring BOTH jerseys to every match in case we need to change due to a color conflict. If the main parking lot is full, there is an auxiliary lot farther down the main road. Worst case, park at the Annex and take the trail through the woods.

NOTE – One interesting thing we experienced last year was a frost delay. If there is frost on the fields, they will delay the early matches. While we don’t have 8AM matches, any delay pushes the whole schedule back. We’ll keep everyone posted if anything like this is expected this year.