Christine Codignotto battles for possession of the ball. The Garden City Centennial Blizzards played their first ever State Cup match this past Sunday. This game was played at the Garden City Community Park against the Bohemia Blazers. From start to finish, the Blizzards controlled the match with their quickness, perseverance and aggressiveness.

With a strong wind behind them in the first half, the Blizzards kept the ball in the Blazer defensive zone for just about the entire 30 minutes. The Blizzard’s forwards, Amanda Murolo, Colleen Mullin, Katherine McCarthy, Nicole DeRose, Kendall Fries and Victoria Aldrich used well executed combination passes to penetrate the Blazer back line. This allowed the forwards to relentlessly attack the goal from all angles. When the Blazers attempted to move the ball into their offensive end the Blizzard’s midfielders, Erin Dean, Brenda O’Donnell, Catherine Dorn, Emma Kane, Delsey Attardi, Lauren Singer, Maria Ortiz and Brigid O’Malley denied the Blazers any room to mount an attack. For the first eighteen minutes, the Blazer’s keeper was able to handle all of the team’s shots. However, in the nineteenth minute, the Blizzards were awarded a corner kick. Christine Codignotto served a ball directly into the goal area, where Catherine Dorn quickly got possession and fired a low liner into the net to put the Blizzards up 1-0. Even though there was a barrage of shots by the Blizzards from all different directions and distances, the game was 1-1-0 at half.

Erin Dean wishes Kristina Kelly good luck as goalie in the second half. During the second half the strong winds were blowing against the Blizzards, however, it didn’t deter them from continuing to control the match. Since the Blizzards were able to win the majority of the 50/50 balls, they were constantly on the attack. Nine minutes into the half, Kendall Fries took possession at midfield and carried the ball down the right side. Using her speed and some awesome dribbling, she got around the outside stopper and blasted the ball into the net to put the Blizzards up 2-0. About 4 minutes later, Colleen Mullin gained possession of the ball in the Blazer 18 yard box and fired a beautiful shot into the upper left hand corner of the goal to give the Blizzards a comfortable 3 goal lead.

Gabrielle Nesi marks her opponent. Throughout the game, the Blizzards backs shut down the Blazer forwards on any attempt to score. Gabrielle Nesi, Kristina Kelly, Allison Gerspach and Christine Codignotto consistently forced the Blazer forwards to the outside where they smartly used the touch line to stop any scoring opportunities.

Lauren Singer and Colleen Mullin are all smiles after the victory. The Blizzards are looking forward to their next State Cup game against the Lake Grove Storm on Sunday, October 3rd, at the Garden City Community Park.