Christine Malhame fires the free kick into the box. The U14 Fireballs move on to the semi-final round of the Waldbaum's Cup major division with a stellar 2-1 victory over the Center Moriches Power. The girls came out a little lethargic after more than an hour in the car, but after about 15 minutes their competitive juices started to flow and they never looked back. With a fast start, and speed to burn, the Power got on the board first with a nice through ball and a well placed shot past the Fireball keeper - Monique Roberge, who filled in with a great performance in the goal. With additional pressure on our defense for another 5 minutes or so it looked like this was going to be a long day. However, the girls got going and forced the action into the Power side of the field with some good footwork in the midfield by Courtney Chmil and Christina Cesarini. The pressure turned into something positive when Christine Malhame sent a beautiful free kick from 40 yards out across the box that Meaghan Walsh controlled on the edge of the 18 yard box. She beat a defender and sent the ball right back into the goal area and Amanda Murolo was able to beat the keeper to it and bury for a tie game. Staying aggressive the girls started to win more 50-50 balls and beat the Power to the ball and this paid off again with another strong set play. This time it came off a strong Christina Cesarini corner kick that found the foot of Victoria Aldrich in the box for a one time shot into the heavily defender goal and a 2-1 advantage for GC with about 8 minutes left in the half.

Katie Reilly moves forward with the ball. The second half was a classic battle of two teams that would not give in - Center Moriches attacking but not able to break through, and the Fireballs counter attacking, always forcing the Power to retreat into their defensive area. There were a couple of chances for both teams, Liz McDougal and Daniella Sampram both just barely putting the ball over the goal. While the Fireball defense of Michelle Rotondo, Katie Reilly, Paige Vincent, Shannon McWilliams and Kim Verderber held strong in front of Monique, who twice was forced to dive out at the ball and sacrifice her body to make two great saves. The Power threw everything they had at GC in the final 10 minutes causing a little angst on the sideline, but our girls are a rare breed that step up to any challenge and they did it again very successfully. A terrific Cup victory! Having been rained out on Sunday for their State Cup match the girls got a well deserved rest. Tomorrow they travel to Oceanside to take on the Freedom at 5:05.

Monique Roberge unleashes a booming punt.

Victoria Aldrich makes a move to get free. Amanda Murolo moves through the defense.