.U12 Patriettes Front Row (L-R) Margot McTiernan, Jillian Gregory, Laurel Nothel, Annie Kane, Julia Biscardi, Isabel Balady, Maddie Stone, Mary Kate Kenny, Back Row (L-R) Becky Reifler, Kelly McDonnell, Erin Rode, Claudia Caracciolo, Jillian Curtin, Alexis Leighton, Christie Pflume, Caitlyn Kaczynski Last weekend the Garden City U12 Patriettes opened their season in the always competitive East Meadow Soccer Club Tournament sponsored by Covanta. After a successful spring season the Patriettes started the season with 5 very competitive games over two days. The Patriettes started out strongly with a 3-1 victory against Merrick in their Saturday morning game. The next two games of the day were much more challenging with the girls playing teams from Kings Park and Stony Brook. Unfortunately, for the Patriettes they came out on the short end of both games but had a very competitive 1-0 game against the eventual tournament champions from Stony Brook.

Sunday brought two very competitive matches. The team came out in the morning with a new sense of determination and will to win against East Meadow. The Patriettes scored first and had many opportunities at the goal but a strong keeper kept all shots out of the net. The opponents did tie up the game but true to the Patriettes determination they continued to battle to the last whistle and come out with a hard fought 1-1 draw. The last game of the tournament was against Middle Country who had not lost a match and was in first place going into the last game. The Patriettes saved their best soccer for last. Through a complete team effort the girls were able to play a solid game of soccer at all positions. The tandem of Maddie Stone and Caitlyn Kaczynski each played a half in goal stopping all shots leading to a shutout. Helping to ensure few balls even got to the goalies were the defense of Julia Biscardi, Christie Pflume, Jillian Curtin and Claudia Caracciolo. The midfielders who won more than their share of the 50/50 balls included Annie Kane, Alexis Leighton, Margot McTiernan and Laurel Nothel. The forwards did their job in keeping up the pressure on the opponents goal the whole game. Making strong runs and crossing the ball included Becky Reifler, Mary Kate Kenny, Jillian Gregory, Kelly McDonnell, Isabel Balady, and Erin Rode. Congratulations to the girls and good luck this season.