The Garden City Wildcats The Garden City Wildcats opened their U-10 girls season with a solid victory over the Syosset Red Devils in the Nassau Major Division of the LIJSL. The girls were excited to play in their first travel game and even more so on their home turf at St. Paul's and came out firing on all cylinders. Kelly Donovan attacking from her left back position combined nicely with Taylor Gladd and was sprung in on goal and only a great save from the Syosset goalie kept the scoreboard clean. The Wildcats enjoyed a nice run of play throughout the first 10 minutes and when Syosset attempted to counterattack Gabby Rogers and Devon Heaney did a fine job on defense in tandem with some very solid goalkeeping from Kelly George. Finally in the 11th minute Jacqui Brattan made Wildcats history by notching the team's first goal in LIJSL league play. Slicing thru the defense Brattan slotted the ball past the Syosset goalkeeper, who then made a nice stop a minute later on a shot from Megan Seel to prevent GC from going up 2. In the span of the next few minutes the Wildcats were up by three on two goals from Kate Farrell. The first was some great ball movement around the field with Celia Concannon playing Maggie Casey on the right sideline who crossed to Emma Wieland in the middle of the field who then unlocked the Syosset defense with a smartly placed thru ball which Kate ran onto for a nice goal. 3-0 came when Kate received a nice square pass from Wieland in the offensive third and beat the keeper from a sharp angle. Devon Heaney and Maggie Casey were strong on the ball and made some nice tackles in the first half playing a crucial role in keeping the run of play in GC's favor. Gabby Rogers was in goal for the second half and found herself under pressure making two tough stops from a determined Syosset side fighting to get back the 3 goals. After conceding a goal GC regained the initiative. Centerback Marlee Rich did a fine job not only on defense but maintaining composure and re-starting numerous attacks from the backfield. Kelly George showed a nice move to create space down the right sideline and made a great pass so Taylor Gladd, showing practice makes perfect by using her off (right) foot, could score for a 4-1 lead. Kelly George also was set loose by Marlee Rich and had a nice shot that was close to making it 5-1 but caught the outside netting. After Syosset made it 4-2 Kelly Donovan scored a nice goal under the crossbar and then Kate Farrell completed her hat trick. Celia Concannon, who displayed excellent field awareness and ball control thruout the game, then showed some nice soccer beating a defender and following up on her shot to knock in the rebound and make the final score 7-2. Congratulations to all the Garden City Wildcats for a great start. The challenge continues with a tough away game this Saturday against the RVC Express. Bottom row l to r: Megan Seel, Kelly Donovan, Emma Wieland, Marlee Rich, Taylor Gladd. Top row l -r: Kate Farrell, Gabby Rogers, Jacqui Brattan, Devon Heaney, Kelly George, Celia Concannon, Maggie Casey