ME Sharks pictured top Left, Caroline Cowan, Abigail Zagrobski, Olivia Hickey, Ava Dickerson, Madelyn Jay, Tess Taylor and Lucy Considine. Bottom row from left is Nell Taylor, Stella Mazzini (up), Hadley Duncan (down), Amelia Reed and Aashika Patel. Lila Braier is missing from the Photo as she was injured in the last minute of the Finals game.
In addition to spectacular weather this holiday weekend, there was some rather awesome soccer playing as well. The Manchester Essex Youth Soccer G6 team (girls grades 5 and 6) swept the 30th Annual Danvers Invitational Tournament. The three-day tournament drew 16 teams to compete.
The G6 Sharks travel team is combined of players from both Essex and Manchester and plays its regular season in the Essex County Youth Soccer League.
Head Coach Chris Reed shared, “I am so very proud of the girls and how they played in this weekend’s tournament, it was a true team effort. They got stronger as a team, and continually improved as we progressed through the Tournament. We played a total of five games over the weekend, making the Semifinals out of our bracket by beating a solid Danvers team 3-2 after winning our first two games 3-2 vs Beverly and 3-0 vs Tewksbury.”
In the Semifinals Sunday afternoon, the team beat a Woburn team 5-0 to advance to the finals Monday morning against the Top town travel team out of Haverhill, MA. This Haverhill team had been undefeated in Essex County League play for over a year, and had only allowed a single goal against them all tournament.
In the finals the ME team scored first, but were down 2-1 at the half. As was the case all tournament, they never quit as a team, and scored 3 unanswered goals in the second half to Win the Championship 4-2.
Reed continues, “It was a fantastic weekend all around, the girls had a ton of fun, played hard and ended the weekend as Champions!”
A huge congratulations to the entire team, Coach Reed, Assistants Tricia Duncan, Akshay Patel and Peter Considine, and the parents who make it all possible. Go Sharks!
