After opening the first women\u2019s league season with a bang the week before, the women of the Northern Mariana Islands Football (Soccer) Association returned to the Garapan Elementary School pitch for four intense matches on Saturday afternoon to wrap up the pre-playoff competition in much the same fashion.<\/p>\n
Marianas Eye-yeye-yeye emerged as the favorite for the playoffs after scoring consecutive wins led by all-star Sarah Helbert\u2019s five goals and a queen-sized contribution from youngster Deja Whitt.<\/p>\n
The Eye-yeye-yeye opened up their day with a thrilling 3-2 win over the UMDA Crushers to assure themselves of a playoff slot as the first team to reach the two-win plateau, thanks in large part to the second consecutive hat trick from Helbert in as many games.<\/p>\n
While Crushers goaltender TeMary Gramlich made three stops on the day, there was no denying the back of the net from Helbert, as she ruled the field for her fourth, fifth, and six scores of the season.<\/p>\n
Despite the loss, Crushers\u2019 coach Marcos Alonso found his cloud\u2019s silver lining. <\/p>\n
\u201cGreat effort and attitude. We are definitely learning how to play as a team,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The league\u2019s second leading goal scorer also added a pair to her total as Becca Rath added her second and third goals of the season, but the Crushers fell one shy from a tying the game.<\/p>\n
Fotten Fiesta 2, Saipan Grand Fire Dawgs 0<\/p>\n
Timely goals from Brenda Schultz and Gene Chagaris proved to be the difference as Fotten Fiesta earned its first win of the season by blanking the Saipan Grand Fire Dawgs, 2-0.<\/p>\n
Goaltender Kung Hee Jung saved blocked six shots from entering the Dawg pound, but Patricia Coleman\u2019s pass to Schultz found the mesh followed by Chagaris\u2019 kick in.<\/p>\n
Fiesta Coach Jesse Phonsutjit was happy with the results and said that his it was his team\u2019s ability to work together that made the difference in the match.<\/p>\n
\u201cVince Asanuma was in a good position and helped control the game. Brenda Schultz was good at encouraging all players. Everyone had good team work and cooperation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Fire Dawgs put up a fierce battle without the experience of last week\u2019s goal scorer Grace \u201cRoast Beef\u201d Villagracia, but Allison Livingston stepped up to break up a number of opposing attacks while contributing to her team\u2019s offensives as well.<\/p>\n
UMDA Crushers 0, Saipan Grand Fire Dawgs 0
\nNeither team managed to score a goal in a hotly contested match between the Crushers and Fire Dawgs in each team\u2019s second game of the day, but the Saipan Grand squad performed admirably despite playing in back-to-back action.
\nAfter losing 2-0 to the Fotten Fiesta in the previous outing, goaltender Kyung Hee Jang stepped up to become a brick wall\u2014stopping nearly 10 shots for the Fire Dawgs.
\nWhile they failed to notch a win, the Fire Dawgs (0-2-1) earned the fourth seed in this weekend\u2019s playoffs while the Crushers (1-1-1) grabbed the second seed.<\/p>\n
Marianas Eye-yeye-yeye 3, Fotten Fiesta 1<\/p>\n
Despite facing two separate goaltenders, Sara Helbert continued her tear through the women\u2019s league with a pair of goals to lead the Marianas Eye-yeye-yeye to an undefeated season with another solid 3-1 win over the Fotten Fiesta.<\/p>\n
This time around Helbert wasn\u2019t the only one lighting up the scoreboard for Eye-yeye-yeye as 13-year-old Deja Whitt pumped in a goal as well to close out the Marianas squad\u2019s season at an unblemished 3-0.<\/p>\n
The combo of Joanne Nicholls and Allen Tenorio were unable to stifle the focused Eye-yeye-yeye attack, but they managed to compile eight saves, while Brenda Schultz scored for her second time in as many games to break the shutout.<\/p>\n
After finishing the season with a 1-2 record, the Fiesta and look strong heading into the playoffs with the third seed, and their coach Jesse Phonsutjit said credited strong defense and all-around play as their strengths.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had good passing and teamwork. Good defense from Gene Chagaris and Linda Anastacio,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
With 38 players and five dedicated coaches, the women\u2019s league is already a success, and this weekend\u2019s playoff action will take the tempo to another level as the ladies charge ahead into the post-season and subsequent championship round this Saturday, May 6 when the Marianas Eye-yeye-yeye take on the Fotten Fiesta at 8am and the UMDA Crushers challenge the Saipan Grand Fire Dawgs at 10am. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After opening the first women\u2019s league season with a bang the week before, the women of the Northern Mariana Islands Football (Soccer) Association returned to the Garapan Elementary School pitch for four intense matches on Saturday afternoon to wrap up the pre-playoff competition in much the same fashion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100265\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}