NMIFA women recognize stars

With one game left for each of the teams in the Northern Mariana Islands Football Association Women’s League, the ladies ran wild at the American Memorial Park with the Saipan Grand Mamma Mia’s and Fiesta Resort and Spa Femme Fatales posting weekend wins.

The Mamma Mia’s dubbed goalie TeMary Gramlich as their most valuable player from the game as she shut out the potent Marianas Eye Institute Eye Ballers, and honored Vanessa Prichard and Megan Calderwood with the respective Team Spirit and Positive Sportsmanship awards.

The Eye Ballers played short handed without the services of talented players Becca Rath and Lindsay Davis because the women were busy coaching the Grace Christian Academy girls and the Gregory T. Camacho girls, respectively, during the DFS All Schools Tournament.

Morgan Rose was named as her team’s most valuable player for leading the Fiesta Resort and Spa Femme Fatales to a 2-0 victory over the UMDA Hot Salsa, but she wasn’t the only player on her team recognized for her valor on the American Memorial Park pitch.

The Team Spirit and Positive Sportsmanship nods went to Cathy Perry Anderson and Maria Ornes, respectively.

On the other side of the ball, UMDA Hot Salsa honored goal keeper Becca Newman for her impressive display between the pipes. Her teammates gave her praises and estimated Newman saved as many as nine shots by the Fiesta forwards.

“They did a fantastic job defending Brenda (Schultz), Morgan (Rose), and Roxy (Lamar). It was a good game and a good win and fun as we made some jokes throughout which balanced out the physical play,” said Salsa captain Emily Gries.

There was no shortage of soccer on Saipan on Saturday, but the high number of games put a strain on the local referee pool. While he normally patrols the sidelines as the coach of the CNMI youth team, coach Hossain donned a whistle and ran the field as the head referee during each of Saturday’s back-to-back games.

“Thank you for doing an excellent job refereeing on Saturday. Thank you so much we really appreciate you,” said league coordinator Brenda Schultz.

Schultz continued her parade of praise by applauding the volunteer efforts of the league coaches as well as the players for their spirit of competition and fair play.

“Thanks go out as always to our coaches and also go out to all of the players for having really great sportsmanship this week,” she said.