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Crushers, Eye-yeye-yeye open with wins
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Posted on Apr 23 2006
After putting in countless hours on the practice pitch, the women of the Northern Mariana Islands Football (Soccer) Association opened up the first women’s league in style over the weekend as the UMDA Crushers and the Marianas Eye-yeye-yeye earned victories on Saturday afternoon at the Garapan Elementary School pitch.
The Crushers put the first win into the history books when Becca Rath scored in the closing minutes on a penalty kick to award the Fotten Fiesta the first loss of the season.
After playing to the better part of two halves to a scoreless draw filled with a lot of close calls, Rath effortlessly let loose a low-flying rocket that found the left side of the net with less than two minutes to go on a direct kick.
The “Wrath of Rath” became the deciding factor in the win column, but her teammates had every bit as much to do with the win as the goal. Though they etched a notch in wrong side of the win-loss column, coach Jesse Phonsutjit praised the efforts of his kickers and remained optimistic for the rest of the season.
“Everyone on Fiesta did good but we just couldn’t finish the ball,” said Phonsutjit.
There was more of the same intensity in the second game as Sarah Helbert recorded the first hat trick in league history when the Marianas Eye-yeye-yeye piled on the Saipan Grand Fire Dawgs, 4-1.
Irma Halaby broke open a scoreless tie to start to get the women of Marianas Eye-yeye-yeye focused on victory, and Helbert followed with a quick pair to give her squad a commanding 3-0 lead.
With the Eye-yeye-yeye firmly in control, feisty Fire Dawg’s Grace “Roast Beef” Villagracia continued to fight and eventually found the back of the net to open the Grand offensive.
Unfortunately for the Fire Dawgs, Villagracia’s goal remained the solo tally on their side of the scoreboard, and served as fuel for Helbert’s quest for the hat trick, which she attained before taking off the shin guards and hanging up the cleats.
Despite picking up the loss, head coach Perry Lo had nothing but good things to say about his Fire Dawgs.
“Kim Nayeon did an outstanding job with support, hustle and running,” said the coach.
