Courtesy photo
BHYSC U11 Girls win Mid NJ Soccer Championship
Submitted by Keith Applegate
On June 17th, the Berkeley Heights Youth Soccer Association Under 11 Girls Soccer team “Blue Stars” captured the Mid New Jersey Youth Soccer Championship in dramatic fashion. BHYSC prevailed over an evenly matched Tewksbury “Pumas” 3-1 on Penalty Kicks. BHYSC prevailed after 60 minutes of regular time (3-3 tie) and a scoreless 10 minutes of “Golden Goal” overtime. This was the first championship for the team after climbing the ranks from Flight 4 to Flight 1 in Mid New Jersey over the last 3 years.
The Road to the Championship and a funny thing happened on the way.
After an 8-1-1 regular season and clinching a 2nd Place finish, BHYSC already celebrated their incredible year with a season-ending party. During the following week, BHYSC was surprised to learn they were named Flight 1 Champions – after some friendly competition knocked off the 1st Place team who had some makeup games that were yet to be played. With this surprising news, BHYSC secured the No. 1 seed in a 4-team playoff and had to regroup as a team on very little notice and no practice time.
It was like they never skipped a beat
On June 15, BHYSC won 6-0 against the No. 4 seed in the semifinals with a total team effort in the shutout. This win set up Saturday’s dramatic Championship.
The Championship game was intense to say the least. BHYSC found themselves down 1-0 midway through the first half. With 2 late goals the team found their stride and was up 2-1 at the intermission. After giving up another goal, the team then took the lead again midway through the second half leading 3-2. One more competitor goal and the game finished regular time with a 3-3 tie. BHYSC tightened up during “golden goal” overtime going scoreless – setting up the thrilling end on PKs.
BHYSC girls drew going first for PKs and went 3-1 through 4 rounds of PKs to win – not needing to go to a 5th round. The “Blue Stars” proved they belonged in Flight 1 and proved everyone right winning the gold medal with MNJYSC U11 Championship.
