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h Roberto Aguas, Coach Lori Berman, and the Girls 2003 NL Black team had a very strong start to their National League season this past week. They headed down to Wilson, North Carolina on December 4th to play 4 games against some of the best teams from around the country. The girls will look to continue group play strong in January after recording a 3-1 record and sitting only 3 points behind the first place team in their group.
The girls started their season off extremely well with a 2-0 shutout against IFC 03 Girls Red, the #1 ranked team in Mississippi and 2019 State Cup Champs. Peyton Gilmore opened up the scoring with her first goal of the season as Merin Boucher doubled their lead later in the second half.
Following their first win of the National League campaign, our G03 NL Black lost a tough one to Arsenal Colorado Academy 2003 by a score of 3-2. Arsenal Colorado Academy, #2 in Colorado and Regional and State Finalists in 2019, went up 3-0 in the first half. The girls fought hard and brought it back to a one goal game with goals by Julia Gill and Molly Gibbard in the second half, but could not find the equalizer before the final whistle. Still, the team showed immense character to stay in the game after going 3-0 down.
Coach Roberto and Coach Lori had the girls ready to bounce back after a tough loss with a big 4-0 win over back-to-back California South State Champs, Hawks G03 Academy. Peyton Gilmore and Julia Gill each scored a goal while Molly Gibbard netted a brace to secure the win. Another game, another shutout for the G03 Black team, who scored 8 goals in the first 3 games.
Peyton Gilmore scored 4 goals to help the FC Copa Academy G03 NL Black team to a 5-3 victory vs LASC OUFC G03, the #1 ranked team in Oregon and 2019 State Cup Champion. Julia Gill scored the first goal of the game, bringing her overall tally to 3 goals. Both Gibbard and Gill are in the top ten for goals scored with 3 apiece while Peyton Gillmore is third overall on the list with 6 goals.
After the first round of National League games, the G03 Black team headed down to Florida to play the final 3 games of the National League season. The girls were in a good position to finish in the top half of their bracket after recording 3 wins in the first 4 games. The final three games proved to be tough as the G03 team would come up against some of the highest ranked teams in the nation.
In their first game down in Florida, the girls beat the #1 ranked team in Ohio and State Cup Champs, Ohio Cleveland FC. OCFC was undefeated in the National League at the time, and sat in second in the standings.The final score was 1-0, and our G03 Black team handed OCFC their third loss in the last two years. A fantastic result for our ladies, who put themselves in a great spot headed into the final two games.
One day later, Coach Roberto and Coach Lori’s G03 team went up against the defending USYS National Champs and Missouri State Cup Champs, Lou Fusz 03 Blue. One of the best teams in the country, Lou Fusz were undefeated in the group and eventually ended up finishing in first place. The girls played very well, keeping the score very close at 2-1 late into the second half but ultimately lost 5-1. Coach Roberto commented about the game, saying it was a great performance against an unbelievable team. In their last game of the National League, the girls went up against State Cup Champions, Delaware FC. A win for our Copa ladies would have secured them second place in the group, but the game ended in a 2-2 draw. The G03 Black team ended their National League campaign with a third place finish, a fantastic accomplishment. Peyton Gilmore ended with 8 goals, fourth in the top scorers list.