The GU12 Chantilly Firecats won their third state cup tournament match on May 12 to earn a spot in the "final four" for the State Championship. The single elimination tournament is open to all youth teams throughout the state of Virginia. It started on April 21 and will wrap up on June 3 at the Hampton Roads Soccer Complex in southeastern Virginia.
The first Firecats match was with a determined Ashburn team, but Chantilly won 4-1. The second round was against the MCSA Majestics, a team that is closely associated with the professional Majestics team and is renowned for great skills. Chantilly took the lead at 2:38 minutes on a cross from Danielle Fitzgerald on the left to Marlo Sweatman who headed the ball into the goal. The second goal was scored at 40:52 on a sweep around the left side by left midfielder Haley Roberson who made a terrific left-footed shot to the far corner and the game ended at 2-0 for Chantilly.
The third state cup game matched Chantilly with the Herndon Elite, unquestionably a great team. The Herndon Elite have won local championships year after year while the Firecats went home and practiced and practiced and practiced some more. The practice has paid off and the Firecats have won three straight against the Elite since March of this year including this latest State Cup match on May 12. The Firecats hit the crossbar three times during regulation play, but couldn’t put the ball into the net and at the end of regulation play, the score remained at 0-0. In the first overtime period, the Firecats scored at 1:43 on a shot by Marlo Sweatman and went ahead 1-0 and controlled most of the rest of the game. At 18:41 in OT, Herndon had a throw in, made a great pass to the center where one of the Herndon players hit a long shot from 25-30 yards out that managed to squeeze under the crossbar, but over the outstretched keeper’s fingertips to tie the match at 1-1 at the end of overtime.
Since there can’t be ties in State Cup, the match went to penalty kicks. Marlo Sweatman for Chantilly got to shoot first and hit a nice shot that just missed the crossbar and went up and over. The talented Murial Tiernan came up for Herndon and made a beautiful shot to the left side that was waist high, but Kyndall Finch from the Firecats leapt like a cat, got a couple fingertips on it and deflected it wide. Kyndall then took the next shot for Chantilly and lined it to the left side to put Chantilly up 1-0. Darby Kelly from Herndon hit her shot accurately to the corner just a little outside the reach of Kyndall and tied it up at 1-1. Courtney Gleason lined up and aimed for the corner, but with too fine a touch, hit the post where it bounced back towards the diving keeper, hit her in the back of her head and glanced just wide of the post. The next Herndon shot went over the goal so the score remained tied at 1-1 after 3 rounds. Adelle Clinton came up, took her steps back, approached the ball and neatly and calmly popped it along the ground and into the left side to go ahead 2-1. The next Herndon shot also scored to tie it up at 2-2. Danielle Fitzgerald was next and was the final shooter for Chantilly. She hit a powerful shot that was waist high and fast and found the net to go up at 3-2. Herndon star Courtney O’Connell was next. She walked calmly and slowly from midfield to receive the ball and placed it on the shooting line. With confidence she turned and paced off her mark then turned again to face the ball and the goal. She accelerated to address the ball and hit a great line-drive shot aimed just under the crossbar. Kyndall Finch, rapid on her feet and a great jumper, leapt to her left, got her hands on the ball and knocked it up and over the net to secure the win. The Firecats will go to Virginia Beach on June 2 and 3 to compete for the State Championship.