After Saturday's remnants of Hurricane Ivan soaked the New York area, strong winds and high sunshine greeted the Plainedge Blasters as they travelled to take on the Elwood Jets in this Sunday renewal of a familiar match-up. In a strong effort where Plainedge was constantly first to the ball, the Blasters walked away with a 5-1 victory.

First half scoring opened at the ten minute mark as Saulty put home her first of three on the day for a 1-0 advantage assisted by Caroline as they emerged from the mix inside the eighteen yard box. Midway into the half, Saulty netted her second for a 2-0 halftime advantage as the Elwood keeper dropped a ball inside the box. She almost closed the half with a hat trick but the breakaway shot was directed to the Elwood keeper to keep the score level. The first half defensive alignment of Liz with LB and Marjorie kept the Elwood attack to shots on the outside of the eighteen while Sara was strong on the inside. A constant rotation of players went through the midfield and forward lines during the first half to make sure we would have strong legs available for the second stanza.

Meredith completed her trio of goals early in the second half, sent up the middle on a ball from Katie to open a 3-0 advantage. Elwood countered with fifteen minutes remaining on a goal that the Blasters defense "stepped up" against thinking there was an off side position. The low shot from right to left just caught the post for a 3-1 score. A hard foul against Plainedge set up a scoring drive by Liz on the resultant direct free kick from 20 yards away for a 4-1 lead. In closing the deal, Hannah, marked by four different Elwood players, managed to turn and release a shot from 25 yards that caught the upper right corner, closing the score at 5-1. The second half defensive formation including Gina held off the Elwood attack.

Caroline played strongly in forward positions today, supported by BriAnn in both midfield and forward. Jen, Meredith, Nicole, Kristen, and Cristina all played well in midfield while Mollie and Carly played very hard in forward positions in the second half. Carly, injured at the end of the match, was carried by the whole team from the field in celebrating the win.

Date: September 19, 2004     Venue: Elwood Park - Elwood