December 6, 2011 Tampa, FL
Atlanta Fire United 98G won the North American Championship of the USL Super Y League last Monday, in Tampa, FL to become the first girls team in club history to win a national title. AFU defeated Rage SC from Philadelphia by a score of 9-0 in a one-sided final game. Tournament Co-MVP Alexa Bahr led the scoring with three goals. Martina Juric, Julia Smith, Riley Pinion, Ambria Shutts, Stephanie Lee, and Haley Salvador added a goal each to round out the scoring. Tournament co-MVP Danielle Marcano added 4 assists in a game in which the Rage defense couldn’t match her superior speed and ball skills.
AFU’s dominating Championship performance followed a gritty, physical 1-0 semi-final victory over Princeton SC in a game that wasn’t decided until the final five minutes. The Fire girls used the same high octane offense that produced 42 goals in their ECNL fall season to score 21 goals in the five consecutive victories that made up their championship run. The only two goals conceded by AFU were scored in the initial 15 minutes of the first game in group play on Friday. AFU responded by scoring 3 second half goals to win the game and never looked back until the championship trophy was secured early Tuesday afternoon.
"I am very proud for our players; this is quite an accomplishment for them and for the club," AFU coach Denny Jenkins said. "We started slow, but built momentum and got stronger as the tournament went on. By the time we reached the final, the players were focused and determined to win the Championship. I’m not sure anyone in the country, in any league could have beaten us in that final game. It’s great to see such a high level of competitiveness and unity on this team. Hopefully, we can continue to develop and apply what we learned to ECNL this Spring".
"These players have been working towards this final since losing in the Semi’s last year," says, Mark MacKain, AFU’s Super Y Director. " Their extra work paid off and the lessons of earning this Championship are sinking in. I can’t say enough about the support of all the parents and certainly the dedication and extra time put in by their coach Denny Jenkins. He’s the driver behind their success."
Coach Jenkins and the girls will take a break in December before preparing to make a run at the ECNL Southeast Conference Championship in May and the ECNL National Championship in June.
