Taking home their second medal in as many tournaments, members of the Oakdale United Insanity Under 19 girls team battled to a second place finish at the Dublin Shamrock Tournament.
Hosted at Fallon Sports Park in Dublin on Aug. 10 and 11, the girls played all four tournament games on the turf fields, with the conditions playing faster than grass but the turf not heating up too badly with the lower than normal mid-August temperatures.
Eight teams were featured in the U19 bracket and the Insanity swept their way to three victories in bracket play, advancing to the championship contest.
They took a pair of shutout wins on Saturday, starting out with a 1-0 victory over the Mustang Fury. The goal came about five minutes in to the contest, with a goal kick from Jordyn Cooley finding Denise Thompson, who then chipped a pass to Danae Rose, sending home the score. That turned out to be the only goal of the game and the Insanity defensive corps made it hold up. That goal, in fact, was the only one scored in the four morning games across both brackets, the three other contests resulting in 0-0 ties in a very defensive-minded tournament.
Saturday afternoon, it was a 2-0 decision for the U19 Oakdale squad over the Elk Grove Strikers, with Rose again finding the net, set up solidly by her teammates. Cooley got her second assist of the day on a goal late in the first half, while Patty Jacobo made a cross pass to Cooley in the second half, with Cooley chipping it to Rose for the second goal of the game. Sunday morning saw the Insanity face off with the Delta Impulse out of Antioch and after Delta took an early lead, two unanswered goals in the second half gave the Insanity the win.
Jessica Fenech and Thompson combined on the assist for the tying goal, scored by Rose, and it was Christina Bradshaw sending a perfectly placed pass to the foot of Jacobo late in the second half for the go ahead goal. With time running out, Delta had a corner kick for the final play, Insanity keeper Hannah Hanko gobbling up the ball to preserve the win.
With three wins, the Insanity advanced first out of Bracket A with 25 total points and faced Mustang Impact, first out of Bracket B with 20 points, off two wins and a tie. The teams met on the turf field Sunday afternoon and the Mustang Impact used pinpoint passing to effectively work the ball around, not letting the Insanity get much going offensively.
After holding their opponents to one goal in three games previously, the Insanity allowed a goal in each half to Impact, falling by a 2-0 final and taking home the second place medal.
“The girls played well all weekend,” said coach Brian Orr. “Of course you’d like to come in first but the girls can be proud of taking second.”
He also noted that the teams had met previously, facing each other last year in a championship game at the Santa Cruz Tournament. That time, the Insanity took the title, with the Impact getting a little revenge in Dublin.
Players getting on the field for the Insanity this weekend, joining the team after returning from summer vacations, were returning players Denise Thompson and Jessica Estrada, along with new team member Logan Laugero.
