A father's reflections

In place of the normal blog entry recording the details of tonight's game against Tuscarora HS, I would like to try to capture my feelings about watching my senior daughter's last high school game. I always knew this night would come, whether it was in the quarter finals last week or all the way until next weekend at UMBC. I wondered how I would feel, well now I know. It is a mixture of profound sadness for my daughter playing with her team mates for the last time mixed with an overwhelming amount of pride in the way the team has performed for these past four seasons. Although I knew the last game would come I guess I wasn't really ready and I struggle to think now, as I sit here with my wife, "What will we worry about now?" It is really funny thinking how wonderfully stressful it has been watching our children play together these past years. This is an amazing group of young women who have joined together to represent their school and play the beautiful game they love. Soccer is not just a game for them, but for some a way of life. Some will still play together on their club teams, some even together in college, one thing is certain their love of the game and our love of watching them play will never die.

Congratulations Quince Orchard Girl's Soccer: 2009 Division Champions and 3A West Finalists.

Well done ladies!

QO advances to 3A West regional final

Quince Orchard defeated Seneca Valley HS for the second time this season to advance to the Regional Final game on Tuesday. The final score was 2-0 on two very nice run of play goals in the second half. QO opened the game very dominant with good forward pressure and aggressive movement to goal. The Seneca Valley keeper made several key saves early denying scoring opportunities by both Shannon Dwyer and Sami Slonim. The half ended tied at 0-0.

The second half opened with QO on fire and scoring an early goal in the third minute of the second half. A Kayla Clarke throw in found the feet of Shannon Dwyer who turned and dribbled a few steps toward the goal and poked the ball past the sprawling SV keeper for the 1-0 lead. Fourteen minutes later QO scores again this time as Allie Solomon finds the back of the net after a super pass from Yvonne Latour to put the Cougars ahead for good 2-0.

Go Cougars!

QO wins Regional QF playoff game over Blake

In rematch of the Cougar's last home match, and in fact our last match of the regular season due to a rained out game versus Northwest High School, the girls again defeated Blake High School this time by the score of 8-1. This chilly early November evening saw a balanced QO attack and defense as usual, however, the Cougars seemed to be much more offensively minded this evening with plenty of quality possession and some of the best passing through the midfield and to the forwards I have seen all year. The back line continues to be nearly impenetrable and just a slight miscue lead to the Bengals only goal. The Cougars generated some incredible offense this evening with multiple shots from multiple players and multiple goals from multiple players as well. A recap of the evening's scoring:
First half-
5th minute of play, Shannon Dwyer with the assist from Kayla Clarke
8th minute of play, Leah Prentice from a Shannon Dwyer assist
24th minute Yvonne Latour corner kick with a volleyed goal from Kayla Clarke
3-0 at the end of the half.
Second half-
9th minute Shannon Dwyer with the assist from Leah Prentice
13th minute Kayla takes corner kick with a Blake OG
16th minute Yvonne Latour from Kayla Clarke
40th minute Kayla Clarke unassisted
40th minute Yvonne Latour on a Leah Prentice assist
Final score QO 8 Blake 1

The Regional semi final will be at the Cougar Dome on Thursday the 5th at 7p.