Maccabi Star Reporter: Soccer News
Orange County girls face off against Toronto in soccer final for fourth year in a row, claim gold
By Yael Berg & Maya Arenson
August 9, 2018
The Orange County team faced off against Toronto for the fourth year in a row in the U16 girl’s soccer final.
Starting the game off strong, the Orange County girls took off with high spirits and demonstrated their skills boldly. Player number five, was the first to score a goal. As many more spectators crowded the sideline, the girls managed to score another three goals. There also was an assist from player number three who helped carry number thirteen to make a total of four goals, ending the first half with a score of four to one.
The girls from Toronto were desperate to show their skills and when starting from the midfield line of scrimmage. After the previous goal was scored by Orange County, she took one strong shot from half field and scored another goal for her team.
With spirits high for Orange County because of their impressive lead, they yet again showed great skill and scored another goal. However, Toronto did not want to let that slide. Toronto’s number thirteen accomplished this perfectly and scored a second goal for their team.
The girls became more aggressive and the game started to become more intense. They all wanted to win and bring the gold home. Although, the girls from Toronto played a well fought game and were fierce competition, the Orange County girls were able to maintain their score and win the game 5-3, claiming the gold medal.
Now, Toronto and Orange County have each won the gold for 2 out of the 4 years they have faced off in the finals, setting up a potential exciting tiebreaker for the 2019 Maccabi Games in Atlanta, Georgia.
After loss to LA Westside, Mexico girl's soccer vows to keep their spirits high
By Lauren Kessel & Lia Backfien
August 7, 2018
This morning, there was a girl’s soccer match between Mexico and Los Angeles Westside at the University of California Irvine. This was the first year that Mexico had sent a girl’s soccer team to the United States to play in the Maccabi Games.
Within the first 20 seconds, LA had already taken the lead and scored a goal. After 10 minutes LA Westside was up 4-0. With a rough loss of 0-7, Mexico was feeling down and tired throughout the game.
Gabby Gateno, from the Mexican team, said in an interview, “We needed to communicate more and trust ourselves.” She also said the girls could have been a little more into the game.
On the other side, the LA Westside coach, Zaira Fonseca, said, “The girls have been playing phenomenal and have such a great chemistry between them.” In their earlier game against San Diego, the LA girls also came out with a victory.
The Mexico girls explained that it has been a rough couple of days, but they are going to push through it and keep their spirits high.
As for the LA girls, their coach said, “with their energy, they will be sure to medal.”
Boy’s O.C. White and Philadelphia soccer fight it out for a tie
By Lauren Kessel & Lia Backfien
August 7, 2018
This afternoon, there was a game played between the Boy’s Orange County White soccer team and the Philadelphia soccer team.
The game started out with tons of energy, even in the scorching 94 degree heat. Within the first 15 minutes into the game, Team O.C. White was in the lead, 1-0. The first goal was scored by Jonathan Kfir.
Around halfway into the game, Philadelphia caught up and with a 1-1 tie. After Philadelphia scored, the game started to become more complicated.
With the intense competition between the two teams, O.C. player, Kfir, was elbowed in the stomach and thrown into the goal post. He responded by saying, “It’s fine. I only hit my head,” and continued to play in the game.
With many teammates concerned and flustered, O.C. was not able to defend their goal and was down 2-1. In the final two minutes of the game, player Jared Mastor had the ball with the goal inches away. Philadelphia stole the ball away from him, only to be stopped by previously injured player, Kfir.
He took the ball from the player and turned around to score the final goal of the game to cause a tie. With parents and athletes extremely proud of their team, they all exclaimed how proud they were of the team. Overall, all of the boys were very competitive and gave it their all, ending in a 3-3 tie.