FULLER HAMLETS ACHIEVE CLEAN SWEEP OF SEVEN HOME GAMES

In the highly competitive Massachusetts Premier League-the top soccer league in New England- it is a rare thing for any of the big clubs with multiple teams in each age-division to win all their home games. Winning 6 out of 7 in Week 7, the Fuller Hamlets got their first clean sweep of 7 out of 7 home victories in Week 8 at the Bowden Fields, Central Turnpike, Sutton.

On Saturday the Hamlets Under 12B Girls in a makeup game got the weekend under way with a hard-fought contest with Greater Boston A. Falling behind 1-0 in the first half the Hamlets came storming out in the second half and took control of the game. Clearances from the backfield often by-passed the midfield and were picked up by the dynamic duo of strikers Kelsey Uppstrom and Katherine Bresnihan. The first goal began with Bresnihan who won the ball, drew and then held off two defenders and split the center backs with a fine pass to Uppstrom who held the ball for 10 yards and then unleashed a powerful strike past the advancing keeper to tie the game 1-1. The Hamlets continued to press and with five minutes to go Haley Degnan, the game's outstanding defender, fired a 40-yard line-drive upfield to Uppstrom who won the game by outpacing the Boston sweeper and driving the ball hard and tow into the net. Hamlets 2-1.

Opening on the Upper Field on Sunday the Hamlets Under 13B Girls needed a victory over Pride F.C. to help their cause: to stay in the Third Division in Spring 2006. From the beginning the game was dominated by the defenses. The Hamlets back four led by Nicole Stacey allowed so few chances and cleared the ball out so decisively that goalie Anna-Rae LeClaire rarely touched the ball. The fullbacks Alex Rawson and Jamie McQuade had fine games, making some splendid tackles and several good outlet passes to start counterattacks. Pride F.C. had a slight territorial advantage in the first half, but in the second half the game swung decisively in the Hamlets' favor as stopper Sheila Raja pushed up and began to control the midfield area and win balls in the air with her fine heading. She was well supported by Kelly Breedon and Samantha Kasierski, both tireless in harassing the Pride midfield trio. The winning goal came midway through the second half. Heather Witkowski fed the ball to Shannon Morton whose fine through-ball to Jackie Bates gave the left striker the chance to step into a 15-yard drive that gave the Pride 'keeper no chance and the Hamlets an important 1-0 win. Another win on the final weekend should see the 4-2-2 Hamlets safely promoted to the Third Division in the coming spring.

Responding to the training and coaching of Jarred Stand and Steve Codner, the Under 11B Girls have improved substantially with every game. For long spells in the first half of the game with North Shore A the Hamlets pressured the excellent and very active North Shore keeper who saved two fine shots from Katelyn Soucey and one from Nicole Wilson in the first ten minutes. The Hamlets' wingers Nicole Scott and Sierra Dubinski on many occasions made long runs that broke open the North Shore defense but the Hamlets could not finish several excellent chances in front of goal. But with 10 minutes to go they got the goal they deserved. Another long run by Dubinski ended with a pass to Megan Talon who broke in from the corner flag and laid the ball into the path of Jorgi Adee near the penalty spot. She controlled the ball with a good touch, planted her left foot correctly, and powered a low drive over the goal-line from 8 yards out. The 1-0 win gave the team a 2-4-2 record that exceeded pre-season expectations for a dominantly inexperienced under 10 team playing mainly against under 11A teams.

In their second game of the weekend coach Rich Pellon's Under 12B Girls faced Rhode Island Stingrays and dominated throughout. Early in the game Kelly Niland crossed from the left and found Kelsey Uppstrom five yards out from the Rays' goal. She met it firmly for her third goal of the weekend to give the Hamlets a 1-0 lead at halftime. Early in the second half Katherine Bresnihan made a strong 25-yard run from left to right outside the penalty box and passed off to Uppstrom running in. She hit a fine drive that left the goalie standing helplessly and the Rays soundly beaten. The final goal was a solo effort by Bresnihan who burst through three defenders on the left, composed herself as she was challenged from behind, and squeezed the ball between the left post and the keeper's dive for the 3-0 victory. The Hamlets have a 6-2 record and are top of the Third Division with 18 points and on track for promotion to Division 2.

As the fog thickened in mid afternoon and the floodlights were turned on, the big crowd that had assembled had the chance to watch the two vanguard teams of the Hamlets Girls program. On the Lower Field coach Jay Bowden's unbeaten Under 12A Girls (4-0-3, 15 points, second place in the league) faced Western Massachusetts Pioneers, the third place team in the First Division. On the Upper Field the unbeaten Delta F.C. (northern Worcester County) a very defensive team with five ties (2-0-5, 11 points) were the First Division opposition for coach Seth Coulter's Hamlets Under 13 A Girls (4-2-1, 13 points) holding down third place in the league.

In the first half of the Hamlets versus Pioneers clash, the Pioneers team of big, strong, hard tackling players threw everything into attack against a Hamlets team becoming more and more comfortable with the 4-5-1 formation which allows opponents very few sights of the goal and yields very few goals against. The first half was a 0-0 standoff won territorially by the rugged Pioneers who were held at bay by Audrey Schmidt, Rachel Gillies, Ana Bowden, and Murphy Ronan, confidently backed by goalkeeper Megan Grain. In the second half the Pioneers team playing an attacking 4-3-3 formation, as most Springfield teams do, tired and became frustrated as each forward foray came up against the Hamlets 10-player brick-wall defense, whereupon the Pioneer midfielders pushed further and further up the field looking for what they thought would be their winner. (For the last 20 years this has been the story of the best Hamlets teams meeting the best Springfield teams). Inevitably the Hamlets' quick counterattacks began to penetrate deeply into the Pioneers' defense One of the objectives of the 4-5-1 formation is to wear opponents down and force them to press more and more players forward and then counterattack and gain dead-ball opportunities to deliver the ball high into the 6^yard goal area. The Hamlets played this game to perfection, gaining four direct free kicks just outside the penalty area and getting five corners in the second half. With Hannah Owen's golden foot executing these kicks it was simply a matter of time before the Hamlets capitalized.

With 15 minutes to go Owen's second corner~a perfect cross, head high, 8 yards out from the goal-was powered high into the net by Charlotte Meyers' strong header, and the patient Hamlets had the lead. Five minutes later Owen's third corner came over a little lower, hit a Pioneer player on the arm, and dropped for Danielle Gigliello who crowned an aggressive display as one of the lone strikers with a full-blooded drive from four yards out that put a bulge in the back netting to clinch a 2-0 Hamlets victory. The Pioneers tried valiantly to get a goal back but the Hamlets defense led by the MVP Murphy Ronan remained resilient in gaining their fourth shutout of the campaign and a 5-0-3, 18 points record that guarantees the Hamlets number 2 ranking in Massachusetts. The final game of the season at home against long-time Springfield rivals, Western United (4-2-2) should be a splendid game.

As expected on the Upper Field the rugged, long-ball defense of Delta F.C. prevented the Hamlets 13s from getting many shooting chances close-in, and for a while the game began to look like a 0-0 standoff. The best way to beat such a packed 8-person defense is to use dead-ball kicks effectively or to shoot or cross powerfully from the edge of the penalty box. The Hamlets won the game with the latter option as they had done in their previous three victories. Kristen Martinson won the ball in midfield, sent Karissa Prete forward with a precise pass, and then Prete cut the ball left across the top of the penalty box where Jill Goretti, charging in, hit a 22-yard power-drive into the roof of the net. Given Delta's defensive predisposition this should have been enough to give the Hamlets the three points, but an ordinary cross from the right escaped the usually firm grasp of the Hamlets' otherwise impeccable goalie, Samantha Whittier, and a grateful Delta forward bundled the loose ball over the goal-line. Half-time 1-1.

The Hamlets came out with a steely resolve in the second half and at times overran

Delta. Brianna Poulin, with one of her patented 30-yard power-drives made it 2-1, and with 10 minutes to go Kristen Martinson placed an accurate cross from the left onto the head of Mary-Claire Pelletier who made no mistake with a precise downward header that left the goalkeeper an interested spectator. With a 5-2-1, 16 points record the Hamlets consolidated their hold on third place in the league, and gave themselves a chance of second place with a victory over Force at Topsfield in the final game.

To complete the six-game clean sweep of victories in the fog at Bowden Fields the Hamlets Under 11A Girls consolidated their second-place position in the Red Division with a 1-0 forfeit win over Boston Blast. This gave them a 6-1-1 record.

In lieu of the forfeit an alternative opponent, the Fuller Hamlets Wanderers Boys A, agreed to give coach Gail Bagley's girls a game. The two teams had already met twice during the fall, playing to a 0-0 tie on the first occasion, and on the second a depleted Boys team lost 1-0 to a goal in the last three minutes. Gall's girls started strongly and on several occasions tested the handling of the Wanderers' first-half goalie Daniel Clark who showed safe hands and made some powerful punts downfield. The Wanderers' defense, with Wally Esker at sweeper and Tim Gaetani at stopper were resolute and anticipated danger well, denying the Hamlets a serious shot on goal in the first half. Sean McDevitt at left back did well to close down most of the forays of the dangerous right wingers, Liz Carlson and Monica Hall, while the first-line midfielders--Jason Dimmick, Sean Gatsogiannis, Curtis Bagley, and Aidan Lucey worked indefatigably to hold the powerful Elaina Falcone, Sarah Kane, Haley Connors, and Kaylee Hogan. The Wanderers lined up with a 4-4-1-1 formation with Nick Anderson as the front-runner supported in the slot at various times by William Bowden, Kevin McDermott, and Daniel Clark. Gordon Smythe, Daniel Gilligan, Kevin Rothermich, and Liam King all worked hard in defense as the Hamlets girls pressured strongly and kept the Wanderers in their own end for much of the first half.

In an attempt to win back the midfield, coach Bowden went to the 4-5-1 formation in the second half with Gordon Smythe taking over in goal and commanding the goal area throughout the half. The extra midfielder pushed the center of gravity of the game close to the center circle and some fierce tackling from both sides dominated the quarter. Several fine clearances out of the Wanderers backfield by Clark, Smythe, and Gatsogiannis gave striker Anderson several sights of goal, yielded two corners and one shot. By the final quarter the Wanderers were tired and hanging on desperately, and it became necessary to shore up the midfield by bringing Anderson back as the central dynamo and trying the speedy and tenacious McDevitt up front and giving him the task of breaking through the Hamlets girls defense anchored by Sarah Hall.

The Hamlets Girls won 8 corners in the second half but were unable to capitalize on their territorial dominance and their 60:40 possession advantage, and the game ended 0-0. But in the final seconds the Wanderers got a free kick powered into the goal area by Tim Gaetani to the feet of Kevin McDermott three yards out from the goal. A moment's hesitation allowed the goalie to smother his point-blank shot, to the relief of Hamlets coach Bagley. A Wanderers 1-0 win in the last seconds of a game dominated by the Hamlets girls would have been a cruel ending~but first-class soccer in these days of the 4-5-1 formation, sees many results like this. Everton F.C, the English Premier League team that inspired the founding of the Hamlets in 1968, came fourth in the EPL in 2004-5 winning 15 games, most of them by 1-0, mostly against the run of play. And tiny Wigan Athletic are doing exactly the same this year and sitting in second place in the EPL. All hail the mighty 4-5-1 formation that gives the underdog a sporting chance of victory!!