JOYOUS JAMBOREE WEEKEND FOR FULLER HAMLETS

Only twice in the previous 10 years has the Fuller Hamlets Wanderers End-of-Fall-Season Jamboree in mid-November beaten the snow, rain, wind, and frost but in this their eleventh year, after a week of cold weather, the sun came out on a windless afternoon, temperatures climbed above 50 degrees for three hours and 72 Wanderers swarmed into Sutton to revel in fourteen 9-a-side games played across the Bowden Fields. The six round-robin games for the boys were fiercely contested and full of great fun and excitement, with four games ending in ties and the other two games ending with late goals in 2-1 victories. The Wanderers Girls' first four round-robin games were breathless end-to-end games full of great goals and great goalkeeping, and as two teams won the these four games they played each other in a 30-minute final, as did the valiant losers of the first four games who tied in their final.

The wonderful thing about coaching and training 8-10year-olds with potential is their intensity, receptivity, and, over a season, their obvious improvements in skills, tactics, and teamwork. On this weekend some of the skills on show were breathtaking. The passing, crossing, shooting, headed clearances, and fine goalkeeping could not help but revitalize the 13 Hamlets coaches watching, and working this year in the program. As to the players, further improvement in the indoor skills sessions in Northbridge in January, February, and March and in the outdoor Wanderers program at Fuller Field from late March to mid-June should ensure that the older Wanderers will shine in the five Fuller Hamlets Under 11 teams to be entered into the Massachusetts Premier League in September 2006.

In the boys games it was hard to single out players, but of those who did not get the chance the previous week to play in the 0-0 tie with the Hamlets Under 11A Girls, a dozen caught this writer's eye. Cody Kingman, David Klett, Liam Donovan, and Joe Tetrault all made several good runs followed by crosses. Sam Luuko, Michael Gauvin, Steven Carlson, and Matthew Soule impressed with their tackling and distribution in the midfield, while Creighton Dorfman, Brandon Esker, and John Gillespie read the game well, played with composure, and made probing passes. Jared Griswold's clearances from defense, and well-timed, effective, tackling made me regret that he was not in the Senior Wanderers squad the previous week against the Hamlets Girls. In the game I watched he did not put a foot wrong.

The final game between the two unbeaten teams in the round-robin-coach Jay Bowden's Kaittor's Kickers and coach David King's Mendon Rovers-ended in a 1-1 tie, after goalie Kevin McDermott made a point-blank reflex save from Gordy Smythe's power drive in the last minute, which sent the game to penalty kicks. Smythe, the captain of Kaittors Kickers, made two spectacular aerial diving saves in the first series of five penalties which ended 3-3, and the Kickers won on the eighth sudden-death penalty 5-4 on Chance Jackson's unstoppable shot into the corner.

In the girls games Emily Bagley, Diana Whittier, and Emily Reynolds made some fine saves in goal. Sterling defense was played by Anna Gaudet, Hannah Schmidt, Melissa Wojnowski, Erika Scott, Sierra St. Pierre, and Lauren Campbell, and in the transition game in the midfield Sarah Klett, Bea Bowden, Rachel Perregaux, and Kaelen Laroque caught my eye, winning the ball with good tackles and then distributing it equally well. Sonnie Plouffe, Rebecca Alien and Erin Kelly made some excellent probing passes on the wings.

The final between Kaittor's Kickers and Mendon Rovers (again) was a splendid end-to-end game in which the two outstanding strikers were contained with difficulty by packed defenses led admirably by Sierra St. Pierre and the impeccable Veronica Hardy. The 30-minute game ended in a 4-4 tie with all the Kickers' goals scored by the speedy Gabby Carreiro, and all the Mendon Rovers' goals coolly put away by Kayla Almstrom.

The two Sunday games played on another fine sunny day with little wind saw the Hamlets Under 12 Girls teams consolidate their high-standing positions in the Mass Premier League (MAPLE). Coach Jay Bowden's Under 12A Girls had already clinched second place in the First Division and came to this game after winning a difficult game indoors the night before against an Under 14 team. Their opponents, Western United, in third place before the game began could not catch the Hamlets with a win but needed points to protect a third-place finish. Consequently the game mattered more to Western United and it showed: they played hard and well throughout.

The Hamlets found themselves on the back foot for the opening 15 minutes and had difficulty making significant clearances out of the defense and in making accurate passes to the wings to start counterattacks. Despite their early territorial advantage, however, Western United came up against sweeper Murphy Ronan, stopper Ana Bowden, and fullbacks Audrey Schmidt and Devin Donnelly who managed to deny good scoring opportunities in the penalty area without being on their best form. The midfield was largely ineffective, failing to anticipate, rarely challenging and fighting for the ball, and letting the ball drop instead of heading it. The one exception was Colby Ornell, the holding midfielder, who gave solid cover to the back four and used her speed to recover when Western United passed their way through the midfield far too often. With a spoiling defense and a largely absent midfield, it was one of the rare forays up field that gave the Hamlets a goal against the run of play. A long ball from Dani Gigliello found Rachel Gillies who hit a long, high, speculative ball from 30 yards out that caught the Western goalkeeper five yards off her line and drifted over her head into the net. The goal did little to change the tenor of the game and the teams turned round with the Hamlets ahead 1 -0.

The half-time talk appeared to give the Hamlets a little more life. There was some improvement in the heading and distribution of the ball, and some players began to challenge strongly for the ball in the midfield. Throughout the game the two players alternating as sole striker in the 4-5-1 formation-Emily Madsen and Dani Gigliello-ran with heart and determination and received enough good high balls over the top of the midfield to put some pressure on the Western goal, but without the support from the wing halves that put pressure the previous week on the Pioneers defense and yielded numerous dead-ball situations, there was little chance of the lone striker scoring or drawing a free kick. Nevertheless with the five midfielders more active in the midfield there seemed little chance of an equalizer. But as in the first half a goal came from the team that was on balance losing the territorial battle in the second half. After one Western counterattack that the Hamlets keeper was lucky to scramble round the post, the second counterattack minutes later saw the ball fumbled and this time scrambled into the net.

Both Hamlets strikers foraged with increased determination up front but they continued to receive little or no support from the wings who should have moved up in support as the Hamlets gained possession. The essence of the 4-5-1 is that when the team gains possession in the defensive third the two wing-halves press the opposition with a 4-3-3 formation, moving back very quickly when the opponent gains possession. This demands fitness and a great amount of running by the wing-halves (preferably in the youth game four of them working in 15-minute bursts). On this day the wide midfielders were content to hang around the halfway line and allow the opposition to overwhelm the single unsupported striker. Admittedly the first-string Hamlets striker was absent injured and had been for three games which undoubtedly hurt the Hamlets' rhythm. But midfield stalemate is not the most exciting game to watch. Impeccable MVP Murphy Ronan and speedy and tenacious Audrey Schmidt played their usual very solid game, and because they were the best players on the field, the Hamlets deserved the 1-1 tie.

The Hamlets Under 12B Girls, on top of the Red Division in Mass Premier at game time, needed to win the final game against sixth-place Winchester to be sure of promotion, although depending on other results, they could advance with a tie. They were expected to win against Winchester but were perhaps a little complacent and they allowed the visitors to dictate the early pace and pattern of the game. Winchester started with two big and quite   fast wingers who intimidated the Hamlets fullbacks until the smallest player on the field, Jess Drane, stood up to them, and tackled them hard over and over again, setting her bigger team-mates a tough example until she got hurt. Winchester played a 4-3-3 formation-and the center striker got a lot of easy balls from the central midfield because the Hamlets defense was drawn out wide to counter the wing strikers. Coach Pellon made some personnel changes which began to close the freeway between the central dynamo and the central striker but there were many uneasy moments for goalie Arianna Diamantis who saved the day on several occasions for the fortunate Hamlets. About 20 minutes into the half the speedy Gina Vasseur-Melle gave the Hamlets the lead after some quick footwork and tight skills in the penalty box, but Winchester equalized almost immediately as the striker once again took a long low pass through the uncontested middle and had plenty of time to pick her spot and score. HT 1 -1.

Adjustments in front of sweeper Haley Degnan finally closed what looked to this writer like a black hole, but by that time the Hamlets had already fallen behind to a second Winchester goal and it looked for a while as if the Hamlets would concede a third goal and lose the game. But the Hamlets players seemed finally to understand the gravity of the situation and switched on their best form. The backs, Jess Drane, Kendra Roderick, Nicole Smith, and Kelly Niland went to, and fought hard for the ball and gave Degnan and Diamantis solid cover. Micaila Olson, Taylor Ryan, Emma Belanger, Gabby Dieter, and Amanda Rayos began to win the midfield battle as the Winchester midfielders tired, and with fifteen minutes to go the Hamlets began to apply ceaseless pressure on the Winchester goal. This paid off with ten minutes to go in the fourth goalmouth scramble in as many minutes, as Kelsey Uppstrom and Catherine Bresnahan both got touches on a ball that just got over the goal-line to make it 2-2. With five minutes left the Hamlets pressure got the inevitable direct free kick and Haley Degnan promptly converted with a 20-yard drive to make it 3-2. Two minutes later Kelsey Uppstrom was tackled from behind as she pulled back her leg to shoot from five yards out. The referee pointed to the spot and Uppstrom buried the ball in the corner of the net to give the Hamlets the comeback victory of the season, 4-2, and the Red (Third) Division championship with a 7-2 record (21 points) that will take them into Division Two in the spring. Their championship also means that the two Hamlets Under 12 Girls teams rank second and fifteenth in Massachusetts. Congratulations to the Under 12 Girls teams and to coaches Jay Bowden and Rich Pellon.