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March 25  

The United Quest '88 White U12 girls inched closer to their first victory of the season with a thrilling 1-1 draw against Savannah's newly promoted U12 Athena squad. Both teams proved themselves in the "B" division last season, and are now finding the going much tougher in "A" ball. The Quest squad once again played without their full team available, but the girls responded to the challenge by summoning some of their best team play of the season. There was plenty of playing time for all, and conditioning seemed to be less of a problem for the Quest side than in previous games. Still, the Savannah team was able to run fresher legs at the Quest girls, and late in the game fatigue and some frustration led to flaring tempers which only distracted players from the task at hand.

After uncharacteristically yielding an early, easy goal, the Quest defense was rock solid for the rest of the match. Carolyn Craddock anchored the back three with tremendous confidence and skill, and the determined midfield was tenacious in its defense of the Quest side of the midfield stripe. The offense, though still having difficulty finding the finishing touch, was sparkling in their execution during long stretches of the game. One early, tantalizing sequence saw Amanda Masters cut through the Savannah defense and push a nice cross in from the left and across the face of the goal. Though Sierra Green's finish was not on target, it showed that the girls are hitting their marks and executing their attacks with skill. It is just a matter of time before those plays start clicking and the goals start raining. Gabrielle Dobry eventually scored on one of her patented long strikes to pull the Quest side even, and for the rest of the game the Quest girls dominated play without being able to break through for the winning goal. With the final whistle fading, and with both sides knowing how close the game was, the Quest girls had to settle for the draw. It was an effort to be praised, and the parents of both teams exchanged sincere compliments before gathering their weary offspring and heading home.