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Friday, December 01, 2023
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Nesbeth & Florida State Advance To Championships
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 Leilanni Nesbeth’s teammates Kaitlyn Zipay and Jordynn Dudley led top-ranked Florida State to a 2 - 0 victory over seventh-ranked Clemson to punch their ticket to the 2023 Women's College Cup National Championship. Florida State have now reached the final in three of the last four seasons and are the first team since 2015 to reach the championship without conceding a goal in the tournament.
The two teams faced off for the third time this season with Florida State winning the first match in Clemson 4 - 2 before meeting again in the ACC Championship where Onyi Ecehgini scored twice to lead them to their fourth straight conference title. Clemson defeated Radford, Columbia, Georgia, and fifth-ranked Penn State to march to their first College Cup while Florida State defeated Morehead State, Texas A&M, Texas, and No. 11 Pitt to make their 14th appearance in the College Cup.
Florida State got off to a decent start as they created some quality chances. Taylor Huff had the best opportunity inside the opening five minutes as she drove through the heart of the Clemson defense and sprinted right up to the keeper before taking a shot that was saved and up for grabs in a scramble before the Tigers defense cleared away the chance.
The run of play began to shift Clemson's way as they grew into the game and began to threaten for the game's opening goal and forced Cristina Roque into four first-half saves, tied for the most saves in a half for her all season. The newly-named All-American showed off her lateral quickness when Dani Davis fired off a shot that forced Roque to dive left and make another clutch stop. Clemson outshot the Seminoles in the first half 8-4 but the score remained locked at zeroes at the half-hour mark.
Taylor Huff was set to take a corner and her cross came flying in at the near post and was cleared away but a vertical kick by Heather Gilchrist saw the ball drift over the Clemson backline and into Zipay's path. She waited patiently for the bounce and on the half-volley she crushed the ball with a fiery pace towards the near post and scored the game's first goal. The substitute made her impact on the biggest stage and Zipay chose the right time to score her first goal of the postseason and just her fourth goal of the season. The Seminoles led by one goal at the break.
FSU built upon the lead early in the second half when ACC Freshman of the Year Jordynn Dudley sprinted down the touchline draped with Tiger defenders but withstood the pressure. She drove into the box and uncorked a shot into the upper right corner for another unbelievable goal to push the lead to two. Dudley scored her 13th goal of the season, third goal of the tournament and 34th point of the season to equalize with Echegini as the team's leading point-scorers.
Florida State dominated the run of play throughout the remainder of the game as Clemson was only able to muster one shot on goal in the remainder of the game while FSU fired five more shots. The final whistle rang and Florida State defeated Clemson for a third and final time to reach the National Championship for the first time since 2021 and their seventh trip to the final game. They also haven't given up a goal throughout the tournament run and are the first team to accomplish the feat since Penn State in 2015.
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Tuesday, November 28, 2023
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Saltus Wins BSSF U13 Boys Six-A-Side Tournament
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Saltus Grammar School picked up the Bermuda School Sports Federations Under 13 Boys Six-A-Side Championship after a close 2 - 1 final victory over Sandys Secondary Middle School.
Both teams took a while to settle their nerves in the final with neither team able to produce a goal in the first half. Halftime substitute Adam Cezner opened the scoring for Saltus early in the second half, Riley Martin pulled one back for Sandys with a fierce long-range free kick. Cezner settled matters in the final stages of the match with a well-taken goal assisted by Connor O’Sullivan.
Cezner was on target twice in their Semi-Final as Saltus defeated Whitney Institute 4 - 0. O’Sullivan also scored along with Tyler Pickering.
Tnuri Darrell-Virgil scored twice to lead Sandys to a 3 - 0 victory in the other Semi-Final against Warwick Academy with Martin scoring the third.
Results
POOL A
Saltus Grammar – 7
Dellwood Middle – 0
Sandys – 1
MSA – 0
Sandys – 2
Dellwood Middle - 0
Saltus Grammar – 5
MSA – 0
Saltus Grammar – 3
Sandys – 2
MSA – 2
Dellwood Middle - 2
POOL B
Whitney Institute – 2
Somersfield Academy - 0
Warwick Academy – 2
Bermuda Institute – 0
Somersfield Academy -1
Bermuda Institute – 0
Warwick Academy – 0
Whitney Institute – 0
Whitney Institute – 1
Bermuda Institute – 0
SEMI FINALS
Saltus Grammar – 4
Whitney Institute – 0
Sandys – 3
Warwick Academy – 0
FINAL
Saltus Grammar – 2
Sandys – 1
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Monday, November 27, 2023
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Warwick Academy Win Primary Girls Seven-A-Side Tournament
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Warwick Academy won the Bermuda School Sports Federations Primary School Girls Seven-A-Side Football Tournament going undefeated and not conceding a goal.
Warwick blanked a spirited St. George’s Preparatory 1 - 0 in the final. Warwick applied constant pressure on the east enders goal but were held at bay by some staunch defending and brave goalkeeping.
Naomi MacGuinness finally broke the deadlock midway through the second half when her long-range offer found the back of the net.
Warwick defeated Prospect Primary 2 - 0 in their Semi-Final with MacGuinness again scoring along with Adrianna Dyer. St. George’s Prep was also 2 - 0 Semi-Final winners after defeating Somersfield Academy. Kierra Broadley-Samuels gave Prep the lead with a thunderous freekick which soared into the top right corner of the Somersfield goal. Marleigh Williams put the game out of reach late in the match when she connected on a Broadley-Samuels corner.
BSSF Primary School Girls Seven-A-Side Results
POOL A
St. George’s Prep – 1
Saltus Grammar – 0
St. George’s Prep. – 2
Dalton E Tucker – 0
Saltus Grammar – 5
Dalton E Tucker – 0
Prospect Primary – 1
Saltus Grammar – 0
Prospect Primary – 1
Dalton E Tucker – 0
St. George’s Prep – 1
Prospect Primary – 0
POOL B
Somersfield Academy – 3
St. David’s Primary – 0
Warwick Academy – 7
West end Primary – 0
Somersfield Academy – 2
West end Primary – 0
Warwick Academy – 3
Somersfield Academy – 0
West End Primary – 0
St. David’s Primary – 0
Warwick Academy – 3
St. David’s Primary – 0
Semi-Finals
Warwick Academy – 2
Prospect Primary – 0
St. George’s Prep – 2
Somersfield Academy – 0
THIRD PLACE
Somersfield Academy – 1
Prospect Primary – 0
FINAL
Warwick Academy – 1
St. George’s Prep - 0
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Monday, November 27, 2023
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Warwick Academy Win Middle School O13 Boys Tournament
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Zydon Lighbourne-Furbert led Warwick Academy in the final of the Bermuda School Sports Federations Boys Middle School Over 13 Six-A-Side Tournament scoring all four goals in the 4 - 0 win over Saltus Grammar School.
Lightbourne-Furbert opened the scoring by connecting on a cross from Marcus Spencer. He would go on to score a second-half hat-trick to secure the title for Warwick.
Warwick found a way to utilize the strength and speed of Lightbourne-Furbert who outpaced the Saltus backline on long punts from Xavier Thomas-Bassett in the Warwick goal.
Rufaro Kunze’s goal was all Warwick needed as they defeated the Whitney Institute Middle School 1 - 0 in their Semi-Final. Saltus won 4 - 2 on penalties over Dellwood Middle School after their Semi-Final ended in a 1 - 1 draw.
Jeon Wolfe gave Dellwood a 1 - 0 first-half lead before Kaiyuri Albouy equalized in the second half. A fierce long-range free kick by Cade Thompson secured Dellwood’s passage to the Semi-Final with a 1 - 0 win over Somersfield Academy. Whitney reached the Semi-Final courtesy of a Saatchi Trott goal.
Boys Middle School Over 13 Six-A-Side Tournament Results
POOL A
Dellwood – 1
Whitney – 1
Warwick Adademy - 1
Dellwood – 0
Warwick Academy – 2
MSA – 0
Whitney – 0
MSA – 0
Dellwood – 4
MSA – 0
Whitney -1
Warwick Academy – 1
POOL B
Sandys – 1
Saltus – 1
Somersfield Academy – 1
Sandys – 2
Saltus – 5
Somersfield Academy – 2
PLAYOFFS
Whitney – 1
Sandys – 0
Dellwood – 1
Somersfield Academy – 0
SEMI-FINALS
Saltus – 1 (4)
Dellwood - 1 (2)
Warwick Academy – 1
Whitney – 0
FINAL
Warwick Academy – 4
Saltus - 0
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Friday, November 24, 2023
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Nesbeth & Florida State Advance in NCAA Tournament
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For the fourth consecutive season and the 14th time in school history, Leilanni Nesbeth and her Florida State (FSU) Women’s Soccer teammates are headed to the College Cup after a 3 - 0 win over Pitt in the NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals in front of a sold out crowd at the Seminole Soccer Complex.
FSU improved to a perfect 14-0 against Pitt and defeated them for the third time this season.
FSU got off to a hot start and had four shots in the first three minutes but were unable to convert. Both teams began to settle in and got some good looks but neither team was able to put the ball in the back of the net leaving the game tied at zero after the first 45 minutes with FSU holding a 9-5 shots advantage.
The teams combined for just four shots in the first 15 minutes of the second half, but Florida State finally broke through in the 63rd minute. Jordynn Dudley took a shot from just inside the 18-yard box that hit a Pitt defender and was ruled a handball giving them a penalty kick. Taylor Huff calmly stepped up and found the back of the net to give FSU a 1-0 lead. Just over five minutes later, Leah Pais, a graduate transfer from Pitt, drew another foul inside of the box and scored her second goal of the season to give Florida State a 2-0 lead.
One minute later, Dudley broke away from the defense and had a one-on-one opportunity with the goalie, Pitt's Ellie Breach made the save, but Onyi Echegini was there for the rebound and beat two defenders to give FSU a commanding three-goal lead. Echegini scored her 15th goal of the season which is the most goals scored in a single season by a FSU player since Deyna Castellanos in 2017. FSU scored all three of their goals in six minutes and five seconds of game time.
Pitt recorded just one shot on goal in the final 20 minutes of play, and the FSU defense put together another terrific performance recording their seventh shutout in the last eight games. FSU has not allowed a goal through four games in the NCAA Tournament and is the first team since Duke and South Carolina in 2017 to hold their first four opponents of the NCAA Tournament scoreless.
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