Freedom nips Pequannock
to secure title in Flight 5
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ROCKAWAY TWP. - The Rockaway Township Freedom U9 girls travel soccer team made its three first-half goal stand up for a 3-2 victory over the Pequannock Ruby Reds in a Morris County Youth Soccer Association game played at Rockaway Townsquare Mall Field on Wednesday, June 8.
The victory assured the Freedom (9-0-0) of winning the Flight 5 spring championship over Pequannock and the West Essex Americans.
Madison Palma scored an unassisted goal five minutes into the game to give the Lady Renegades a lead they never lost. Palma forced a turnover in the Pequannock end near the 18-yard mark, moved in with the ball and connected on a hard shot from about 14 yards out.
Stephanie Bowden scored unassisted 10 minutes later to give RockDen a 2-0 lead. Bowden stole the ball on the RockDen side of the field and was able to take the ball down the right sideline, cut to the middle from where she shot and scored from 16 yards out.
Palma scored her second goal with an assist from Sophia Palazzo with eight minutes left in the half to give the Renegades a 3-0 lead at the break. Palazzo found Palma through traffic and Palma took it to the net and scored from five yards out.
Pequannock got its first goal six minutes into the second half and then scored the last goal of the game eight minutes later. Pequannock pressed on offense the rest of the game but the Freedom defense and goalie Casey Heitmann were up to the task.
Maggie Reilly was in goal for the Freedolm the first half and stopped all five shots she saw. Heitmann worked the second half and finished with four saves.
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Perna's 3 goals help defeat Randolph, 5-2
ROCKAWAY TWP. - Madison Palma scored a three-goal hat trick and Brielle Gavito and Kelly Heubscher each added single goals when the Rockaway Township Freedom U9 girls travel soccer team scored five first-half goals to beat the Randolph Rush, 5-2, in a Morris County Youth Soccer Association game played at Heisteins Field in Randolph on Sunday, June 5, 2011.
The win gives the Freedom an 8-0 record in Flight 5 of the MCYSA, a game-and-a-half ahead of second-place Pequannock.
Palma scored from six yards out on an assist from Gavito in the first seven minutes of the game and then added her second goal five minutes later when Huebscher's pass through traffic found Perna close in and Perna drilled it in from nine-yards out.
Gavito made it 3-0 with an unassisted goal three minutes later when she recovered a turnover in the Randolph end and put a 21-yard shot into the back of the net.
After a Randolph goal at the 21-minute mark cut the lead to 3-1, Huebscher converted a corner kick from Gabriella Perna one minute later to restore Rockaway Township's three-goal lead.
Four minutes later, Palma completed her hat trick with an unassisted goal when she controlled a loose ball around the 18-yard mark, moved in toward the net and scored from about six yards out.
Maggie Reilly and Casey Heitmann split the goaltending duties for the Freedom with Reilly stopping two of the three shots she saw in the first half and Heitmann stopping three of the four shots she faced in the second half.
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Palma, Perna, Reilly, Heitmann spark 2-0 victory
ROCKAWAY TWP. - Madison Perna scored two second-half goals - both assisted by Gabriella Perna - and Maggie Reilly and Casey Heitmann shared the goaltender's shuout when the Rockaway Township Freedom U9 girls travel team defeated West Essex American, 2-0, in a Morris County Youth Soccer Association game played at the Rockaway Townsquare Mall Field in the township on Friday, June 3, 2011.
Reilly was in goal the first half and she stopped both shots that she saw; Heitmann was the second-half keeper for the Freedom and she also finished with two saves.
"Defense for both teams was very solid and there were very few scoring opportunities for either team," said Freedom coach Dave Gavito after the game. "Joelle Maio anchored our defense along with Maggie and Casey ... most of the time, our defense was able to shut down West Essex before they could get off a shot."
Palma's goals came within a four-minute time span in the second half, the first at the 22-minute mark and the second at the 26-minute mark.
Palma initiated the offensive run for her first goal, passing to Perna at mid-field and then getting the ball back from Perna at the 18-yard line. Palma moved closer and fourn the left corner from about nine yards out.
Palma's second goal came when she gathered in shot by Perna that rebounded off the West Essex goalie and turned it right back into the back of the net.
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Palma, Gavito, Perna score to beat Mtn. Lakes
ROCKAWAY TWP. - Madison Palma scored a three-goal hat trick; Brielle Gavito added two goals; Gabriella Perna scored a goal and had three assists; and Casey Heitmann stopped all five shots she faced when the Rockaway Township Freedom U9 girls travel team shut out Mountain Lakes, 6-0, in a Morris County Youth Soccer Association game played at RVA Fields in Boonton Township on Sunday, May 23, 2011.
Palma scored with an assist from Gavito three minutes into the game and then scored again with an assist from Perna at the 10-minute mark to account for the only two goals of the first half.
The Freedom picked up the pace in the second half and, according coach David Gavito "... moved the ball around better which opened up the field for us," as they scored four more goals.
Perna scored on a penalty kick 15 minutes into the half and Palma completed her hat trick a minute later when she scored unassisted to give the Freedom a 4-0 lead.
Gavito scored at the 27-minute mark and again at the 29-minute mark - with Perna assisting on both goals - to complete the Freedom attack.
The Freedom won't play again until Sunday, June 5, when they travel to Randolph to play the Randolph Rush in a 4:30 p.m. game at Heistein's Park.
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Perna, Palma combine for five goals to beat Randolph
ROCKAWAY TWP. - Gabriella Perna scored three goals and Madison Palma had two goals and added an assist when the Rockaway Township Freedom U9 girls travel team defeated Randolph, 5-1, in a Morris County Youth Association Soccer game held at the Rockaway Townsquare Mall Field on Friday, May 20, 2011.
Perna gave the Freedom a 1-0 lead when she scored with an assist from Stephanie Bowden seven minutes into the game. Palma scored her first goal at the 19-minute mark, converting a pass from Brielle Gavito. After Randolph scored its only goal of the game, Perna came back with her second goal - this one with an assist from Palma - at the 25-minute mark to give the Freedom a 3-1 lead at the halftime break.
Perna and Palma scored the only two goals of the second half - Perna scoring with an assist from Casey Heitmann seven minutes into the half and Palma scored on an assist from Gavito 10 minutes later.
Casey Heitman was in goal for the Freedom and she stopped five of the six shots that Randolph put on goal.
Praise from the coaching staff also went to Sophia Palazzo for several tackles in the Freedom end and to Kelly Huebscher and Julia Baranello, who had solid games a midfield.
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ROCKAWAY TWP. - Madison Palma scored four goals and the Rockaway Townships Freedom U9 girls travel soccer team overcame a slow start to defeat Summit, 6-0, in a Morris County Youth Association game played at the Glenside Avenue Field in Summit on Sunday, May 8, 2011.
Palma scored her first goal 22 minutes into the game on an assist by Brielle Gavito and Gabriella Perna scored three minutes later on an assist from Julia Baranello to give the Freedom a 2-0 lead at the halftime break.
Palma scored her second goal with an assist from Maggie Reilly four minutes into the second half and then Gavito made it 4-0 with an unassisted goal at the 16-minute mark.
Palma scored the last two goals of the game in a two-minute span later in the half with Gavito getting her second assist of the game when Palma completed her three-goal hat trick and Kelly Heubscher assisting on Palma's fourth goal of the game, a close-in shot from about three yards out.
Reilly and Heitmann split the goaltending duties to share the shutout victory with Reilly stopping all three shots she saw and Heitmann finishing with no saves as the Freedom defense led by Joelle Maio - and Reilly and Heitmann when they weren't in goal - kept the Summit forwards from generating any offensive attack.
"We had a hard time getting any scoring opportunities early on," said Freedom coach David Gavito after the game. "Summit clamped down on us on defense and the turf field had a small impact as we were slightly off the mark on our first-half passes today.
"But our defense played brilliantly the entire game and our offense came around in the second half, too."
The Freedom's weekend schedule finds the team at home at the Rockaway Mall Field for two games - a 6:30 p.m. game against the Randolph Rush on Friday, May 13, and a noon game against the Pequannock Ruby Reds on Sunday, May 15.
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Palma, Gavito help beat West Essex, 6-4
ROCKAWAY TWP. - Madison Palma scored three goals Brielle Gavito add two when the Rockaway Township Freedom U9 girls travel team beat the West Essex Americans, 6-4, in a Morris County Youth Soccer Association game held at Volunteer Field in Caldwell on Sunday, May 1, 2011.
Gabriella Perna, Palma and Gavito each scored first-half goals to give the Freedom a 3-1 lead and then Palma scored twice to complete her hat trick and Gavito scored her second goal in the second half to offset the Americans' three second-half goals.
Palma's final goal, which came in the 26th minute of the second half, gave the Freedom their two-goal advantage five minutes after West Essex had pulled to with a goal at 5-4.
Maggie Reilly finished with two assists; Perna added two assists; and Palma and Gavito each had one.
Joelle Maio, Kelly Heubscher and Casey Heitmann led a Freedom defensive effort that allowed only six shot on goal for the game as the goalie tandem of Heitmann and Reilly had a combined two saves.
"The girls bounced back from their two losses in yesterday's tournament and played some outstanding soccer," said Freedom coach David Gavito after the game. "The defense did a great job of pushing everything outside and Sophia Palazzo had a great game at midfield - quite possibly her best game of the season."
The Freedom faces the Summit Benfica on Sunday, May 8, at Summit in a 4 p.m. Mother's Day game.
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Freedom lose twice in Lincoln Park Spring Soccer Classic
ROCKAWAY TWP. - The Rockaway Township Freedom U9 girls travel soccer team finished up one game well and started off one game well in losing a pair of decisions in the Lincoln Park Spring Soccer Classic at Lincoln Park on Saturday, April 30, 2011.
The Freedom lost a 7-4 decision to East Brunswick in their first game, scoring all four of their goals in the second half, and lost a game by the same score to Mahwah when they scored four goals in the first half but allowed six goals in the second half.
Madison Palma scored all four goals against East Brunswick after East Brunswick had taken a 4-0 lead at the halftime break.
Gabriella Perna had two assists and Kelly Huebscher and Maggie Reilly each had one in the game. Casey Heitmann was in goal the entire game and finished with nine saves.
Against Mahwah, Palma scored twice and Brielle Gavito and Perna each added a goal as the Freedom took a 4-1 lead at the half. Mahwah, however, put on the pressure in the second half and scored six unanswered goals to escape with the victory.
Perna, Huebscher and Gavito each had assists in the second game and Heitmann finished with three saves.
"We started off a half-step slower than normal against East Brunswick," said Freedom coach David Gavito after the first game, played at the Lincoln Park Middle School. "East Brunswick is among the best teams we have faced and, once we picked up the speed and intensity toward the end of the first half, we were able to maintain that in the second half and played them pretty much even.
"Against Mahwah, the girls played good soccer for most of the first half, passing well and moved the ball around. Unfortunately, since this was our second game of the day and we didn't have many subs at all, we ran out of gas and didn't have much left in the second half."
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Palma scored 4 goals in 5-1 victory over Mtn. Lakes
ROCKAWAY TWP. - Madison Palma scored four times and Gabriella Perna added a single goal when the Rockaway Township Freedom U9 girls travel team defeated the Mountain Lakes Crew, 5-1, in a Morris County Youth Soccer Association game played at the Rockaway Townsquare Mall field on Sunday, April 10.
Palma scored all three goals of the first half - scoring with an assist from Brielle Gavito 12 minutes into the game; adding her second goal with an assist from Julia Barnello at the 16-minute mark; and giving the Freedom a 3-0 lead with a goal at the 21-minute mark with an assist from Perna.
Palma scored her fourth goal unassisted seven minutes into the second half and Perna scored the last Freedom goal with an assist from Sophia Palazzo 12 minutes later.
Mountain Lakes got its only goal of the game in the 29th minute to end the scoring for the day.
Freedom goalie Maggie Reilly played the entire game and stopped four of the five shots she faced. A solid defense led by Joelle Maio and Kelly Heubscher kept the Mountain Lakes' attack in check for most of the game.
"Joelle and Kelly backed up each other very well," said Freedom head coach Dave Gavitt after the game. "Most of the time, they were able to shut down the Mountain Lakes attack as soon as it entered our side of the field."
On Saturday, April 9, the Freedom's game against the Summit Benfica was postponed. No new date has been set.
The Freedom's next game is scheduled for noon on Sunday, April 17, against the Randolph Rush at the Townsquare Mall field.
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Palma (2), Gavito (1) goals give Freedom 3-1 win
ROCKAWAY TWP. - Madison Palma scored two goals and Brielle Gavito added another when the Rockaway Township Freedom U9 girls travel soccer team defeated Pequannock, 3-1, in a Morris County Youth Soccer Association opening-day game played at Pequannoack's Greenview Field on Sunday, April 3, 2011.
Gavito gave the Freedom a 1-0 lead 22 minutes into the game and Palma scored her first goal four minutes later as Rockaway Township took a 2-0 lead at the half.
Pequannock scored its only goal early in the second half and Palma added the insurance goal with her second score of the game midway through the half.
Casey Heitmann and Maggie Reilly split the goaltending duties for the Freedom with Heitmann stopping six shots in the first half and Reilly finishing with seven saves in the second half.
The Freedom keepers got plenty of help from a defense led by Joelle Maio, a defense that drew the praise of Freedom coach Fabio Perna.
"Pequannock scored 26 goals last year and we held them to only one goal," Perna said after the game. "We're very proud of the girls' efforts today ... they showed a lot of heart."
Rockaway Township has two games this coming weekend, facing the Summit Benfica in a 3 p.m. home game on Saturday, April 9, and entertaining the Mountain Lakes Crew the next day in a 12:30 p.m. game.
