BOCA RATON, Fla. -- As her name implies, she was “Money” on the second day of the US Youth Soccer ODP Girls Thanksgiving Interregional at Spanish River Athletic Complex in Florida.
Michelle Money (Gamballs, MD) provided the grit and playmaking in the midfield to lead the East to a 2-2 draw with the South as the 2000/01s kicked off the second of six days of competition featured teams in the 2000/2001 and 2002 age groups.
“I am honestly trying to get recognized by the national team,” said Money, 17, who played attacking midfield and was the team’s playmaker. “My goal after college is to go pro.”
It was her second trip to Boca Raton with the team that won all three games last year.
“My goal every year was to get on the regional team and it finally happened last year,” Money said. “I trained really hard to get to Boca Raton and winning all of the games last year was a great step. I really wanted to get recognized this year. I think I am a lot more confident this year. I think making the regional team really boosted my confidence and I have been progressing as a player.”
The South opened the scoring with two goals in a two-minute span as
Hailey Whitaker (Birmingham, AL) and
Taylor Radecki (St. Augustine, FL) scored in the 11th and 13th minutes. The Midwest battled back to tie the game as
Phoebe Canoles (Baltimore, MD) scored in the 60th minute and Sheyenne Allen (Bear, DE) tallied in the 81st minute.
“I thought the South came out and pressured well, played balls in behind our back four and obviously scored two good goals early in the game,” said East coach Ian Stone, the women’s coach St. John's University in New York. “I have to give our team a lot of credit because we regrouped at halftime. In the second half, I thought we had a number of great opportunities to win the game, but obviously, in the end, it wound up a tie.”
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