Story from Mendel Miller:
Saturday morning the South Dakota Dynamo U16 girls took on an Aztec Impact (Massachusetts) team that had won both of their previous pool play games by identical 2-1 scores. Dynamo faced a must-win situation after settling for a disappointing tie Frida morning. Just as they had done the first two days, Dynamo came out on fire. Just 3 minutes into the game, midfielder Emerson Perrin (Minot, ND) put a ball into the box and Pierre’s Ryann Barry won the race to the ball, taking it out of the air right in front of the keeper and sending it over to Deshani Peters (Aberdeen) whose terrific waist high pointblank finish put Dynamo up 1-0.
The Impact’s physical play paid off when they created a loose ball outside the Dynamo box and found the back of the net from 25 yards to tie the score about 25 minutes into the first half. The two teams battled the rest of the first half but went to halftime tied at 1-1. As the second half started, Dynamo made sure they wouldn’t be settling for that result for a second day in a row.
Once again, it was a Minot Majette, Maicee Burke who created the opportunity. Burke won a battle down the right wing and sent a beautiful cross to Barry who settled the ball behind the defense and left footed it in from the 10 yard mark. Just two minutes later, it was Barry again, taking a perfect corner service from Cena Carlson (Gillette, WY) and out-muscling a defender and the keeper to punch the ball across the line from point blank range. With Dynamo feeling the momentum, they quickly put in goal number four, again on a corner. Addyson Massey (Bismarck, ND) provided the service this time, finding Peters at the back post for a one-time finish and stretching the lead to 4-1 with the third goal in six minutes.
Peters finished off the hat trick with 14 minutes left in the game as Carlson drove the left side, beating 3 defenders before centering the ball for Peters to tap under the sprawling goalie and complete the scoring. With the 5-1 win, Dynamo knocked the Impact out of the tournament because of goal differential and clinched the number 1 seed in the semi-finals for themselves. Sunday at 11:30 central Dynamo will face off against Florida Elite Soccer Academy NPL for a birth in the finals on Monday morning. The Florida defense will challenge Dynamo as they have given up only 2 goals in three games thus far.
