Story from Mendel Miller:
The South Dakota United Dynamo girls are one game away from defending the US Club National Championship they won last year. Sunday morning Dynamo emphatically punched their ticket to the finals with a 7-0 win over Florida Elite Soccer Academy.
With great goal-tending and a strong defense which had allowed only two goals the entire tournament, Florida held Dynamo at bay for most of the first half. With about 10 minutes to go before halftime, Dynamo forward Deshani Peters (Aberdeen) was fouled by the Florida keeper while attacking. Peters calmly put the ensuing penalty kick in the lower left corner to give Dynamo a 1-0 lead. The goal opened the flood gates and just a couple minutes later two Minot, ND players took the spotlight.
Maicee Burke won a race to the ball on the left wing and sped past the Florida defense. With the entire defense focused on her, she sent a perfect cross to the trailing Emerson Perrin who blasted it into an empty net from 10 yards out. Just minutes later, Cena Carlson (Gillette, WY) put a beautiful through ball on the foot of Addyson Massey (Bismarck, ND) who beat the keeper short side for another goal to make the score 3-0 at the half.
Dynamo didn’t let down in the second half. Massey converted another penalty kick after being fouled from behind a few minutes into the second half. Kaylin Poppen (Aberdeen) headed in a corner kick from Massey and Carlson put in two insurance goals from close range for the final 7-0 score. Once again the Dynamo defense was stout, as the backline of Brianna Sargent, Gracelyn Taylor, and Ireland Templeton (all Pierre) allowed only one shot on goal for the game.
Monday morning Dynamo will take on the Renegades SC (Dallas, TX) at 9:30 AM for a chance to hoist the National Cup. The Renegades won 2-0 to advance to the finals, defeating a Florida Kraze team that tied Dynamo 1-1 in pool play.