Arsenal FC - U18 Girls - The FINAL Season

Last Fall we had a winning record and outscored opponents. This Spring we were 2-11-3. So we must not have gotten better, right? Well, not so fast. Let's take a look at the 2 seasons. Last fall we played at the bottom of PAWest. Using the rankings from gotsoccer.com on the tournaments we went to we find that Hudson isn't even tracked and Hempfield is a "Copper" tournament. We also played in the lowest level at Hempfield. This Spring we moved up in PAWest playing much tougher competition (including the State Cup finalist) and went to 2 tournaments (MASC and AIM) rated higher than the ones last Fall. MASC is considered a "Bronze" tournament and AIM is "Copper", like Hempfield, except we played in the TOP bracket at this one. So, tougher league play and playing in higher brackets in tougher tournaments - there's the difference. Some of the good news on our recent outdoor season (16 games):

• We have become a team that consistently beats the weaker teams in PAWest. Our record against these teams in Fall and Indoor was 8-1-2
• We were outscored in the Spring - but only by 1.8 goals per game
• We lost by 3 goals or more just 7 times - 4 of those teams are ranked by gotsoccer.com in their respective States.
• We gave up 4 goals in a game just 3 times

Overall, this Spring was a step forward for the team - whether it felt that way or not!