The DME Academy 2012 girls’ traveled to Rhode Island on Father’s Day Weekend for a new challenge with a lot of new faces. Rhode Island Surf Soccer hosted a great tournament but in typical New England fashion, the weather played a role in the weekend’s experience. Rain, rain, and more rain soaked the players.  The girls played up in the 2011 age group to test their skills and got off to a slow start with a 0-0 draw against New England Surf 2011 team on Saturday morning. In the afternoon tilt, the girls snuck out a 1-0 win on a last-minute goal to beat the number 3, 2011 team in Rhode Island (OSNK United) to end the day at 1-0-1. With four points and behind a 2-0 Rhode Island Surf team that was ranked #1 in Rhode Island and number #49 in the Country- they had to pick up their heads and get back to work early the next day. Sunday would be a great challenge as the girls needed a point to secure their spot in the finals. With their backs against the wall and down 1-0 with 15 minutes left, they battled back with the high press and score two goals in the final five minutes of play to sneak out the win!

The finals would be a rematch of the earlier game again taking on Rhode Island Surf, now fully aware of how DME plays. The game had big momentum swings and at half the score remained 0-0. The second half was a different story. DME came out swinging and scored 2 goals to take a 2-0 lead in the first 10 minutes. Surf fought back and scored off of a corner kick to make sure the last 15 minutes were exciting for the fans. DME weathered the storm and scored again to win the game 3-1 in the final minute and set the tone for the upcoming season.

“I had the chance to meet a lot of the girls at camp this summer. This group has heart and they play for each other. You can tell they connect on and off the field. Having made my career in coaching and knowing full well that singular players don’t win the game but rather a functioning team, where players have roles and coaching style and system of play make the difference, I am excited about their growth. At DME in Daytona, we’re happy for the 2012 girls and excited to see our girl’s program grow over the years. No other Soccer Academy is going to invest in girls’ soccer more than DME in the coming years.” – Dan Panaggio, Founder of DME Academy and Co-Owner of DME Sarasota.