Blue Lightning Wins It All

The Blue Lightning started playing as U11 Girls in MidNJ youth soccer league flight 6 in the Fall 2009. During the following season (spring 2010) the team finished third in flight 6, and worked hard to win flight 6 in the fall 2010 (U12 Girls) with an amazing 19 points and 32 goals scored, fishing only six balls out of their own net. In the spring 2011 the Blue Lightning progessed to flight 4, again winning their flight with 21 goals scored, only 5 goals scored against them. As flight winner in flight 4, the team moved to the playoffs, and lost against the flight winner of flight 1, West Orange, in a hard fought game.  The coming season, fall 2011, U13 Girls, the team was flighted in flight 1 by the league. The girls worked hard during that season to improve their game.

All this hard and dedicated work was rewarded during this season, this Spring 2012, in flight 1. The Blue Lightning was tied for first place with the Hillsborough Fireballs, with 14 points each. In a hard fought tiebreaker game on June 7, the Blue Lightning defeated the Fireballs in Hillsborough, playing literally under a beautiful rainbow at the Hillsborough fields . Goalkeeper Dominique Brancato together with central defender Gabby Coward and her defensive team commandingly kept the ball out of the Blue Lightning goal area. The score of the game reflected the amazing attitude of the Blue Lightning girls – never giving up a single ball, offensive midfielder Abigail Luengas scored in the second to last minute a beautiful goal from midfield, insuring that Blue Lightning moved on to the MidNJ league playoffs with their 1-0 win against Hillsborough Fireballs.

The first playoff game was played June 8, against the flight 4 winner Summit Sporting, and proved to be an easy 5-1 home win for the Blue Lightning Girls (two goals scored by Anna Evers and Gabriella Sampaio, and one goal by Courtney Brancato).

The final championship game was played on June 16 in East Brunswick, against the flight 2 winner Long Valley Soccer Clash (who easily defeated the Monroe Lightning flight winner in flight 3 with 4-0 goals during their first playoff match). Both teams played a hard fought, physical game, trying to win the division championship. Blue Lightning central defender Gabby Coward scored the only and winning goal for her team through a direct kick on goal 8 minutes before the end of the regulation time, leaving the Long Valley keeper to get the ball out the net. The Blue Lightning Girls then played  a strong defensive game and brought home the Mid NJ league championship for their age group to the Central New Jersey Silver Bullets (CNJSB) soccer club (based in East Brunswick) with their 1-0 win.

The current U13 Blue Lightning girls are Kayle Bognar, Gabriella Sampaio, Lara Becker, Himali Patel, Courtney Brancato, Anna Evers, Arly Gonzalez, Michelle Reyes, Abigail Luengas, Alejandra Morales, Emma Weiden, Gabby Coward, Brianna Maung, Brittany Tran, and Dominique Brancato. The team with girls from South River, East Brunswick and New Brunswick is coached and trained by Miklos Bognar.

The team (Fall U14 Girls) is looking for additional committed players, and holds tryouts by appointment (goalkeeper and fieldplayers). Please contact Coach Miklos Bognar (coachmikb@yahoo.com) if you are interested to join this spirited team of young ladies.