MISS KICK FC'S DEBUT WAS MET WITH A 4-1 WIN

Written By: Shawn Medow
            ​West Region Contributor

IRVINE, Calif. — It was a day of firsts for WPSL newcomer Miss Kick FC. 

Despite not yet having a training session together, the club won its first-ever match in a dominant 4-1 performance over Elite Development Academy II at Championship Soccer Stadium. Led by a brace by Hayley Gonzales and goals from Grace Thao and Madison Beckley, MISS KICK FC got the perfect start to what the team is hoping to be a successful inaugural season. 

“It takes a pretty special group to come out here and put on a performance like that without really knowing each other,” Kate Wiesner, team captain, said. “When you’re surrounded by that much talent and you come together because of your love of the game — and that’s what drives you — it’s pretty easy to connect and have fun.”

It took just four minutes for MISS KICK FC to score its first-ever goal. After good work down the left wing by left-back Madison Curry, a cross went through the six-yard box where Gonzales waited to tap it home.

“To score the first goal, which is kind of an odd goal in my opinion, it was a little surreal,” Gonzales said. “It was an honor to put that one in for MISS KICK.”

 

MISS KICK FC kept the intensity on with University of Oregon striker Ally Cook applying pressure on several chances, but her shots were either saved or went wide. 

In the 30th minute, MISS KICK FC finally doubled the lead when Curry once more cut across the box to find Beckley, who finished off the chance. 

Just two minutes later, Thao cut inside from the left, took a shot from the top of the box, and, with a slight deflection, scored the third goal as the ball tucked in just inside the post. 

Curry, a defender at Princeton, was a thorn in EDA II’s side every time she was on or near the ball, taking on defenders, blocking passes or stripping EDA II attackers of possession all the while spurring most of MISS KICK’s first-half attacks. She and Wiesner, who plays collegiately at Penn State, have a connection that dates back to when the two played together at Orange County youth club, Slammers FC. 

“We haven’t played with each other for a couple of years but we were joking with each other that it was like the good old days,” Wiesner said. “It came pretty naturally.”

EDA II got a goal back in the 57th minute to cut MISS KICK’s lead to 3-1 when Dianne Miranda chipped MISS KICK goalkeeper Ashley Naylor, who was out of her box after clearing a ball, from about 35 yards out. 

But that goal was soon canceled out when Gonzales found another ball squeezed through the box to her in front of a near-empty goal just five minutes later. Her second tap-in goal made it 4-1 and MISS KICK FC had the victory in its grasp. 

The team has a quick turnaround to its second match when it hosts FC Premier Women on Sunday at 5 p.m. PT.  

“As this group gets more used to playing with each other, we’re just going to keep on getting better,” Wiesner said. “We want to win the whole thing and hopefully take home the national championship at the end of the season.”