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U19 White moves into 2nd place

The Rage U19 White squad, coached by Jose Iniguez, tied against the Danville Mustang Flash, 1-1, on Saturday. The next day, the White edged out the Rage U19 Orange team 1-0, continuing an eight-game unbeaten streak.

Limited to 12 players on Saturday, the team managed to outplay Mustang for major portions of the match, with a collection of near goals and offensive chances from a variety of players including Lissi Knell, Kylie Copenhagen, Shelby Brown, Alex Dickinson, Shannon Malindzak, Caroline Smith and Kennedy Poplawski. Mustang took a 1-0 lead 15 minutes into the second half, but Rage immediately answered with a perfectly placed 20-yard strike from right winger Katie Styles to tie the match 1-1.

Sunday's match was a hard-fought battle between two talented Rage squads, and was punctuated by numerous scoring chances both ways, with excellent goal keeping from Brianna Miller and a rock-solid defense lead by Annette Ramirez, Alyssa Ray, Cely Thomas and Jessica Sanassarian. The lone goal of the match came off a penalty kick awarded when Olivia Cunha was tackled from behind on a run toward goal. Sasha Greenlee buried the shot in the upper right corner to give U19 White the goahead goal.

With three victories in its final three matches, Rage U19 White can capture at least a second place finish in league, possibly higher depending on other matches.