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AFU U16 Girls Book First Spot in Title Match

12/12/2016, 4:00pm EST
By CHARLIE CORR - charlie.corr@uslsoccer.com

Borgert’s header leads Atlanta past Midwest United at SYL Finals


Super Y League / Atlanta Fire United's U16s advanced to their first title game

BRADENTON, Fla. – Advancing through the group stage was a feat that Atlanta Fire United’s U16 Girls certainly saw as a success at the 2016 Super Y League North American Finals.

AFU’s run is not over.

Sporting just a 13-player roster, Atlanta’s Sydney Borgert headed home the winning goal in the second half to lead her side to a 1-0 victory against Midwest United on Monday at IMG Academy. With the win, AFU will now face FCV Elite Loudoun in Tuesday’s title match.

Borgert’s second-half winner was a header off of a Payton Gulley free kick. The goalkeeper got a paw on the shot, but not enough to keep it out of the net as the ball snuck inside the far right post.

“My teammate Payton played the ball in and I couldn’t have done it without my team,” Borgert said. “I wasn’t really thinking much. I just knew I had to get it in the back of the net.”

The score was not quite reflective of just how much of the ball Atlanta had. AFU was quite dominant throughout the match, save for an early stretch in the first half.

“I thought the girls did very well,” Head Coach Jason Smith said. “The first 10 minutes were a little scary, but after that I thought we were fine.

“The biggest problem I think at this age is game anxiety, trying to make sure they stay mentally tough and focused on what they are doing.”

For AFU, Monday’s win was a momentous occasion as the club attempts to add one more win toward its incredible run during the SYL Finals.

“It means a lot,” Borgert said. “We’ve come the past two years and we haven’t made it far. We never made it to the semis, and we were the first to make it to the semis and now to the finals.”

“For them, we came down here and the goal was to get out of our group,” Smith said. “We’ve done that, so the rest of this is just gravy. Whatever happens tomorrow happens. We’ll try and see if we can keep them focused for next 24 hours till we get there on the field.”

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