Decatur FC beats AFU for second time this season

Decatur FC beat Atlanta Fire United - on June at home Photo via decaturfc After beating Atlanta Fire United AFU over Memorial Day weekend Decatur FC beat AFU again on June with a - win continuing their undefeated streak this season Coming into the competition Decatur FC was fresh off of a - win against Chattanooga FC For the season the squad is ranked fourteenth out of Women s Premier Soccer League WPSL teams and remains the top group in their conference Decatur had a strong start with a multitude of possessions in the first insufficient minutes While they had multiple opportunities to outcome they were unable to capitalize on them and the momentum hastily shifted to AFU AFU s striker stole the ball from Decatur s defense and had a wide open shot on goal but the ball was batted down by Decatur FC goalkeeper Nikki Bidun AFU shot that deflection which was stopped by the Decatur FC defense The Chattanooga battle was a real battle for the complete minutes so the backline played a lot of minutes Head Coach Campbell Chapman declared At the beginning of the event we just looked a little bit fatigued and lackadaisical and consequently we made a scarce mistakes at the back and it gave AFU encouragement About minutes into the tournament an AFU striker was fouled in the box The member struck the penalty kick towards the middle of the goal and hit the back of the net This brought the sum to - which was Decatur FC s first time trailing all season Forward Dylan Driver explained how Decatur FC kept their heads in the challenge after a slow start We came together and had a huddle to regroup We discussed how this event was ours for the taking and that we have to get our potential up and make sure to do the simple things right Driver explained It was the spark to get a goal and get our strength back up Decatur FC had a large number of opportunities to tie the battle up but the AFC defense stayed strong until great Decatur FC ball control and passing led to a shot from Driver She sent the ball flying over the goalie and hit the back of the net tying the battle at - Just a couple of minutes later midfielder Sydnie Thibodaux passed the ball to Driver who scored again Leading the contest - Decatur FC picked up a lot of momentum Midfielder Allie Planeaux dribbled rapidly down the left side of the field and beat her defender Planeaux then laid the ball off to midfielder Smith Cathey who blasted the ball over the goalie into the top of the net This goal brought the points to - with just a scant minutes left in the first half Three minutes into the second half AFU scored off a ground ball that went into the far corner of the net lessening Decatur FC s lead and bringing the total to - Decatur FC fought hard to increase their lead in the second half creating numerous opportunities to result For the gang s fourth goal Driver shot the ball which deflected off the goalie But after battling with AFU s defense she was able to get a touch on that deflection and send the ball into the goal This goal gave Driver a hat trick and brought the number to - I scored a goal last challenge against Chattanooga which gave me the confidence to just take my shots this tournament Driver declared My first goal was not a shot I would normally take but I thought that I should try and see if it would go in I just felt really confident tonight and decided to take my chance Chapman was very proud of Driver s success and dedication Dylan works extremely hard for the association and she s had a few opportunities in previous games where shots just didn t drop for her Chapman mentioned Tonight she scored a great first goal and just continued to play with a lot of confidence She s been fantastic With minutes left in the second half defender Aniyah Collier scored a beautiful goal This brought the tally to - Although both teams fought hard no one scored any other goals for the remainder of play and the championship ended in a - Decatur FC win the same total of their previous championship with AFU this season We have played four games in just two weeks which is a lot At this point in the season players are getting fatigued knocks and bruises and are not able to recover as speedily Chapman mentioned Tonight we had girls coming off the bench play longer minutes to try and get them ingrained and feeling confident when they play All in all we came through and got the win so I am pleased In addition to the win Decatur FC set a new attendance record of fans for this competition The organization s next match will be an away encounter against UFA on June th at p m at Denmark High School in Alpharetta The post Decatur FC beats AFU for second time this season appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta