~ 2001 Winrock/GMC Tournament ~
 
GMC 2001 U11 Classic Champs
The Mighty BlueBirds won their second consecutive Winrock (formerly GMC) tournament defending their 2000 U-10 Recreational title by wining the U-11 Classic Championship in 2001. The BlueBirds dominated the tournament with a 6-0 first game win against the Memphis Fury, a 7-0 second game victory over Cabot, a 4-1 third game victory over the Lady Storm, and a 2-1 victory in the finals against the Lady Storm again. The Mighty BlueBirds scored 19 goals while allowing only 2 goals in the tournament, both of which came on penalty kicks.
 
The defense was outstanding with goalie, Bethany Morrison, not touching the ball in the first two games and then making every save possible in the final two games with the exception of the penalty kicks. Amanda Janton, Kaylee Flowers, Caty McMains, Abby Bloom, and Courtney Sykes anchored a fast, smart, and aggressive defense that got to the ball before the opponent and cleared it up the field. The defense stopped every serious threat while allowing very few. All of the defenders have improved their leg strength and their change of direction moves and it showed.
 
At halfback play Caroline Benton contributed two goals and assist during the tournament while having nine monster air clears in the two Lady Storm games. Annie DeCoursey was extremely tough at right halfback scoring two goals and adding two assists and 12 headers during the tournament. LeeAnna Magrath handled the left halfback duties and had a fantastic chest-to-foot goal against Cabot while playing solid defense for the Bluebirds.
 
At the forward position Kelsey Hatcher scored in three of the four games totaling six goals while Haley Whisenhunt scored five goals and had one assist. Tracy Powell contributed two goals and three assists, and Calli Roberts did her usual magic on the outside at right forward chasing down any loose balls and had two assists and a lot more that cannot be recorded in the statistics for the Mighty Bluebirds.
 
Probably the most difficult part of the tournament was to play the Lady Storm at 12:30 p.m. have the game finish at 2:00 p.m. and come right back an hour and a half later to play the exact same team in the finals. Although the Bluebirds were a little sluggish at the end of the second game, Annie DeCoursey got the Bluebirds a goal in the last minute of the first half and Courtney Sykes chipped a goal in from outside the box in the second half to give the Bluebirds the two goals they would need. The Bluebirds held the Lady Storm scoreless until a penalty kick was called during the last 30 seconds of the game.
 
More than anything else the goals scored by the Bluebirds were a testament to total team play as virtually every goal was manufactured by good defensive play getting the ball to the halfbacks and then great passes from the halfbacks and forwards. There were no give-me goals as they were all hard earned. The Mighty Bluebirds leave the GMC Tournament following a pretty amazing winning streak which includes wins over four consecutive Classic boys teams as they head into the final stretch of the season.
 
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