Raptors Tournament Season Ends in Holley

Becker, Cecilia (17)

The Albion Raptors competed in their last tournament of the indoor season, at the Holley Indoor Tournament. Once again, the Raptors were split into 2 teams. Albion Raptors 1 consisted of Cici Becker, Olivia Bieber, Elisa Bropst, Grace Elschker, Kailey Merrill, Belen Rosario, and Brittany Spies-Hunt. Albion Raptors 2's roster was Nikki Creasey, Kenzi Hapeman, Emily Harling, Charley London, Abby Scanlan, Aurora Serafin, and Claire Squicciarini. Goalkeeper, Sydney Mulka, played for both teams.

Albion Raptors 1 started off play against YMCA Blue, losing a tough game 2-0. Unfortunately, the Raptors were short players for the first game, Grace Elschker, Kailey Merrill, Belen Rosario, and Brittany Spies-Hunt had to play on the floor for the whole game, while Cici Becker played in net. Albion defended well against them, with Becker coming up to make some big saves, but weren't able to keep possession in their offensive half. By the time of their second game, Olivia Bieber, Elisa Bropst, and Sydney Mulka had arrived, giving the team subs. They faced off against DGT 2, and won 6-2. The game started off very back and forth, Becker opened up the scoring off a pass from Bieber, but it wasn't long before DGT 2 was able to tie it up. Albion got the lead back with a goal from Bieber off a great pass from Bropst. While DGT scored once again for the tie, this would be the last time as the Raptors would score the next four unanswered. Merrill scored the eventual game winner when she received the ball from Mulka at half, turned on the defender, and put a great shot in from distance. Bropst added the next one off a smart free kick play, having Merrill step on the ball to put it in play and burying a shot low far post. Bieber added another free kick goal with a shot that hit off the keeper and in. Becker put in the last goal with a great shot while falling down off a pass from Bieber. Their final game was against Bergen 1, and finished with a 1-1 tie. The Raptors were able to take the lead when Becker stripped the defender of the ball and scored. They controlled most of the game but weren't able to put in another goal, and in the last three minutes Bergen capitalized on a scrum in front of the net to put in the equalizer. Albion finished with 12 points on the day, missing the playoffs by just two points.

The Albion Raptors 2 also had to start with low numbers, missing Kenzi Hapeman and Mulka. Aurora Serafin had to start in goal in their first game against Northwest, which finished with a 2-1 loss. Mulka was able to get there and play for the last half of the game, being down 1-0. Just a couple minutes later, Northwest had a tough far post shot to double their lead. Abby Scanlan was able to add an unassisted goal to bring the Raptors within one, but they were unable to add any more. In their second game they faced DGT 2, as well, defeating them by a score of 8-0. The game started off with DGT scoring an own goal on themselves off a deflection from their defender. Claire Squicciarini scored the first goal of the game for the Raptors, with an assist from Emily Harling. Squicciarini would add two more goals in the game. Also getting on the score sheet was Kenzi Hapeman with a goal and two assists, Nikki Creasey with two goals and one assist, and Scanlan also added a goal and an assist. Defenders, Harling, Serafin, and Charley London, played a great game, along with two big saves from Mulka, to earn the shutout. In the Raptors' final pool play game, they defeated YMCA Blue, 4-2. Albion went down 1-0 early, but were able to start the comeback when London scored, after making a great run in the open lane, with Scanlan finding her on the back post for the goal. The Raptors took the lead when Creasey scored off a through ball from Hapeman. Squicciarini added to the lead with an unassisted goal, battling low to win the ball before getting her shot off. While YMCA was able to come within one again after an unfortunate deflection off Mulka, Albion would not give up the lead. Scanlan scored the final goal of the game after receiving the ball from Mulka, beating her defender and scoring on the 1v1.

While it looked like the Albion Raptors 2 would've been seeded #3 with 17.5 points and faced off against Holley 1 (19.5) after a two game break, they were put in the #4v#5 play-in game against YMCA White (15.5) , who looked like they would've been the #4 seed. This gave YMCA Blue (14.5), who would've been the #5 seed, a bye into the #2v#3 game against Holley 1. The Raptors were the last pool play game of the day, so had to play back-to-back into playoffs. They were still able to dominate YMCA, defeating them 3-0. Squicciarini opened the scoring with an unassisted goal, followed by a goal from Scanlan after Harling sent her in with a through ball. Creasey put in the last goal after intercepting a pass to get in 1v1 with the YMCA keeper. Having to play back-to-back once again, they faced the #1 seed, Northwest (20.5), and the fatigue started to show. The Raptors fell in the semi-finals by a score of 3-0, as Northwest was able to get in behind and force Albion into poor positions defensively. Play was still close, though, Albion was just not able to capitalize on their opportunities, putting one shot off the post and another just barely over the crossbar.

The Albion Raptors finished their tournament season 21-14-1, for a win percentage of .597, scoring 79 goals with 71 against. The Raptors will start to prepare for their outdoor season starting in June.