FOLEY — In the face of adversity this season, the Madison Blaze 03G soccer team defeated the River City United Soccer Club 03G Raptors 3-1 to take the D2 16U Alabama State Cup Championship Nov. 4 in Foley, Alabama.

Rasia Graves, forward, led the team to victory by scoring two goals in the game. Newcomer Samantha Rhodes finished a rebound off of the left goal post to score the winning point, sealing their destiny as the winners of the match.

The team is coached by Eric Baker and Gerry Davis.

Baker expressed a great deal of pride in his team for their success in what he called a “magical” season.

“For starters, we almost didn’t have a team to begin with,” he said.

At the beginning of the season, the team was in danger of disbanding after a disappointing season caused the prior coach to move on. The assistant coaches, however, were soon able to “reband” with a few of the remaining key players.

“We just felt we’d come too far, and there was still plenty of potential and unfinished business,” Baker added. “… We felt with what we had and a few more pieces we could continue to move forward.”

The Madison Blaze 03G (girls born in 2003) soccer team was thus established. The team had finished last year with a record of 1-4-1 and only 7 goals scored in six State League games. Comparing those stats with this season’s, it’s difficult to dispute that the team has come back strong.

“We knew we needed to retool, and one major concern was we did well for about a half of a game and seemed to run out of gas late,” Baker said. “Our defense always seemed to be O.K., but we didn’t score enough, and our fitness was lacking.”

Baker said preseason tryouts drew some dynamic players in multiple areas of the game, and since the coaches knew the team had to build their stamina to play well in both halves of the game, they “ran, ran and ran some more.”

Naturally, the team suffered a few losses early in the season as they figured out where they stood and how to mesh as a unit. Despite this, Baker said the girls built up a “quiet confidence” in themselves and kept working.

A high number of injuries also put a kink in things as the season progressed, and at one tournament, 03G had only nine of 16 regular roster players available.

“Most teams might have folded up and crumbled under the weight of that kind of adversity, but our girls are resilient and refused to succumb to the odds,” Baker said. “In fact, every time we challenged them to dig a little deeper and just find a way, they time after time rose to the occasion.”

As the season progressed, the girls were able to advance in State League play to 6-0 before finally losing a close 3-2 match in Decatur against the River City Raptors—the same team they would eventually beat in the State Cup championship.

In their championship game, 03G was down 0-1 at halftime. Baker attributed the early conditioning to the team’s amazing comeback in the second half. Rasia Graves went on to score two goals with Samantha Rhodes clenching the victory. Baker also credited both Samantha and Casey Davis with supporting. Other big contributors were midfielders Josie Sisson, Ali Wampler and Hannah Evans. Baker said many goals were assisted and set up by passing specialists Kate Ballard, Jenna Lawson, Mackenzie Edwards and Anna Beth Schocke.

Baker would be remiss to leave out the defense, however. He called them a “strength” coming into the season. The defense was anchored by Maddie Baker and Anna Grider, and it was flanked by Liv Ruble, Aly Litton and Lucy Ramsey. MJ McCleskey filled the role of field general and keeper, who “unleashed save after amazing save” after letting go just one point.

Jaya Vadapalli, Madi Digges and Noor Eltom were a few mid- and late-season additions that made “innumerable” contributions throughout their time on the team, according to Baker. He also praised Bianca Litavec for overcoming her injury to return just in time to contribute to the team’s win at the State Cup.

“As coaches, we are so proud and fulfilled by what this group accomplished and how they grew as players and just people in general,” Baker said.

As a team that almost didn’t come to be, Baker said being counted out and overlooked made their big win “that much sweeter.”

The Madison Blaze 03G team is part of a larger “Madison Blaze” family and is affiliated with Alabama’s Club Independent (CI) Soccer Club. Madison Blaze also won the 2018 fall regular season D2 16U Alabama State League championship with a 7-1 record, scoring a whopping 32 goals in eight games.

For more information on Club Independent, visit clubindependent.org.