Sunday, Game 3, saw the Lightning face always tough local foe Keystone FC. In a rematch of a season game from March, the match seemed close for most of the first few minutes. "That didn't last long," explained Tad McFadden as he laughed. "Vegas had Keystone FC (+3.5) getting three and half points but I still took Lightning,"said McFadden, suggesting he could have guaranteed a win, Joe Namath style. Our research department determined that McFadden actually made all of that up, since the actual line was 2.5. Ok, still a joke. Vegas did not publish any betting lines for the game, nor do we suggest that gambling on sports is necessarily a good idea, but it sure makes the article sound good.   Penn FC controlled the match for the majority of the game and despite getting only 1 - a nice lay off by Kate Economopoulos to Talya MacFarlane, the score was 1-0 at half. "I wish Kristen and Katelyn could shorten their last names to something like Jones or Smith. Economopoulos is way too long to type over and over again," said Tad. Get over it and get used to it McFadden! The ladies turned up the heat on the windy and frigid day in the second half. Kristen Econ added 2 goals on a nice assist from Liza Suydam. Liza then crushed a beautiful upper 90 herself to go up 4-0. "When I saw that goal, it made me think of the time Christian Laetnerr hit the game winning shot against Kentucky. Just gorgeous and so satisfying," Tad reported. Keystone did get one back off a direct kick later in the game. But the Lightning countered immediately on a nice goal by Justyce Hollenbach to end it with a final score of 5-1. The Lightning will play December 11, 12, and 13 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando Florida. This is the start of the PRO league schedule facing teams from around the country. More information to follow from our very own John Birdel and can be see at the site here: https://www.usysnationalleague.com/national-league-pro-orlando-2021/

National League P.R.O. Orlando 2021 | National League

 

​

The Lightning had a number of players from the very good 2005 Black team - many of whom played with them at Nationals in Florida. This team will also be in the PRO league we hope to be able to get a staff reporter on hand to report games for the season! A number of the 04 players were not in attendance due to continuing to play for State Titles in HS and much luck to them in the coming week!