Brooklyn, New York, May 6, 2006
In women’s football you have to fast on your feet, not only on the playing field but off as well. When the Delaware Griffins (0-1) lost their field due to commencement ceremonies at their home field, both teams scrambled to find a replacment venue. Delaware graciously accepted an offer from the Sharks to have the game in New York. The game was played at Brooklyn but not at the Sharks usual home field of Midwood, this time it was held at Brooklyn Tech High School.

With about a week to get things set-up for game day, the new venue turned out well and the game went off without a hitch. The Sharks broadcast team also had to improvise by calling the game from the rooftop of the school next to the field.

It was a beautiful day in the city with the sun shining brightly and nary a cloud in the sky. Game time temperature was in the low 70’s.

The game began with the Sharks winning the coin toss again, but for the second straight week, Coach Vance chose to have the Sharks start the game on defense. It turned out to be a good move as the New York defense stuffed the Griffins running game on their first possession and forced them to punt the ball away.

It is still early in the season and word has not yet gotten out about Adrienne Smith. The rookie is starting to become a return speciailist extraordinaire. It did not start well as she fumbled the punt at mid-field. She then started to run down the right sideline but was soon met by 3 Griffins defenders who seemed to tackle her but did not bring her down. She quickly shed the tacklers and ran to her left, with blockers in front of her she ran all the way over to the left side of the field and ran into the endzone. But the play was called back as there was an illegal block in the back penalty on the play. It was a bad penalty for the Sharks to make as the block came just after Smith ran past the defender. It would have been Smith’s third punt return for a touchdown this season.

The penalty put the ball on the Delaware 17-line for the Sharks. It didn’t take long for the Sharks to get on the scoreboard as they gave the ball to Kathy Holloman and she ran it in for a touchdown with 11:17 left in the first quarter. The extra point attempt went wide but the Sharks were in the lead, 6-0.

New York’s defense again stopped the Griffins on 3 plays and forced them to punt. This time the punt bounced past Smith and she wisely fell on it, giving the Sharks the ball on their own 42-yard line. The first play in the series was a hand-off to Mandy Oppel who busted through for a nice 6 yard gain. But an off-side penalty by New York sent the ball back 5 yards. Karen Mulligan who is a veteran but in her first year as quarterback tried to throw the ball on second down, but could not find anyone open. With the pocket collapsing, she took off and picked up 7 yards. The ball was resting at midfield with the Sharks needing 2 yards for a first down or 50 yards for a touchdown. New York got the latter as Mulligan ran to her left with Holloman trailing her. With the threat of a track star behind her, Delaware hesitated a bit about going after the quarterback and that was enough to allow Mulligan to get some blocking and run the ball all the way into the endzone. To make up for the missed extra point, the Sharks went for the 2 point conversion and Mulligan tossed the ball back to Yumi Warner who ran the ball into to make the score 14-0 with 4:14 left in the first quarter.

The Griffins could not do too much on their possession. The highlight for the Sharks was Amber Knighten crashing through the line for her second sack of the day. She got to the quarterback almost as soon as the center snapped the ball.

On their third possession, New York showed that they can grind out a score too. On an 11 play drive, the Sharks started on their own 36-yard line and marched down the field for their third touchdown of the day. The highlights was a 19-yard run on fourth day by Holloman and a 14-yard run by Vivian Alberty. The scoring play was a 4-yard touchdown run by Mulligan who took off when she couldn’t find an open receiver. Emily Pelletier kicked the extra point after bouncing the ball off the left goal post to extend the Sharks’ lead 21-0.

New York’s next score came after a fumble recovery. With the ball on the Sharks’ 42-yard line, Mulligan ran to her right with Holloman following. After gaining 8-yards, Mulligan tossed the ball back to the trailing Holloman who then used her speed to tiptoe down the sideline for another New York score. Pelletier missed badly on the extra point attempt but with only 1:36 left in the first half, the Sharks were well ahead 27-0.

In the second half it was again all Sharks as they picked up 3 more touchdowns in the third quarter. The first one was on a 90-yard drive which was capped by a nice 15-yard run by Warner. Pelletier who was shakey during the first part of the game seemed to have made some adjustments and hit the ball squarely through the uprights.

The next score came within 2 minutes of the previous score as the Sharks recovered the ensuing kick-off. The Griffins had some difficulty picking up the ball and the Sharks recovered on the Delware 46-yard line. From there it was the Mulligan-Tandia show. Granted it was a very short show as Mulligan hit receiver Junko Tanida twice, the last one was a nice diving catch in the endzone for a 26-yard strike. Pelletier again split the uprights with authority to make the score 41-0.

The last touchdown of the game for the Sharks came with 2:02 left in the third quarter as Warner rumbled for 18 yards for her second touchdown of the day. Pelletier hit her third straight extra point to make the final score 48-0.

New York had picked up their second straight win of the season and second straight shutout. This extended the Sharks regular season winning streak to a record 41 games. More importantly it was a win against a division opponent and gives New York sole possession of first place.

The offensive game ball was given to Warner for her 2 touchdown runs and the defensive game ball was given to Blessing Withers whose presence was felt by the entire Delaware front line.

The Sharks next game will be this Saturday as they host the Manchester Freedom, led by Olympic hockey star Katia Pashkevitch. This will be a good test for the young team as this will be their first test against a team with a winning record. So come on down to Midwood High School field to see the Sharks try to make history by extending their regular season winning streak to 42 games. Kick-off time is 3pm and if you can’t make it to the park, Pat Brown and Dave Maxwell will describe all of the action on our flagship radio station WFN Radio – the Women’s Football Network.

Scoring Summary
First Quarter
NY – (09:26) Holloman 17 yard run (kick failed)
NY – (04:14) Mulligan 50 yard run (Warner run)

Second Quarter
NY – (09:00) Mulligan 4 yard run (Pelletier kick)
NY – (01:36) Holloman 50 yard run (kick failed)

Third Quarter
NY – (08:42) Warner 15 yard run (Pelletier kick)
NY – (07:09) Tanida 26 yard pass from Mulligan (Pelletier kick)
NY – (00:08) Warner 18 yard run (Pelletier kick)