AFC Ann Arbor advance to the Michigan Milk Cup semi-finals after a comfortable 6-1 victory against Michigan Premier Soccer League side, North Oakland. Two goals from Emily Eitzman and one goal each from Tatiana Mason, Rachel Sweigard, Devyn Brough and Katie Vitella helped The Mighty Oak survive in the competition.

It was a dominating first half for The Mighty Oak, as they flashed four shots in the first ten minutes across the frame. The attacking efforts were eventually led to an early goal from Tatiana Mason, in the 13th minute mark, on a cross-like attempt from the right side. Grabbing the first goal of the match gave AFCAA the confidence, which made it possible to net the second in the 27th minutes. Mason, the first scorer, sent a flat cross which then found Rachael Sweigard in the center, and it was an easy tap-in for Sweigard to make it 2-0. Mason created another assist from the right after 5 minutes from that. This time, it was Emily Eitzman who added the third. There were not many threats from North Oakland, but a long range shot in the 42nd minute was saved by Victoria Norris easily.

The Mighty Oak netted their fourth in the 52th minute thanks to the effort from Devyn Brough who caught the keeper’s mistake and put the ball neatly the net. The fifth came just after four minutes from the fourth, as Jenna Smith sent a cross and Eitzman, just like her first goal of the game, scored it without any difficulty. It was the 60th minute when Vitella completed the team’s sixth in a one-to-one opportunity against the keeper. The dream for clean sheet, however, went away as Mya Oleksiak connected a looping cross to head past Sofia Sweier, the substitute keeper, in the 70th minute mark. Both teams failed to find the net for the rest of the game and it would remain 6-1 till the final whistle.

It was a record breaking match for AFCAA. Scoring six in a match is the most goals scored in AFCAA women’s history, five being the original. Also, this game was the very first match and victory in Michigan Milk Cup for the women’s side. Today would be a memorable day for our player of the match, Emily Eitzman, who scored two essential goals, becoming the youngest scorer of the entire AFC Ann Arbor team (men or women) at the age of 17.

The Mighty Oak want to keep this positive momentum going into the league as AFCAA host Indiana Union on Saturday, June 8th, at 6 PM.