Tag: Fran Alonso

Kelly won the league at K-Park

Kelly won the league, Kelly won the league, Kelly won the league at K-Park . . . OK, it doesn’t roll off the tongue like ‘Scott Brown won the league at Rugby Park,’ but the Celtic FC Women’s captain scored the winner against Glasgow City FC Women’s team 2-1 on Friday.

I think I’ve seen this movie before: The team captain, a midfielder, painfully late in the game on a corner kick that goes amiss, rams home the winning goal with seconds left to spare in injury time.

Scott Brown winning the league at Rugby Park?

No, Kelly Clark winning the inaugural pro game for Celtic FC Women at K-Park, in less than ideal playing conditions on Friday night to give the Hoops the opener, and new coach Fran Alonso his first win at the helm.

Also noteworthy: Clark didn’t get a red card for celebrating.

There’s probably a song in there somewhere for Clark, but the Ghirls in Green, facing a tenacious Glasgow City FC team and an even more tenacious rain, prevailed in horrendous conditions 2-1 to start the season.

Thank you, Celtic TV, for carrying the game, even though Tom Boyd seemed a little subdued for the course of the game — I get it, Tom: The weather was awful. And in a game that was very well played by both sides and with a draw all but certain, the never-say-die ghirls pulled it out in breathtaking fashion.

American midfielder Sarah Teegarden came close to scoring at 26 minutes after a pass from Sarah Ewens, but the shot went wide. Teegarden also nearly scored again later close to the 40-minute mark after a pass from her compatriot Summer Green, but her shot again went wide.

Glasgow City FC’s opened the scoring just after the start of the second half when Clare Shine scored on a corner that the Hoops were unable to clear. However, nearly three minutes later, Ewens equialized for Celtic with a stunner that ended up in the top left corner of the net.

Here’s hoping the ghirls build on this victory. Next for the Celtic FC Women is at Ainslie Park Stadium for an away game against Spartans FC on March 1. Hopefully, the game will be bit drier than it was Friday evening.

Buffalo gals, won’t you come out tonight?

Americans Summer Green and Sarah Teegarden join the Celtic FC Women.

While a lot of the focus on “who will Celtic sign” is aimed primarily on the men’s team at the moment, the newly professional Celtic FC Women have been hard at work, signing players and a new coach.

Not only is the focus on quality players local, Celtic FC Women have been looking abroad as well, and the squad is bolstered by two American stars, Summer Green and Sarah Teegarden.

I wish they all could be California ghirls: Born in Arcadia and raised in nearby Monrovia in Southern California, Sarah Teegarden grew up a star in the area as a player for Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, before a stellar college career at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. She was captain for two years while starting all 75 games she played for the Demon Deacons, logging a total of 6,648 career minutes on the pitch.

Teegarden sandwiched a short stop with the North Carolina Courage of the National Women’s Soccer League in 2018 between a stint with Gotenborg FC women in 2017, where she spent most of her European playing time, and Lille OSC in 2019.

Summer Green, a forward, graduated a year early from high school in Michigan in order to start her college soccer career at the University of North Carolina (incidentally, a rival of Teegarden’s alma mater, Wake Forest). A mainstay in the USA teams at the U-17, U-20, and U-23 levels, Green has the distinction of setting a record of 12 goals in five games during the CONACAF qualifications as a U-17 player in 2012; a feat that included three hat-tricks during the tournament.

After being drafted in 2016 by the Seattle Reign in the NWSL, Green sat out the season due to an injury she picked up in the NCAA college tournament. She was traded to the Chicago Red Stars for a draft pick the following season, and played for Chicago before moving to Vittsjo in Sweden in 2019.

It’s great that both Teegarden and Green bolster an already strong Celtic Ghirls squad, joining new signees Chloe Logan, Keeva Keenan, Chloe Craig, Sarah Ewens and Natalie Ross, all of whom have agreed to new professional contracts with the club, along with new head coach Fran Alonso.