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European edition, Sunday, July 1, 2007

Senior Kylie Marchant of Patch and junior Ana Anger of Heidelberg padded their streaks by being elected to the 2007 All-Europe girls’ soccer first team by a panel of coaches chaired by DODDS-Europe athletic director Karen Seadore.

Marchant, a midfielder, made the first team for the fourth straight time. Anger, a sweeper, gave herself a chance to duplicate Marchant’s feat in 2008 by being chosen for the third year in a row.

According to their coaches, both are no-brainer choices.

“Our team would not function without Kylie,” Patch coach Tom Manuel wrote in the fourth nominating petition he has submitted for Marchant, his captain for 2007. “She was the impetus for our offense as well as our defense.”

Anger pretty much did the same thing for her team.

“Ana is one of the two most instrumental players on our team,” Heidelberg coach Jim McCauley wrote. “Ana was the leader of our back line and kept almost all teams at bay with her excellent ability to defend anyone.”

Marchant and Anger needed to play at the level their coaches described to maintain their places on an experienced 2007 All-Europe squad. Eight of the players on the first team were holdovers from last year’s top 30, and three repeat choices landed on this season’s second 15.

First-teamers returning for a second time to the top 15 included junior strikers Lauren Williams of Division I champion Ramstein, who scored six times, and Liana Knight of D-I runner-up Kaiserslautern, a 13-goal scorer.

Moving up to the first-team from last year’s second team were two sophomores — midfielder Lydia Gray of International School of Brussels and Fei Oloi of Division III champion Hanau. Oloi matched her regular-season scoring total — 12 goals — during the D-III tournament.

Lakenheath senior Greta Gerstner and Ramstein junior Helen Della-Rovere, both midfielders, also moved up from the 2006 second team.

Mannheim sweeper Dana Diaz was the only freshman picked for the 2007 first team, but another underclassman broke into the top tier with a splash. Vilseck sophomore Tamaria Hollis scored 13 goals and led the Falcons to the European D-II crown.

But no one on the first team had a year equal to the one achieved by Naples senior Kelsey Anderson. In making her first All-Europe soccer team after a seven-goal regular season as a defensive midfielder, Anderson completed a dream senior year — first-team All-Europe in volleyball, basketball and soccer.

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