Penn Fusion falls short in ENPL U16 national final

Penn Fusion was unable to fight back from a one-goal deficit for a second time on Saturday morning as they fell to GPS Massachusetts 2-1 in the Elite National Premier League U16 final in Colorado.

Unlike in Friday morning’s semifinal, Penn Fusion wasn’t able to get on the scoreboard first. Instead, they found themselves down a goal five minutes in on a play where the GPS Massachusetts player was given way too much time and space to bury a shot from distance.

Penn Fusion recovered and evened the score after halftime on a lovely team goal, executed thanks to good ball movement down the middle of the field, a pinpoint pass through traffic from Driss Benslimane and a pretty finish in a tight angle from Drew Blackwell.

GPS would retake the lead 20 minutes later when a foul was called just inside the 18 and they converted from the spot.

From there, Penn Fusion found themselves in a similar position as their opponent on Friday was pushing everything forward trying to get another equalizer. That second goal proved illusive as they had to settle for being a finalist instead of the national champion after losing the game 2-1.