By Don Ketchum

The girls’ soccer team from Goodyear Millennium spent the first part of Wednesday (Jan. 4) without scoring a goal in the first round of the 2012 Liberty IBN Holiday Tournament.

That all changed in the afternoon. After a scoreless tie with Buckeye Verrado in the morning, the Tigers got one goal in the first half and two more in the second for a 3-0 victory over Avondale La Joya at Buckeye Youngker High.

The tournament for both girls and boys continues Thursday (Jan. 5) through Saturday (Jan. 7) at Youngker, Peoria Liberty, Glendale Raymond S. Kellis and Glendale Cactus. Championship games are Saturday at Liberty, boys at 1 p.m. and girls at 3:30 p.m.

Millennium scored its first goal of the day about halfway through the first half, by Blessing Atanmo. Halves are 30 minutes in length instead of 40 in the tournament.

“One goal takes the pressure off,’’ said Millennium coach John Shalongo. “It allowed us to play loose. Our ball movement was fantastic. We were able to control the tempo of the game.’’

The coach had confidence that his team would be able to score more than once against La Joya. The Tigers needed to for tie-breaking purposes later on in the tournament.

“You have to give La Joya credit. They hung tough with us. They played 60 straight minutes, our match and the one directly before ours (against Goodyear Desert Edge).’’

Millennium kept the pressure on in the second half and got goals from Shalongo’s daughter, Kaylee, and Arianna Flores.

“We had to maintain possession,’’ Shalongo said.

Millennium’s record is now 7-2-1.The team lost twice last week in the inaugural Arizona Soccer Showcase in Scottsdale, to defending Division I champion Chandler Hamilton and Iolani of Hawaii, which went on to win the tournament.

Playing against the tough competition that was featured in the tournament should help Millennium down the road, the coach said.

“I’d say we held our own there,’’ Shalongo said. “If we can continue to communicate and have the same level of play we’ve been having, we should be able to compete against some of the teams with above-average skills.’’