Score! Rivals Unite to Raise Most in Soccer Charity

Elizabeth Frame Shull loves any excuse that brings the girls together for a game of soccer. But in 2005, she found an excuse with true purpose: raise money for breast cancer research.

For the fifth straight year, Shull, 31, formerly of Scotch Plains, competed in "Goals for Life," an annual charity soccer tournament which raises money for local breast cancer foundations. 

On Saturday at Brookdale Park in Bloomfield, Shull's team, "The Ball Busters," emerged from the one-day tournament undefeated and as its highest-earner: $5,751, nearly one-third of the total amount raised by all the participating teams.

Shull served as captain for the second straight year, leading a team that included eight women from Scotch Plains and nine from Westfield, most of them alumni of the Scotch Plains-Fanwood and Westfield High School soccer teams. 

"That, in itself, is shocking, since the two towns are extreme rivals," said Kerri Anness, the tournament's top fundraiser and a Westfield resident. "It just goes to show you this tournament brings everyone together."

This year, Shull said, the team united by competing in honor of specific breast cancer patients. Shull chose to play in honor of a friend and a friend's mother who have breast cancer.

"It made it more meaningful," she said. 

The 10th annual Goals for Life soccer tournament raised $17,870 total. For more information about Goals for Life, visit http://www.goalsforlife.org/