BEAVERCREEK, OHIO – Day Two of the U.S. Youth Soccer Region II Championships concluded without weather incident, and much was determined in the way of forming knockout round pairings for Tuesday.

An odd feature of the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championship Series is that the four regions don’t have identical qualification formats. Regions III and IV (Southeast and West) advance two teams from each four-team group and then play quarterfinals. Regions I and II advance only the group winners and then start the knockout rounds with semifinals.

So at this event, the qualifiers tend to be known after day 2, or at least a number of the teams who won’t be qualifying are already identified.

In a U18 Girls matchup, Iowa Rush edged Fort Wayne Fever 2-1. Claire Clark finished from a sharp angle to put Iowa up 1-0, then Courtney Carlson curled a shot in from the edge of the area to double the team’s advantage. Sarah Killion made it 2-1 with a penalty kick for Fever in the final minute of the match.

On the next field over, Dynamo FC from Indianapolis beat Cleveland-area side Internationals 3-0. Robyn Miley scored the opener, with Purdue-bound Hadley Stuart scoring the 2nd, and Nicole Duncan making it 3-0.  

The combination of results leaves the two Indiana teams out of the reckoning for advancement, while Internationals need to defeat Iowa tomorrow to qualify, with, Internationals advancing via a win or a draw.

U16 Girls: St. Louis Scott Gallagher 3, Internationals 1
In U16 Girls play, St. Louis Scott Gallagher kept its hopes alive with a 3-1 win over Cleveland-area side Internationals. Jennifer Miller set up Amy Harrington with a good chance in the early going, but the shot was held by Internationals goalkeeper Emily Hinton. Megan Waskowski then shot wide for the Ohio side on the other end.

Gallagher forward Nicole Breece was causing her usual trouble with long flip throws and also intelligent play in the forward third, making smart touches and passes on the ball. One such throw was flicked on skillfully by Taylor Berutti, but Hinton was there to gobble up the ball.

Gallagher kept pressuring the Internationals’ net and a goal came when Paige Luehmann sent in a free kick that Ashley Burton did well to direct into the net and make it 1-0.

Internationals looked better in the 2nd half and got a deserved equalizer from Alyson Smigel, who jumped high to power a header home from Christen Westphal’s excellent cross.

It was the Missouri side however that responded to this best, and ErinMcGauley provided a good finish to put her team up 2-1. Breece then played a good ball for Burton, whose shot went off the bar, but a few minutes later Kinsley Fitzpatrick provided a close-range finish to make it 3-1.

Internationals came close to pulling one back on a good effort from Alexis Becker, but Gallagher goalkeeper Jessica Perry made the save. Tony Schmitt’s Gallagher side, which also got a strong defensive effort fromHaylye Markway, held on for the win and has a chance to advance if they can defeate highly regarded Naperville Fury team that has putscored its opponents so far by a 12-2 margin.

U15 Boys: Vardar 4, Lemont Raiders 1
Morris Lupenec’s Vardar team needs a win or draw Monday to advance to the semifinal after an impressive 4-1 win over Sunday over U.S. Youth Soccer National League champion (and 10-man) Lemont Raiders (IL).

Tyler Jugon put the Michigan side up 1-0 with a goal in the opening minutes. The game changed course when the Lemont goalkeeper was sent off for a last-man foul. While Lemont dodged the bullet on the subsequent free kick, the man advantage was well exploited by Vardar, who knocked the ball around very nicely in the attacking third.

Phillip Soong made it 2-0 late in the 1st half with a shot that took a wicked deflection before getting past new Lemont goalkeeper Josh Aldaba.

In the 2nd half, Aldaba came up with a number of good reflex saves, otherwise the scoreline would have been much wider against the Illinois team.

Nevertheless, Vardar made it 3-0 with a nice passing move finished off by a strike from the highly-talented Alexander Tzonev. Lemont got on the board with a good finish from Ricardo Aldape, but Vardar finished the scoring at 4-1 when Nick Asker put away a good pass from Eric Kristensen.

Vardar will face Cleveland-area side Everest SC Monday, with the Ohioans needing a win to get through.