Older age groups claim USYS National titles

Older age groups claim USYS National titles
July 26, 2010

Find out who the younger age group champions are by clicking here!

OVERLAND PARK, KANSAS
– Seven games were played Sunday and with them brought 7 celebrating teams and 7 others who went home disappointed.

The matches marked the conclusion to a very successful event here at the Overland Park Soccer Complex. All teams competing Sunday showed a little fatigue as you would expect for playing their 4th match in 5 days, but the prize at stake – a national championship – helped make sure adrenaline trumped weariness as the individuals pursued their coveted goals.

U16 Girls Championship: Solar SC 1, McLean Strikers 0
This game turned out to be a bit of a chess match. Adrian Solca’s Dallas-area side defended with numbers at the beginning, then slowly began to creep out of its shell, which led to some scoring chances.

Forward Taylor Smith was often triple-teamed, but still proved dangerous for Solar. The winning goal however, came from Lauren Heller on a scramble in front of the net.

elite girls youth club soccer players in a youth club soccer tournamentSolar's Taylor Smith (red) v McLean's Kara Wilson.
McLean got good shifts from Hannah Levin, Katie Yensen and Delia Maresco, while goalkeeper Sarah Davidow turned in some tremendous saves to keep the Northern Virginia side in the game.

The match also featured a good atmosphere from both sets of fans, turning out in numbers and full voice to support their respective teams.

Solca said his team started defensively because of what they’d seen this week from McLean.

“We knew this group plays a little different system, a 4-2-2-2- with a big concentration in the middle of the field,” he said. “We wanted to counter their attacking strategy. After that we started to build more confidence and then began to build more opportunities.”

The Romanian immigrant added that he thought this team had potential from when he first coached them at the U10 age group.

“I knew from the beginning that I had some special players. We started 7 years ago,” he said. “We have six players from the regional team. We kept working and developing, skills first and then to understand the type of game we want to play with possessing the ball. We knew it’s a hard process. We lost in the regional final two years ago and promised ourselves we would play in a national final. Now we’ve done it and we were fortunate enough to win.”

U17 Girls Championship: So Cal Blues 1, Syosset Sting 0
Lauren Bohaboy scored a nice, 2nd half winner to lift Randy Dodge’s team to the national title.

Bohaboy, a prolific striker who will be playing college soccer at Notre Dame after her 2011 graduation, said the team has been gunning for this moment since a near miss two years ago.

“We have just worked so hard ever since 2 years ago in Arkansas when we lost at the final, “ she said. “It’s been our goal to get back here. Everyone’s put in so much work and effort to get back here.”

Dodge was emotional after the win, reflecting on his long tenure with the group.

“I’ve had the honor of coaching this team since they were 12 years old. We haven’t turned over players for the last 3 ½ years. This is a family. People talk about that but it truly is,” Dodge said. “We’ve been through all the wars with national league, state cups, regionals, and now to culminate with a national championship, well, these are my girls.”

Dodge paid tribute to the opposition from Long Island.

“Syosset is a grinding team. They work super hard. They make it difficult for you to play and they find ways to win,” he said. “It’s been a war every time we’ve played them and we were glad to be able to get a win.”

U18 Girls Championship: Laguna Hills Eclipse 1, Eclipse Select 0
The Chicago-area Eclipse side was shooting for a repeat championship, but Laguna Hills scored a soft 1st half goal on a counter, then defended in numbers for most of the 2nd half to seal the victory.

Kristyn Benavidez scored the winner for Neil Powell’s team, while Amber Pimley, Carly Singer, Elizabeth Nare, Brianna Webster and especially Brooke Ellison were stalwarts in defense for Laguna Hills in front of goalkeepers Dana Moreno (1st half) and Gabrielle Kaufman (2nd).

U19 Girls Championship: Lonestar SC 1, Eclipse Select 1 (Lonestars win on penalties)

Karissa Miller had put Eclipse up in the 1st half, but Jessica Fuston equalized for the Austin-area team. The match went to penalties after 120 minutes of play, with Lonestar prevailing.

U16 Boys Championship: Slammers FC 1, RSL Florida 0

Kyle Chin scored the winner for the Southern Californians.

U17 Boys Championship: Alpharetta Ambush 4, St. Louis Scott Gallagher Premier 1

Karl Chester scored twice for Ambush with Cory Plasker and Joshua Boone adding one each for the Georgians. Scott Stiffler scored Gallagher’s lone goal.

U18 Boys Championship: EastSide United Liverpool 1, Shattuck St. Marys 0

Mikhail Doholis scored the winner for the Oregonians.

Find out who the younger age group champions are by click here!

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