Mark Twain
--"The report of my death was an exaggeration"
CUFC dead? Hardly, but if I believed everything I read on this message board, I would be suprised that CUFC even HAD teams competing at the State Cup given the "sorry state" of soccer in Columbia.
(Remove tongue from being firmly planted in cheek!)
Seriously, did CUFC fall short/meet/exceed expectations? I don't know but my personal two cents is they suprised me in a good way on the girls side but I was diappointed on the boys results.
To have three finalists with the State Champions at U-16 on the girls side is a pleasant suprise. This is a testament to these young ladies and their coaches and all of their hard work throughout this fall season. CESA has certainly set the bar high on the girls side and they are to be congratulated on their continued winning ways with three champions but the showing by the CUFC girls in their first year hopefully bodes well for the future.
On the boys side, I had hoped for three finalists with a couple of champions. Unfortunately, that was not the case. The U-15s certainly underperformed in their upset loss to MPSC (the only upset of a CUFC team) and the U18 boys continued their "hard luck" experience in State Cup semifinals with a very tough loss to a gutty CESA Premier team in overtime. The U17 team acquitted themselves well with a 1-0 loss to a very good Lexington team in a game which had the potential to be a rough and tumble affair given the rivalry between these two teams. But, to the players on both sides credit it was an aggresive yet cleanly played game. Anyway, the boys side continues to show that they are competitive with other clubs in the state.
As RCates stated, parity is here on the boys side with champions from four diffrent clubs. Also, the results of the U17 and U18 support that fact as well--both of the finalists at U17 were the lower seeded teams and the semifinal games at U18 both went to OT with one of those to a shootout. (Did Clemson really end the game with only 8 players?)
Anyway, great soccer all around and all of these young men and women and their coaches are to be commended for the continued improvement in the level of play here in SC. The success of CESA has certainly caused SC soccer to get better--and not only in Greenville!
