BATON ROUGE, La. (June 23, 2010) – Teams and sidelines erupted after today’s victories. Winners were crowned US Youth Soccer Region III Champions and have punched their ticket to the US Youth Soccer National Championships July 20-25 in Overland Park, Kan., at Overland Park Soccer Complex.
2010 US Youth Soccer Region III Champions:
Under-14 Girls (N-TX) Sting 96
Under-15 Girls (N-TX) Sting 95
Under-16 Girls (N-TX) Solar 94 Red
Under-17 Girls (N-TX) D’Feeters 93
Under-18 Girls (GA) AFC Lightning 92 White
Under-19 Girls (S-TX) Lonestars 91 Red
Under-14 Boys (S-TX) Lonestars 96 Red
Under-15 Boys (GA) Concorde Fire Elite
Under-16 Boys (FL) RSL Florida 93
Under-17 Boys (GA) Alpharetta Ambush Elite Red
Under-18 Boys (NC) 91 TUSA Gold
Under-19 Boys (N-TX) Andromeda 91 Navy
Notes from today’s games…
Girls:
North Texas placed a team in every girl’s championship Wednesday and Under-14 Girls Sting 96 (N-TX) got things started for the state. Sting didn’t give up a goal all tournament until Alexis Urch scored in the 56th for Lonestars 96 Red (S-TX). Fortunately for Sting, they had a two goal cushion on goals from Victoria Gates in the 14th and Victoria Bowman in the 35th as the defense stayed strong the rest of the game for a 2-1 Sting victory in the championship.
Hurricane 95 Rhein (OK) pulled off a stunning comeback in the semifinals, coming back from three goals down in the final 22 minutes to take a 4-3 victory. Today however, they could not recover from Kendall McKnight’s 8th minute goal as the Under-15 Girls Sting 95 (N-TX) duplicated the U-14’s triumph to become the second Sting team to head to the National Championships.
Solar Red 94 (N-TX) claimed the Under-16 Girls championship with a 3-0 defeat of ASA Xtreme 94 Elite (GA). Brinkley Field scored in the 13th minute to give Solar the early advantage and Loudell Crumpler doubled it in the 50th while Quynh-nhu Truong capped it off in the 80th.
Under-17 Girls 93 D’Feeters took down the defending regional champions Ponte Vedra Storm (FL). Chioma Ubogagu scored in just the 9th minute to give D’Feeters the lead, only to have Carson Pickett level the game for Storm in the 45th. Ubogagu would lead her team to the upset however as she scored her tournament best sixth goal of the tournament in the 90th.
AFC Lighting 92 White (GA) won the Under-18 Girls, spoiling the party for North Texas, as they defeated Sting 92 2-1 to earn their first regional title, just six weeks after winning their first state title. Amanda McCalla scored in the 13th and 25th minutes to put Lightning up 2-0. Danielle Nottingham pulled one back for Sting in the 72nd but it would not be enough as AFC will make plans for Kansas City.
The Under-19 Girls Lonestars 91 Red (S-TX) defeated Dallas Texans 91 (N-TX) 2-1, with all three goals coming in the final 25 minutes. Kimberly Castleberry put the Texans up first in the 65th before Jessica Fuston evened the game with five minutes to play. In dramatic fashion, Vanessa Ibuwieke scored the winner for Lonestars with a minute left in the game for South Texas’ lone girls’ title.
Boys:
Lonestars 96 Red (S-TX) Under-14 Boys accomplished a feat not often seen at the regional championships. They won the title 1-0 over 95 CSA Predator (NC) without conceding a goal during the entire tournament. Andrew Lopez grabbed the winner in the 52nd to provide the offense for the South Texans.
Concorde Fire Elite (GA) pressured throughout the match and their big forward, Cameron Moseley, drove in the winner in the 54th to lead Concorde over Mexicas (S-TX) for one of two Georgia boys’ championships on the day in the Under-15 Boys.
Under-16 Boys RSL Florida captured the state’s only title when they beat Concorde Fire Elite (GA) 2-1 in overtime. Lakota Thomas scored first for RSL in the 42nd before Adrian Alabi leveled in the 68th. With penalty kicks looming, Travis Jehs lead his team to victory with a 102nd minute goal.
After conceding the lead in stoppage time, Under-17 Boys Alpharetta Ambush 93 Red (GA) made no mistake in overtime versus their instate rivals, GSA 93 Phoenix Red, scoring three times in the extra period. Alhagi Toure put Ambush up 1-0 in the 76th before Iain Smith forced overtime with his goal. Karl Chester put Ambush up again five minutes into overtime while Toure netted again in the 117th and Jaime Sanclemente topped it off in the 120th. GSA will also make the trip to Kansas City for the National Championships via winning the 2010 US Youth Soccer National League.
Under-18 Boys 91 TUSA Gold (NC) were the only team to repeat as champions as they knocked off Edmond OFC 92 (OK) 4-1. Sebastian Garner put the champs up in the 45th and Robert Lovejoy III increased the lead in the 53rd. Andrew Hall pulled OFC back into it with a 63rd minute goal, but Lovejoy and Zabarle Kollie iced the game with a goal each for the repeat.
Andromeda 91 Navy (N-TX) ended a surprising drought for North Texas boys as they were the only team from the state to make a final, but won the Under-19 championship over 91 Black Rebels of South Texas 1-0. Alexei Reyes scored the lone goal of the game in the 36th and the 2008 National Champions will be back for a second.
