Congratulations U14 Girls Premier and U12 Boys Blue Teams!
The SVU U14 Girls Premier and the U12 Boys Blue teams participated in the Beach FC Columbus Day Tournament at the Princess Anne Athletic Complex and the Hampton Roads Soccer Complex in Virginia Beach over the weekend. Both teams were led by Head Coach Trevor Nichols (boys Assistant Coach Edwin Joya) and both had success competing in the highest division of their age groups.
The U14 Girls advanced to the semi-finals on Sunday after achieving second place in their bracket with a loss and a 2-0 shutout victory on Saturday. The girls played an extremely close match in the semi-finals and were tied 1-1 after regulation play. With the tie, the tournament rules dictated the winner would be determined by penalty kicks immediately following the match. After each team took their first 5 penalty kicks, the results were still tied at 3-3. Unfortunately, the team lost in sudden death and were unable to play in the championship match. Coach Trevor was very pleased with the team's performance saying, "It was great to play some teams that we had never seen before because it presented some new challenges in each match. I was proud of the way the team fought back through out the tournament. We started slow in the first match and got stronger as the tournament progressed. It was a tough way to go out, but I think we learned a lot about ourselves from the tournament experience."
Players pictured from left to right: Quetzali Arteaga, Anne-Marie Poirot, Nicole Landes, Mia Jones, Riley Thorpe, Adriana Shields, Ellie Cook, Olivia King, Ella Sanders, Lily Cresawn, Galilea Santiago and Michelle Arnold.
Player not pictured but attended tournament: Zahria Ford, Caroline Hinshaw and Camille Valzez Munoz.
Team members unable to attend tournament: Lily Fleming and Leah Meacham
The U12 Boys Blue secured the right to play in the tournament championship match after finishing first place in their bracket. The boys recorded three impressive wins in bracket play on Saturday and Sunday morning by outscoring opponents 17-3. In their first victory, the team not only proved their ability to put the ball in the back of the net with numerous goals, they kept their opponents from scoring as well. Despite scoring two goals in the championship, the boys lost a difficult match and earned the second place finalist award. Coach Trevor commented on the team's efforts, "It was a strong weekend for the boys. The tournament provided new teams from Virginia and Maryland to play against and it was fun to watch them compete and have success. They were playing at a high level throughout the tournament and lost a tough, back and forth matchup in the finals. The team can be proud of the way they played this weekend."
Coaches pictured from left to right: Assistant Coach Edwin Joya and Head Coach Trevor Nichols
Players in second row pictured from left to right: Andres Cardoso, Miguel Osorto, Daniel Romero, Ian Joya, Van Fulton-Wright, Steve Carranza, Rayyan Garout
Players in first row pictured from left to right: Tyler Miller, Elton Shabani, Connor Sullivan, Bennett Wilburn, Nathan Dunaway and Phin Rhodes