Capital Fall Classic: Girls weekend takes center stage
By Jimmy LaRoue
After a successful boys weekend of the Capital Fall Classic graced by gorgeous weather, girls weekend will take center stage over the next two days with more than 150 teams hitting the River City for the Richmond Strikers’ fall flagship tournament.
This year’s event includes the added stakes for premier-level teams of qualifying for the 2013 Jefferson Cup, which is one of the country’s largest and elite tournaments that traditionally has far more teams wanting to enter than are places for them to do so.
It provides an opportunity for upstart clubs to prove themselves capable of competing in the Strikers’ spring showcase event.
More teams have been traveling to CFC as entire clubs. This weekend’s play will also run concurrently with several Elite Clubs National League and Development Academy teams. ECNL teams will be playing at West Creek on both days, while Development Academy teams will be at Striker Park on Saturday.
This weekend’s action in the Under-9 through U-18 girls’ age groups, featuring teams from six states as well as Canada, will take place at several complexes throughout the Richmond area, including Capital Park, River City Sportsplex, Striker Park and West Creek.
The River City Sportsplex’s 12 synthetic-turf fields provides scheduling flexibility should the weather turn bad, but this weekend’s forecast is again calling for ideal playing conditions, with mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-to-upper 50s with little chance of rain.
The top brackets for the girls, like the boys, appear strong, with the automatic Jefferson Cup qualification as an enticing incentive, particularly for teams that are new, don’t have a long history or record, or where timing has precluded their participation in the past.
Between the CFC’s boys’ and girls’ weekends, more than 350 teams will have taken part in this year’s tournament. Previously, the tournament took place over one weekend, but with the increasing number of teams taking part, it is now split over two weekends.
Be sure to follow our Capital Fall Classic Coverage Central page and hop on Twitter @rsktournaments for updates throughout the weekend’s action.
[ +Visit the Capital Fall Classic’s home page for schedules and other details ]
