Championship match-ups set at the 2013 US Youth Soccer Region I Championships

KINGSTON, R.I. – Final match-ups have been set as teams battled in semifinal games on Monday at the 2013 US Youth Soccer Region I Championships at the University of Rhode Island in Kingston, R.I.

Regional winners of the Under-13 through Under-19 age groups earn a berth to the 2013 US Youth Soccer National Championships to be played July 23-28, at Overland Park Soccer Complex in Overland Park, Kan.

The US Youth Soccer National Championships will consist of US Youth Soccer Regional Champions in the Under-13 through Under-19 Boys and Girls age groups as well as the US Youth Soccer National League qualifiers in the Under-15 through Under-17 Boys and Girls age groups to complete the field of 88 teams.

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Notes from a few of Monday’s games…

Under-16 Girls
Local team Bayside FC Bolts 96/97 came up against some tough semifinal competition in New Jersey side Toms River FC Elite United 96. Toms River continued their scoring ways at the Region I Championships with a 3-0 victory over the hometown side. After a Toms River goal by Amanda Carolan in the 10th minute, neither team would score again in the first half due to some stout defending. Toms River would put the game out of reach with late goals from Samantha Bahr in the 68th minute and a Cassidy Alia goal in the 79th minute to win the match and earn a way to their first Region I Championships final match.

Under-14 Girls
YMS Xplosion 98 from Eastern Pennsylvania is looking to defend their 2012 Region I Championship title. Their semifinal opponent, New York West team Empire Revolution Syracuse 98/99, hadn’t let a goal in during their previous three games of the tournament. Eva Ruppersberger of YMS found the answer to the Empire defense with a goal in the 10th minute of play. The goals would continue for the returning champions YMS with goals in the 53rd and 63rd minutes of play by Caroline Foley and Andrea Amaro. YMS returns to the finals and now looks for a chance to book their first trip to the 2013 US Youth Soccer National Championships. YMS will face PWSI Courage 98 Red in tomorrow’s final.

“The long term goal is always to get to the US Youth Soccer National Championships,” said YMS head coach John Greaves. “Right now we’re one game away and it means everything to our girls and to our club. The work ethic and their desire to be successful in training really is what sets this team ahead.”

“We’re really excited for a chance to get to the National Championships,” added Andrea Amaro, the final goal scorer of the day for YMS. “We’d be playing high level teams we’ve never played before. Getting out of this bracket would mean a lot because it’s important to us to win Regionals again like last year to have a shot at the National Championships.”

Under-19 Girls
FC Pennsylvania Strikers from Eastern Pennsylvania are looking to win their third consecutive Region I Championship. In a hard fought semifinal with FC Stars of Mass (MA), Penn Strikers struck first. A goal from Gina DiTaranto gave Penn Strikers the lone goal of the first half. Not to go down without a fight, Stars of Mass player Nandini Mehta scored in the 75th minute of play. No more goals were found in the rest of regulation and the game would move into overtime. Penn Strikers got the goal they needed from Katelyn Kraft in the 97th minute and then rode a strong defensive effort through overtime to a 2-1 win. The Eastern Pennsylvania team will look for their third championship in a row tomorrow against the Buffalo Invaders from New York West.

Under-16 Boys
Century V United 96/97 (PA-W) have come so close to reaching the US Youth Soccer National Championships but fallen just short the last two years. This year was all too familiar as Century V couldn’t overcome a hat-trick by Smithtown Kickers SC Arsenal’s (NY-E) Thomas Burke. An early Burke goal in just the 2nd minute of play set the tone of the game. Century V’s Ibrahima Kouyate got a late consolation goal in the 63rd minute but Smithtown got the 3-1 win and will advance to the Under-16 boys final.

Under-13 Boys
It took penalty kicks to decide the result between Fewster FC (MD) and Patriot FC Red (PA-E). Jacob Kauffman put Fewster up right before halftime but Patriot’s Jack McCourt would score a goal with just five minutes left in the second half to send the game into overtime. With no goals found in the overtime period penalty kicks would decide the game. Patriots outshot Fewster 4-2 in penalties to advance to tomorrow’s final and have a chance at becoming the first Under-13 boys team to advance from Region I to the US Youth Soccer National Championships.

Under-18 Girls
VSA Heat Blue of Virginia has already qualified for the 2013 US Youth Soccer National Championships in Overland Park via the National League and was looking to repeat as Region I Champions. They came up against a Scorpions FC (MA) team who had not allowed a goal in 3 games while scoring 14 goals on their way to the semifinals. The class of the competition showed as both teams battled to a scoreless first half. Madison Damm scored a goal in the 52nd minute that would eventually end up being the game winner for Scorpions. The potent Scorpions attack didn’t let up as McKenzie Meehan, a golden ball winner while playing up with the Scorpions Under-19 team at the 2012 US Youth Soccer National Championships, added two more goals in the 77th and 88th minutes to bring the final score 3-0.

“We knew coming into the game it would be a great match up,” said Scorpions goalkeeper Bridget Conway. “VSA Heat is a great team and we knew they’d give their all so we just went out there and played our game and left it all on the field.”

Scorpions head coach Fred Marks talked about the great competition between these two teams.

“Not many people remember this, but when our team was about eleven or twelve we were at a tournament in Pennsylvania and VSA Heat annihilated us about seven to one. It’s taken us years to catch up to them and overcome them. The last several years it’s been back and forth between us. Today was our day.”

Under-14 Boys
Stronghold SC Falcon (NJ) got off to a good start in their Under-14 Boy semifinal match with Cameron Miller finding a goal in just the 10th minute. Penn Fusion’s (PA-E) Leon Marc would score with 2 minutes left in the first half to bring the teams in tied at half time. After some great defensive play by both teams, Maric again found the back of the net with just 5 minutes remaining in the second half. Stronghold could not find the goal and time expired sending Penn Fusion to tomorrow’s final.

Under-18 Boys
PDA Harkes (NJ) lost in the semifinals in last year’s Region I Championships. Looking to get to this year’s championship game they faced FC Frederick from Maryland in their semifinal matchup. Playing like they have something to prove, PDA Harkes displayed a balanced attack finding four different goal scorers on the way to a 4-0 win. David Nigro scored the lone first half goal in the 31st minute and sent PDA into the half confident of their chances. The flood gates would open and PDA’s balanced attack would find Matthew Clausen, Colin Stripling and James Murphy for second half goals. PDA will face a Lake Grove SC United team in tomorrow’s final that has yet to allow a goal all tournament.

Finals Schedule

Girls

Boys