Jefferson Cup 2013 Girls Weekend – Day 1 recap and photo gallery
By Jimmy LaRoue
Another edition of the Jefferson Cup Girls Weekend got underway Friday with nearly 500 teams from around the country, along with their families and a plethora of college coaches, descending upon Richmond for games throughout the weekend.
Teams traveled far and wide to seek competition, to shake out the winter cobwebs and to otherwise kick start the spring.
Burlington Tornadoes/Bayhawks of Ontario spent 10 hours to get to Richmond, while it took Shattuck St. Mary’s Sabres’ mix of Under-16 and U-18 players 26 hours to get to the River City, carefully navigating through a snowstorm in the midwest. Shattuck St. Mary’s picked up a 4-0 win over McLean MPS Power Green at River City Sportsplex in the U-18 Superior bracket.
In a showdown of two of the top U-18 girls’ teams in the country, VSA Heat Blue and PDA Crush played to a scoreless tie in the U-18 Championship bracket. PDA Crush controlled play in the first half, VSA in the second. Between the two teams, there might be one player not committed to play college soccer at this point. Nearly every VSA and PDA Crush player committed will be hitting the field for a Division I school in the fall.
Weather was a non-factor today as sunny skies ruled the afternoon. A light breeze kicked up some empty lawnchairs but caused nary a stir among the players on the fields.
After the main portion of Friday’s competition concluded, the many players at the Jefferson Cup got a showcase of what their futures hold with a women’s college exhibition at Striker Park between Virginia Commonwealth and James Madison, with the Dukes making a first half goal stand up in a 1-0 win over the Rams.
Tomorrow promises to feature even more great players and teams taking the fields throughout the Richmond area, as girls’ U-10s through U-15s take the field for the first time at the 2013 Jefferson Cup.
Stay tuned. More great soccer is on the way. Follow along on Twitter @jeffersoncup for instant updates, and for updates throughout the day, check out Soccerwire.com’s Jefferson Cup 2013: Girls Weekend Coverage Central. And take a peek at the Jefferson Cup 2013 Girls Weekend Day 1 photo gallery:
