U13 & U16 BLUES WIN SURF!
Congratulations to the U13 & U16 Blues teams who won the prestigious San Diego Surf Tournament on successive weekends.
The younger Surf Tournament saw the U11 Blues lose two games and win one which was not good enough to advance out of their group. As it turned out the two losses were to teams that wound up in the tournament final.
The U12 Blues lost in a quarterfinal match to Mission Viejo in a narrow 1-0 upset victory while the U14 Blues were over matched 5-0 vs the eventual tournament champion Valley United Stars.
The U13 final was an exciting match against the Claremont Stars, a team the Blues had tied earlier in group play. The Stars took a 1-0 halftime lead on a hard shot from outside. The second half was spent in the Stars half as the Blues threw everything at the Claremont goal, hitting several goalposts and being denied by the Claremont goalkeeper. With 30 seconds remaining the Blues corner kick was knocked down in the small box and Tessa Baker was there to roof the rebound into the net to send the game into OT and eventual PK's which the Blues won with goalkeeper Stacey Sinkway's heroics.
The next weekend the older Blues rolled into the San Diego Polo Fields and again made quite an impact. The U15 Blues were eliminated in the quarterfinals 3-1 by eventual finalist FRAM when they gave up two goals on two corner kicks.
The U19-U17 team played hard and gave it their all but were outgunned in the end losing two games and winning one, therefore, failing to get out of group play. This was a team made up of last year's U18 team, along with several U17 Blues. Fearing injuries, a few of the Blues' future college coaches did not give their blessing to having their Blues players participate in the tournament. Thanks to the U17's for filling in, hanging in there and allowing the club to fulfill it's commitment to the tournament.
The U18 Blues clearly demonstrated why they may be the most talented team in Southern California this season. Their games were heavily attended by the college recruiting crowd and soccer wise they didn't disappoint them. The U18 Blues were eventually upset in the quarterfinals in PK's, going down to the Michigan Hawks.
With U16 Blues coach Rich Manning at the U19 National Championships in Arizona, coach Larry Draluck stepped in and supported the team en route to the tournament championship. One of two plays of the weekend came in the Blues 1-0 semifinal win vs the host Surf team when after midfielder Megan Abbamonto's defensive effort, the ball squirted to midfielder Whitney Jones who collected the loose ball and rifled a left footed shot from 30 yards out into the side net on the far side of the goal. The other play came in the 2-1 final victory vs the Fury from Colorado. With a first half direct kick from about 25 yards out, stopper Nicole Swanson hit a lazer beam shot through the crowd into the side net again on the far post. Ashley Clift scored the winner in the second half on a Brittany Oliveira assist.
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