SURF THANKSGIVING RESULTS!
After the first two days of pool play at the prestigious Girls San Diego Surf Cup, the Southern California Blues Soccer Club had won a total of 19 games against only 2 defeats. That meant that 5 out of the 7 Blues teams would be playing in the tournament semifinals on December 1.
The Girls Surf Cup is the top tournament for girls in the region during this time period and only the most competitive teams throughout the country participate. For this reason the nation's college coaches flock to San Diego to evaluate the talent pool and make contact for recruiting purposes.
Having won the Surf Cup in August of 1996, the Ron Downer's team figured to be among the favorites for the Thanksgiving version of the Surf Tournament. The girls played well in pool play dispatching their opponents one by one without losing a game.
The semifinals were a different story as on a windy day, the Blues had to face the host Surf team. In a see saw battle which favored the team going with the wind, the game ended in a 2-2 tie after two overtime periods. The Blues U11's advanced to the finals on penalty kicks where they would meet their league and state cup rivals, the Lady Renegades from Cerritos.
In a hard fought emotional final the Blues came up on the short end of a 1-0 game coach Ron Downer felt either team could have won.
In what proved to be a very difficult pool, the defending champions of last season's U11 Girls Surf cup had to battle and scratch for every point in order to get out of group play and qualify for the semifinals.
In the most crucial game of the group the U12 Blues played against the El Cajon Hornets, a team that had beaten them earlier in the season at the Mission Viejo tournament. Things started off rough in the game as the Blues went down 1-0 early in the match. In the second half the Blues came back to tie up the game until with 30 seconds remaining forward Tessa Baker came through with a game winning goal as she shot from outside while on a breakaway.
The U12's would then face the Celtic Girls to determine who would win the group and in a well played game, the Celtic edged the Blues 2-1 which meant the Blues would advance to the semis as the wildcard.
In the semifinal the U12 Blues took on the Cherry Creek Lightning from Colorado and scored the only goal with only 90 seconds remaining to win 1-0. This set up the rematch for the finals versus the Celtic Girls and for the second straight game the Blues were defeated by Celtic, this time by a score of 2-0.
Entering with expectation, the high flying U13 Blues were brought down to earth in a humbling performance at the Surf Thanksgiving Cup.
While the team played with great rhythm (The Blues Trademark), they had difficulty finding the back of the net and didn't score a goal in any of their three group games. The U13 team tied 0-0, lost 1-0, and tied 0-0 in games they had a good portion of the play in. Nice knowing you. See you next season. The girls while on the right track, still failed to advance.
Looking forward to a possible confrontation with the U14 Southern California State Champion Surf, the U14 Blues had a fairly uneventful first round tournament, the exception being their second game versus the Cherry Creek Lightning.
After starting off the game by scoring two goals, the Blues let Cherry Creek back in the game giving up two goals and going into halftime with a 2-2 draw. The Blues then came out strong and scored one goal in a difficult second half to hold onto a 3-2 victory.
The Blues advanced to play the semifinal against the San Diego Nomads and found themselves down 1-0 after only the first minute of play. Without hitting the panic button, Lyndsey Huie and Jen Anderson managed to combine with Diana Jonas as she headed in a goal to tie the game before half time.
Although the Blues had most of the play in the second half the opposition defense held until the Nomads scored in the first overtime and held on to edge the Blues 2-1. In the final the Surf once again proved they are the best in the age group by defeating the Nomads rather easily.
After playing well in the summer tournaments, but coming off what the U15 Blues considered a disappointing season (2nd in CSL), a funny thing happened for the U15's in the Thanksgiving Surf Cup. The team finally got enough of their game together and played up to their potential.
The Blues were up against very tough competition in their group and knew they would eventually face defending state champion Claremont Stars in their third group match. This meant they could not slip in their other games and the girls did what they had to do as they came into the Claremont game with the two necessary wins. In what might be considered their best performance of the season the U15 Blues managed to beat the Stars 4-2 to take first place in their group and get to the semifinals.
In the semifinals Rich Manning's now confident Blues defeated Southern California coaching legend Alberto Bru's Las Virgenes Blazers in a hard fought 3-2 victory. The Blues jumped out to a 3-0 lead only to see the lead slip in the second half.
The Mission Viejo Flash would be the Blues final opponent and playing with tremendous energy the Blues jumped into an early lead and never looked back in a game that saw everything go the Blues' way.
With the championship in hand the team had a quiet meeting and team member Ali Halpern thanked the team for their support during a very difficult time for her family in which her father Larry is battling cancer.
With only 12 of their players in uniform due to injury and player commitments to the USYSA Regional Tournament being held in Livermore, California, the U17 Blues played the Surf Cup with great character.
Knowing they would have trouble scoring goals, they fought together defensively and played the entire first round without conceding a goal. This performance earned them two wins and a tie as they took first place in their group and got to the semifinals.
The scoring difficulties would continue along with the stellar team defensive effort as the semifinal would end in a scoreless tie. With five minutes left in the second overtime, however, JB Marine lofted a harmless ball into the Blues penalty area that somehow got onto the foot of their forward and she sealed the game 1-0 along with the Blues championship hopes.
Facing much the situation the U17 Blues did, the U18 girls were also depleted due to injury and the USYSA regional tournament in Livermore. No room for excuses, the remaining girls showed their medal to the college coaches earning two victories and a 0-0 tie against heralded JB Marine from Saint Louis.
Unfortunately the Blues were in the wrong bracket at the wrong time and failed to advance on points as JB Marine edged them out. The host Surf U18 went on to win the tournament.
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