September 6, 2011
Written by Melanie

With winning trophies in hand, San Juan '96 Spirits Blue came home after enjoying a great weekend at the North Huntington Beach Cup soccer tournament. With the UC Irvine soccer fields nicely groomed and weather a tad warm but pleasantly breezy, the San Juan '96 Spirits were ready to play. Defensively the girls were very stingy allowing only 2 goals and on the attacking side found the back of the net six times. Game 1 Saturday morning started the tournament weekend off with a strong 2-0 win against Crescenta Valley soccer club from southern California. Goals were scored by Hannah Mayfield and Caitlin Telford. A scoreless second game Saturday afternoon left the Spirits tied against Arizona Legacy Red. In game 3 early Sunday morning the girls rose up against an early 1-0 lead by Eclipse Blue to win 2-1. Jalyn Gonsalves  scored to tie the game before the half.  Goalie Emily Egan had a strong game, in one play taking on an Eclipse forward 1 V 1 for a great save. A powerful free kick nicely placed in the corner of the net by Sammy Picone on a foul scored the game winning goal sending the Spirits on to the championship game. Sunday afternoon the girls played Chino Hills Freedom in the championship game. They played with poise, keeping the ball at their feet and in control. Hannah Mayfield weaved in and around Freedom defense to drive the first goal into the net unassisted. Jalyn Gonsalves assured victory shooting the second goal into the net with  an assist by Morgan Kimball. The girls seemed to want victory this weekend and played to earn it.