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August 6, 2011
Written by Eric Lummis
The U-16 Spirits 96 ECNL girls traveled down to San Diego the last weekend in July for Surf Cup XXXI. The 96 ECNL’s competed in the Super division and shared a bracket with Surf ECNL, Mustang and So Cal Blues….no softies in this group! When the brackets were published, it’s safe to say that both Surf and Mustang fully expected to move on into the quarterfinals…..but our 96 ECNL’s had other ideas. The 96’s opened the preliminary round against their perennial rival Mustang with a 0-0 tie, and then followed that up with a 1-1 tie against Surf. After Day 1, the bracket was still wide open! The 96’s just needed a win vs. So Cal Blues on Sunday morning, and then a win by either Surf or Mustang in their game would put the 96’s in the quarterfinals.
It seems nothing has come easy for the 96’s this past year, and Surf Cup XXXI was to be no exception. Surf and Mustang ended up playing to to a 1-1 tie in their game, and the 96 ECNL’s found themselves deadlocked with Mustang in 2nd place, with 1st and 2ndplace moving on. San Juan and Mustang had the exact same line score across all tie-breakers. That meant it was going to take PK’s to decide who would move on to the quarterfinals. Seven rounds of PKs later, the 96 ECNL’s sent Mustang on a long ride home and were warming up for a quarterfinal match-up against West Coast United. The 96’s won their quarterfinal against West Coast and earned the right to play Arsenal in the semi-final. In the semi-final, the 96’s led 2-1 well into the 2nd Half and played Arsenal to a 2-2 tie. After two OT periods, they found themselves once again in PKs to decide who would move on to the Finals. Unfortunately, the 96’s great run was out of steam and they lost in PKs.
It was a very exciting and rewarding tournament for the 96 ECNL’s. Against four ultra-premier So Cal teams as well as Mustang, the 96’s had two 1-0 wins, three ties and a semi-final finish!
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