Mesquite, Nevada (2/20/2017)
On the final day of the Girls U13-U19 2017 RSL Presidents Cup, the teams faced an overcast sky but after some rain throughout the weekend, it was a beautiful day. The overcast sky was a symbol for the weekend as the weather was never as bad as it seemed. The action never faltered and the games were always tremendous, speaking volumes about the quality of teams, players, and coaches at this year's event. The semi-finals and finals were no exception.
The games started at 8:00 am on 5 fields as semi-finals for 5 brackets were played in the morning before the finals began in the afternoon. The day ended with one last kick on Field 5 as the finals wrapped up at the Mesquite Regional Sports and Event Complex.
Recap of the today's games:
Girls U13
SEMIS: Despite not winning their group, and advancing to the semis by way of a penalty kick shootout, the U13 Blue Knights team was not yet ready for the clock to strike midnight, as they beat Group C winner L30 Surge 1-0. In the other semi, a high scoring Rampage team was held to only one goal, but it was enough as they also won 1-0 against Avalanche North.
FINAL: In a matchup of underdog vs undefeated powerhouse, the powerhouse won. Rampage scored 3 goals to bring their total to 23 goals scored for the tournament, good for just under 4 goals for a game. Blue Knights put up a good fight but came up short with the final scoreline reading 3-0 in favor of Rampage.
Girls U14
SEMIS: There was a whole lot of ones put on the board as a 1-1 draw ended up in favor of Wasatch SC after a tremendous penalty kick shootout against Swat Crush. The other game finished 1-0 as La Roca squeaked by Infinity SC.
FINALS: The run of ones continued as the final also ended with a 1-0 scoreline. Once again it was Wasatch SC that enjoyed seeing that one on the board as they scored and hung on against La Roca to win the 2017 RSL Presidents Cup for the U14 age group.
Girls U15
SEMIS: In two very low scoring affairs, Impact won 1-0 over Wasatch SC. While nobody scored in regulation, or in extra time in the match between La Roca and Arsenal CY. It was La Roca's second consecutive penalty kick shootout, and once again they survived after some huge saves from their keeper.
FINALS: La Roca's magical penalty kick run came to an end against Impact. All the extra soccer seemed to take its toll on the La Roca players both physically and mentally, and they met an Impact team that was playing in top form. Impact ended up winning 4-1 in overtime.
Girls U16
SEMIS: The U16 Semis featured two games that finished with a two goal margin as Utah Surf Davis and L30 Crush won against L30 Union FC and Fc St George by 2-0 and 3-1 scorelines respectively.
FINALS: Crush cruised to victory in the finals causing some spectators to reminisce about the Crush team that won a national Presidents Cup trophy back in 2014. The final scoreline was 4-1 in favor of Crush.
Girls U17
SEMIS: Rampage Black came out firing and was able to put 3 goals past the Utah FC keeper and move onto the finals. In a matchup of the two best looking teams from group play, Celtic FC left victorious after a 2-1 win over L30 Nitro.
FINALS: With both teams entering undefeated, fans knew the last game of the day was sure to be a treat. They were not disappointed. In a back and forth game that seemed up for the taking, Rampage managed to score twice against a stout Celtic FC defense to win the match 2-1.
Girls U18
FINALS: In a rematch of a group play game, which Heat Fc won 2-1, it was again Heat Fc that came out on top in a 2-1 scoreline between the two region 6 rivals. In a heated and close match Heat was finally able to secure the victory with a goal in extra time.
Congratulations to all of our champions, for the U13-U17 brackets this means representing Utah at Region IV Presidents Cup in Salt Lake City this June. For the U18 brackets thank you for all of the memories and UYSA wishes you the best in your futures. To all of the other teams, thank you for participating in this year's RSL Presidents Cup, it was a whole lot of fun and we hope to see you again. Also a big thank you to all of our referees for the great work they did and to the trainers from TOSH, we wouldn't have been able to do it without you. Thank you all for another wonderful edition of the RSL Presidents Cup.