CAL SOUTH NATIONAL CUP CROWNS 4 YOUNGERS CHAMPS FOR 2008
Boys Under-12 – West Coast FC
Girls Under-12 – Slammers FC
Boys Under-13 – Irvine Strikers
Girls Under-13 – So Cal Blues

March 10, 2008 (Rancho Capistrano, CA) – The Cal South National Cup Youngers round ended in celebration this weekend as each of four talented Cal South teams ascended to the stage to be handed a 2008 National Cup Championship trophy. Taking place on Saturday, March 8 at the Capistrano Mission Soccer Fields, the finals round for the National Cup’s Under-12 and Under-13 brackets saw one club, West Coast FC, vying for three of the four titles overall and eventually taking one championship home, while the Irvine Strikers, So Cal Blues and Slammers FC also captured trophies.

The Boys Under-12 West Coast FC had knocked off  a series of three shutouts starting with the Round of 16, but met a truly tough opponent in the Stampede Soccer Club, who themselves had fought through three straight overtime victories, two of those games having been decided on penalty kicks. Naturally, this one also went to overtime, but only after West Coast came back in the second half to tie up the 2-0 lead the Stampede had taken into halftime. In the end, West Coast’s late-game momentum carried them to the overtime goal that brought them the 3-2 victory.

In the Girls Under-12 final, the Slammers FC met up against one of the other teams from West Coast FC, but took the game and the championship by a 3-1 score. It is the second year in a row that a Slammers team has won the GU12 title.

The girls of the U13 So Cal Blues had converted five of their six wins prior to the finals round into shutouts, giving up only a single goal since the National Cup had begun. Facing off against the X-Treme Breakaway girls, a solid team that had scrapped its way through a pair of ties in pool play and a pair of overtime victories in the playoffs, the Blues came away with yet another shutout, 2-0, to take their title.

The BU13 Irvine Strikers had virtually paraded through the National Cup, outscoring their five opponents 24-0 until they faced off against the Chula Vista Rangers in their semi-final match. Down 2-0 at halftime to the Rangers, the Strikers had to rally with three straight goals in the second half to send them to the BU13 final. Not wishing to find themselves in the same situation again, the Strikers hit early with two first half goals over the West Coast Futbol Club, and eventually holding onto a 2-1 championship victory.

The Cal South National Cup is the first step on the ladder by which teams from Southern California may advance towards the crown jewel of youth soccer, the US Youth Soccer National Championships. Winners at the Cal South National Cup now move on to Hawaii for the 2008 US Youth Soccer Far West Regionals, to be held in Honolulu from June 16-22. The Olders portion of the Cal South National Cup gets underway on the weekend of April 19-20 when the U14 and U18 age brackets hit the fields, while the U15, U16 and U17 brackets begin play on the weekend of April 26-27. The U19 competition doesn’t begin until Memorial Day weekend, May 24-26. Keep checking CalSouth.com for updates, news and scores for the 2008 Cal South National Cup.

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