Edge Soccer Club

The U17 Edge Girls Black Team returned home from Steamboat Springs with one more great accomplishment to add to their list. The team has had great success together and winning this tournament gives Coach Allan Reid yet another reason to sing the praises of this talented group of girls. There can be no doubt that their amazing work ethic and terrific team work were key factors in their success. 

Back row: Corey LaMoureaux, Coach Allan Reid, Amber Hull Middle Row 2: Coach Jeff Combes, Jenna Breckenfelder, Mallory Lizza, Hannah Brown, Katy Elliott, Aubrey Fondy, Caitlin O’Connor, Hannah Kenyon, Coach Mark Johnson Front Row: Lauren McVey, Kayla Kawasaki, Missy Yorchak, Danielle Madonia, Lindsey Pfenninger.

The weekend started out with mixed emotions - winning their first game by forfeit. They knew that the other teams in their bracket would have the same free ride but they also knew that they needed that game to help them stay focused and sharp for the rest of the tournament. Wisely, they used the time to scrimmage knowing they faced a tough opponent in their first game on Saturday. After some soccer and mental prepping for Saturday, they ended their first day in Steamboat with a little team building by tubing down the Yampa River together.

Their first game on Saturday was against the Steamboat Soccer Academy Team - a group of players age 13-17 who attend the Steamboat Summer Soccer Camps. They were a very talented group of girls with a phenomenal goalie. Edge rose to the challenge and was finally able to get one in the net ending the game with 1-0 victory.

Finals were now within reach for the team and their next opponent was a Rush team. The previous day Rush was beaten by the Academy team 3-1 and Coach Mark Johnson passed on tubing with the team to do some 'research' on Rush to help the team go in to the game as prepared as possible. After an extremely physical and hard fought match the score was tied 1-1 which was still enough for Edge to advance to the finals to play against Colorado Fusion Mundial - a U18 team with plans to 'go out on top' by winning the tournament.

The final match was simply superb soccer from both teams. Both teams played hard, aggressive, good and fair soccer. At the end of regulation time it was a 0-0 score. The girls prepared themselves for overtime - two periods of five minutes each with no Golden Goal. Three minutes into the first overtime Colorado Fusion Mundial scored the first goal of the match. Edge was down one goal with only seven minutes to score. Edge kicked off and drove straight down the field and scored! With a 1-1 score both teams battled to get the winning goal but at the end of the overtime periods the score remained a tie. The winner would be decided by penalty kicks.

Edge won the toss and elected to shoot first.

Edge calmly put one in the left corner. Edge 1-0

Mundial comes next and puts the ball over the top. Edge 1-0

Edge again puts the ball in the left corner. Edge 2-0

Mundial puts the ball over the top. Edge 2-0

Edge hits one off the left upright and rebounds out. Edge 2-0

Mundial gets one in. 2-1.

Edge shoots and beats Mundial's goalie. Edge 3-1

Mundial shoots high left and Edge's Goal Keeper tips the ball over.

It took a minute for the players to realize that since Mundial failed on their fourth kick (and there was no way to catch up) it was over. The realization that they won the shoot out 3-1 led to a major celebration on the field.

Afterwards, Coach Allan Reid was full of compliments for his entire team. Each player was important, from those that played with injuries that never seemed to slow them down, to the ones that played any (or every) position that was asked of them - beautifully; to those that kept their composure when other teams were making it difficult to do so and to those superb midfielders that played amazing defense and offense; to the outstanding goal keeping; and to the guest players. All were an integral part of the team's success. Coach Reid was especially thankful to the team for giving him the winning experience in his last travel tournament as a coach. Now he can add one more great accomplishment to his already long list; many of which are thanks to this amazing U17 Girls Black team.