2000-2001 Season Review

[Summer Tournament ] [Coast Soccer League] [U16 Alamo Cup] [Thanksgiving Tournaments] [State Cup] [Regionals] [Nationals]

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BLUES SUMMER TOURNAMENTS

The Summer soccer season saw the Blues attend several tournaments and achieve moderate results. The club started off the tournament season with the Surf Cup. At the younger Surf Cup the U15 Blues took home the championship while the defending Regional Champion U14 Blues were defeated 1-0 in the finals by So Cal United. The following weekend at the older Surf Cup with only two teams entered and the 99-00 U16 Blues at Nationals, the 2000-2001 U16 Blues were defeated in the finals of the Super group 4-1 by the Dallas Texans while the U18 Blues captured the U19 Gold division championship as they were not selected for the U19 Super division. The U18 Blues were passed over for the Super division even though a majority of the players on the team are being recruited by some of the nation's top Division I colleges.

The club finished off the summer season attending (U11-U18) the Pleasanton Friendship Classic at the Pleasanton Sports complex over the Labor Day Weekend. Seven of eight Blues teams qualified for championship play in the semifinals while five (U13, U14, U15, U16, U17) of those seven made it to the finals. Only the U17 Blues, however, were able to win the championship as the rest fell in their finals match. The Surf club from San Diego was the overall dominant club at the tournament capturing three (U11, U14, U16) championships. Prior to the tournament 350-400 Blues members were in San Jose to attend the U.S. Women's National team's last preparation match prior to the Olympic games and saw the U.S. spank Brazil 4-0 at Spartan Stadium.

BLUES 1999-00 CSL STANDINGS

In this day and age of fierce Southern California competition the Blues were also able to compile outstanding league results on the CSL soccer fields. In review of CSL play the U17 & U16 Blues both captured CSL Premier Championships and traveled to Northern California to represent CSL in the Premier League Championships where they took on and defeated their respective age group champions from Nor Cal. The U15 Blues finished league on a high note by capturing the CSL Cup Championship defeating the Valley United Stars in an exciting 3-2 final game that saw Kim Horn get the hat trick giving the Blues the championship. Mary Naimie's U12 Blues also finished up league competition by winning the league cup championship 1-0 over a tough Slammers team.

U16 ALAMO CUP

Over the weekend of November 11 & 12 the U16 Blues attended the Alamo Cup in San Antonio Texas to face some of the toughest competition outside the state of California. In four matches the Blues won three including the final match vs the Dallas Texans which awarded the Blues the tournament championship. In the 2-1 final win goals were scored by Amy Burlingham and Shannon Munoz with Tessa Baker assisting on both goals. The photo on the right is an after championship game group photo with both (Blues & Texans) participating teams (You can click it to get a bigger version).

THANKSGIVING TOURNAMENTS

During the Thanksgiving holiday all Blues attended the Surf Girls Cup in San Diego with the exception of the U10 & U11 Blues teams who played at the Irvine Harvest Cup and U16 Blues II who shut down for the high school season. The U16 Blues captured the Surf Girls Cup Championship defeating So Cal United in the final 2-1 on two Stacey Mescher goals while the U17 Blues lost a 2-1 heartbreaker in the second overtime to Santa Anita Strikers. During this same weekend on Friday the 24th the U16 Blues took part in an international friendly at Rancho Capistrano against visitors from Westfields Sports High from Australia on tour in the States. While the U16's were taking care of business at Surf, for the second straight year, Chito Gebhart's U10 Blues team (hit photo on right for big version) won the Irvine Harvest Cup defeating NHB 1-0 in the final.

BLUES 1999-00 STATE CUP REVIEW

The new year brought state championship play for younger Blues teams who overall came away with outstanding results for a club that according to many in the all knowing soccer community is "struggling". Chito Gebhart took his Baby Blues all the way to the final where they were tripped up by the Bonita Rebels. U11 coach Hugh Donald guided his team to the state cup semifinals where they lost a heartbreaking PK contest to former Blues coach Jeff Pearson of the Corona Power. CYSA-South Nike Girl's Coach of the Year, Tad Bobak had a disappointing state cup with his U13 Blues who failed to get out of their group. The disappointment of the U13's was balanced out by Mary Naimie's U12 Blues who went all the way capturing the club's 13th CYSA-South National Cup Crown over a tremendous So Cal United Squad who is coached by Blues Adult player Christy Walker. The U12 Blues will now represent CYSA-South at the Far West Regionals in New Mexico in June.

The Blues were not done there. In older state cup play the U16 Blues made up for their defeat in last season's state cup finals and were not to be denied beating an upstart Wolfpack team 5-2 giving them their second opportunity to play at the Far West Regionals having won the championship at U14. In a repeat performance Tad Bobak's defending National Champion U17 Blues captured back to back state championships and will represent Southern California along with the U12 and U16 Blues. Last season coach Tad Bobak guided his team to a National Championship for the second time in his long and illustrious youth coaching career. In 1986 Bobak coached Fram Culver to the U19 National Championship for boys and may be the only coach Nation wide to have won both a girls and boys championship. Still not done, Randy Dodge and Hugh Donald guided the U19 Blues who returned from college to play state cup to the state championship at the U19 level giving the Blues four state champions and regional representatives.

FOUR BLUES TEAMS GO TO NEW MEXICO

The Blues completed the 2000-2001 season in fine fashion but four Blues teams (U12, U16, U17, U19) still had some work to do. The teams were able to capture the CYSA-South State Championship and represented So Cal at the USYSA Far West Regional Tournament in New Mexico.

U12 Blues of course can not advance to the National Tournament. The U12 Blues found it difficult to score goals and were eliminated in knockout play. U19 Blues followed suit running into a quality Pleasanton Rage team who knocked them out of contention.

On the other side of play both the U16 and U17 Blues were victorious and earned a ticket to the National Finals in Indiana. The U16's were led by Amy Burlingham who scored the winning goal in the regional final as the Blues held on for the 3-2 victory. The heroin for the U17 Blues was Alexandra Hardy who scored the winner just moments before the final whistle in the championship match.

U16 & U17 BLUES COMPETE FOR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

Well it was some time ago but we will try to give anyone interested a brief overview of this awesome event. The championship was held in Lawrence, Indiana under hot and humid conditions. Not much to do in Lawrence except play soccer of course. All Cal South teams were housed at the same hotel which depending upon your perspective was supposed to be helpful. We say depending upon your perspective because being that we are a girl's club and having boys teams at the same hotel required some vigilance on the part of the coaching staff and parents.

Nevertheless it was great to have both our teams feeding off one another and giving each other support. The U17 Blues of course were defending their U16 National Championship from the year before where they knocked off the team from Bethesda Maryland. After playing the round robin what do you know, the Blues would once again match up with the Bethesda Fury. In a tight match the game ended in a 0-0 draw only to move onto overtime. Right before the end of the overtime period the Blues had a chance to win the championship when they went on a break away but the ball slipped by the post and the score remained 0-0. Moments later Bethesda claimed the championship putting in the golden goal on a scrum in front of the goal.

The U16 Blues qualified for the final after a stirring 3-0 win needing every goal to get to the final game. In the final game they would once again match up with the GSA Phoenix team from Georgia who had defeated them in pool play 3-1. This time the game would go differently as a tired Blues team would put forth an outstanding defensive effort. The Blues went ahead 1-0 on a counter attack goal from Shannon Munoz to give the Blues the halftime lead. The Blues held on when with 20 minutes left GSA was able to equalize. The score remained 1-1 through overtime with both teams missing several opportunities. In kicks from the spot the Blues were sadly defeated 4-2 making it an empty trip to the National Championships for the club but well worthwhile with respect to the experience level of the players.