CdM U12 girls take McMillan soccer tourney title

The Corona del Mar Region 57 girls’ under-12 AYSO Extra team captured the Flight 1 championship in dramatic fashion at the McMillan Tournament over Labor Day weekend.

The McMillan Tournament is an AYSO invitational, open to AYSO teams from any section of AYSO and is held at the Jack Hammett Sports Complex, Costa Mesa High School, Davis Elementary and Balearic Park in Costa Mesa.

After going 3-0 in pool play with four goals for and one against, CdM was pitted against a West Garden Grove team it had prevailed over 1-0 earlier in the weekend.

In the finals, CdM was initially down 1-0, rebuilt itself to a 2-1 lead, and, in the waning seconds of regulation, found itself deadlocked with West Garden Grove when it surged with high pressure, found a loose ball in the penalty area and put a looping high ball in the net.

CdM again found itself down quickly 1-0 in the first of two five-minute overtimes however came back resoundingly in the second overtime to produce a hard-fought equalizer, ending at 1-1.

After going to kicks from the penalty mark, the teams again were tied at 4-4 after the initial five attempts, however CdM made the next two to West Garden Grove’s one and were crowned champions.

The team is comprised of local residents Bianca Bays, Logan Bray, Liz Broten, Fallon Crenshaw, Hannah Dastgheib, Tess Emmel, Isabel Gomez, Kate Kittleson, Madeleine Luer, Lexi Rabold, Rylen Schmid, Megan Shean, Emily Valentine and Ann Wood and is coached by Mark Valentine, John Schmid and Andrew Wood.

At U11, this core group of girls were the U11 finalists at the McMillan Tournament last year; won the AYSO Section 11 Extra South Division in the fall; and, in spring, placed second playing up in U12 Flight 1 with a record of 7-1-1, with 26 goals (the most goals out of 17 teams in all of Flight 1); four goals against (tied for second least goals allowed out of the 17 teams); and a goal differential at 22 (the best out of all the 17 teams).

— Reader submission