Sunrise Soccer
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U13s Get to Semi-Finals of Orange Classic

Weston, Florida (December 30, 2005) - The U13 team made it to the semi-final round of the prestigious Orange Classic Tournament, losing to the eventual champion and no. 2 ranked Team Boca.

The team drew a very tough slate, being matched up with three other top ten teams. Sunrise is currently ranked no. 7 in the state by USARank, and would play no. 2 Team Boca, no.1 Weston and no. 10 Naples.

The opening match would be against Team Boca. Team Boca had an undefeated record in U13 Premier League play. In this game, neither team could score and the game ended at 0-0. Boca got off 14 shots but the Sunrise keeper, Anastasia Mesa, had a big game and netted 8 saves. Sunrise also had some good opportunities in this exciting contest.

In the second match against no. 1 Weston, Sunrise out shot the Fury 12-8 but could not score, dropping the game 3-0. Weston scored their first goal on a penalty kick at the 8-minute mark. The score would remain 1-0 until the 60-minute mark. Until that point, Sunrise enjoyed a 12-4 shot advantage. Then, Weston scored on a corner kick to the far post. A final Weston goal two-minutes later put the game away at 3-0. 

The third match was against no. 10 Naples. Naples came into the game having tied Weston 2-2 and defeating the Plantation Eagles 3-0. The winner of this game would get to the semi-finals. Sunrise continued the pattern set from the day before, out shooting their opponents but having a problem putting the ball in the back of the net. That drought ended in a big way in the 38th minute when Melissa Camacho found Tatiana Penagus to give Sunrise a 1-0 lead. Two goals would follow in quick succession, in minutes 51 and 54, courtesy of shots by Haleigh Stremanos. Camacho got the assist on the first one and Danielle Nguyen had the second assist. Sunrise won the game 3-0. Anastasia Mesa had six saves for Sunrise.

In the semi-finals, the team ran into a burning hot Team Boca. After their initial tie against Sunrise in the opener, Team Boca had gone undefeated. Despite a terrific effort by Mesa in the net, Boca won this game 5-0.

Boca then went on to defeat Weston in the championship game.