Sunrise girls compete at Score at the Shore and Gator Showcase

February 19, 2008 - Sunrise had four teams entered in the two biggest tournaments in the state over President’s Day Weekend. Two of the team, the u15 and the u9s, made it to the championship game.

The u15s lost in PKs to nationally ranked Ponte Vedra in the championship. Playing in a 24-team field, the Fire won their bracket going 3-0 with wins over HCU, Gainesville and Ann Arbor (Michigan).

In the quarterfinals, Sunrise defeated PBU 4-2 and then won the semi-finals 2-1 over the Chicago Fire to set up the final match against Ponte Vedra.

Sunrise struck first in the 32nd minute when Erica Wilner scored to give Sunrise a 1-0 lead. Both teams were noticeably worn down from the long soccer weekend continued battling through out the match as Ponte Vedra equalized the match in the 55th minute with a beautiful cross and header.

The match ended 1-1 and went into PK's for the championship. Ponte Verdra won the tournament on a 4-3 advantage in Pk's. "I do not know about PV but our kids were asleep before we reached the expressway," said Sunrise Coach Camacho, "playing six matches at this level in three days is very tough."

Sunrise was a little short handed as they were missing one of their starting forwards and their captain, a midfielder was injured early on in the tournament and did not play the last 4 matches. Many girls in this event were banged up and it came down to who wanted it more, who had the heart and the desire to push forward.

With bad weather coming in, the final match was moved up giving the girls very little time between matches.

"I am very proud of all my girls and the effort they displayed this weekend. I do not know many teams that could go as far into a major tournament missing two of the stronger starters as we did. We did not even get in a practice before this event as most of our girls went deep into the high school playoffs, then the rain cancelled the practice, the week prior to SATS. The girls will get some rest and we will begin our preperation for State Cup which begins in March," Camacho said.

U9s play for title in Gainesville

The u9s, playing in only their second tournament, made it to the championship game also. The girls won the West Pines Kickoff Classic back in October. The team had a lot of fun and are learning. In terms of scores, they defeated the Palm Bay Fury, South Dade United and East Lake, before falling to Braden River 3-2 in the championship.

The championship game was very exciting and the team came back from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits to tie the game. Braden River scored the winning goal with about 5-minutes remaining on a free kick from 20 yards.

U11s have a mixed tournament

The u11s managed to play their best soccer ever, and their worst soccer ever, all within the span of a few hours. In a rematch of the Orange Classic championship, the team opened up against Cape Coral and was just unstoppable, taking a 4-0 lead into halftime. The team’s passing and finishing was about as good as can be for a u11 team. The lead remained at 4-0 until about 14 minutes remaining, when Cape Coral scored two quick goals to make it 4-2. Sunrise answered back with two more goals to make it 6-2. In the final four minutes, Cape Coral, scored two more. The final was a 6-4 victory.

The next game was against Tampa area powerhouse HCU. Sunrise was completely out played in this match and lost 5-1. It was not a pretty picture and was the biggest loss in team history (against a same age opponent). HCU took a 2-0 lead in the first ten minutes, and then Sunrise started to play much better and managed to get one back before halftime to make it 2-1. All appeared ok at halftime and the team thought they were on the way to another comeback win, but HCU had other ideas. HCU scored four more goals in the final 20 minutes for the 5-1 win.

Despite the loss, the team actually had a chance to advance to the final because in the Cape Coral/HCU match, Cape Coral defeated HCU. So a Sunrise win against FSA would mean a three way tie for first place in the bracket. The girls played an excellent game against a  very good FSA team and won 2-0. However, even though there was a three way tie for first place, with each of the three teams having beat one another, HCU advanced on goal differential as they deserved to. HCU went on to win the championship.

U12s play competitive matches

The u12s played three matches and were competitive in all of them. In the first game, the team tied GASC Adrenaline 1-1. Sunrise controlled the flow of play in that game. The second game, the team lost to Island 3-0. In the final game, the team lost to the St. Pete Raiders 1-0 in another close game.

For the weekend, the u9s, u11s and u12s had a ball. The teams all bonded and just had a lot of fun.