Eclipse 92 girls advance to USA Cup semfinals

Published Saturday, July 19, 2008

The Eclipse 92 girls continued to roll on Friday at the USA Cup youth soccer tournament in Blaine, Minn.

Despite having several players with injuries, the Eclipse posted a 3-1 victory over the Chicago Kickers in the quarterfinals, advancing the Fairbanks squad to the semifinals where they will play Newmarket United of Ontario this morning.

A semifinal victory puts the Eclipse into the championship game this afternoon.

“Ontario is a very tough team and we’re playing with a very beat up team,” coach Bruce Gard said. “Whatever happens, they are representing our home town in a very positive way, and have been a hoot to watch.”

The Eclipse jumped out to a 1-0 lead against Chicago when Zoe Kurth buried a penalty kick. The Eclipse went up 2-0 on an own goal after Anita Holladay sailed a long-range shot that took the defense by surprise.

“Those can be pretty demoralizing to a team, but the Chicago Kickers kept coming back at us all night,” Gard said.

Chicago narrowed the gap to 2-1 before the end of the first half, but couldn’t get the equalizer.

The second half was a battle of midfields until Allyse Eide scored on a breakaway to give the Eclipse a two-goal cushion.

In their nine tournament games on the road trip, the Eclipse have outscored the opposition 29-4.

The other two Eclipse teams playing in the USA Cup on Friday were eliminated.

The Phoenix 96 boys dropped a 5-2 decision to the Rio de Janeiro Selects from Brazil in the quarterfinals of the 12U A bracket.

The Eclipse 93 girls suffered a 2-0 loss North Metro Twisters in the B bracket of the 15U division.

Community Discussion

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  1. akjak
    7/19/2008, 6:55 p.m.
    Suggest removal

    Better than that - the Eclipse 92 girls WON the tournament this afternoon!! Way to go, girls! You rock! All 3 Eclipse Club teams rock! Good job, kids.

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