Kirkland select soccer team advances to nationals

Kirkland- and Redmond-based Crossfire Select Girls U-16 McLaughlin will advance to nationals after defeating reigning national champions, Utah’s Crush Blue, at the US Youth Soccer Region IV Presidents Cup tournament last week.

June 18, 2015 7:59 pm
Kirkland- and Redmond-based Crossfire Select Girls U-16 McLaughlin will advance to nationals after defeating reigning national champions
Kirkland- and Redmond-based Crossfire Select Girls U-16 McLaughlin will advance to nationals after defeating reigning national champions

Kirkland- and Redmond-based Crossfire Select Girls U-16 McLaughlin will advance to nationals after defeating reigning national champions, Utah’s Crush Blue, at the US Youth Soccer Region IV Presidents Cup tournament last week.

Having won the Washington State Presidents Cup in May, the Crossfire team moved forward to compete against Region IV’s other Girls U-16 state championship teams for the regional title. The five-day tournament, held in Snohomish June 10-14, featured a total of 120 teams from 14 states.

The Crossfire Select team advanced to the knock-out stage by defeating teams from California-North and Hawaii, and tying the Colorado team. In the quarter- and semi-finals, the team won tense matches against Utah’s Rampage Black SC and Nevada’s FC Warriors Blue, with goalkeeper Natayah Bauer preserving the semi-final win with a memorable late save. In the final, Crossfire’s Haimanot Hansen and Crush’s Katelyn Allen scored within three minutes of each other in the first half. Carlee Betterman’s 75th minute goal broke a 1-1 tie, and ultimately allowed Crossfire Select to dethrone the defending Region IV and National Presidents Cup champions, Crush Blue. Betterman’s goal was the latest of three consecutive second half game-winners for Crossfire. Molly McLaughlin was the team’s high scorer in the tournament, with four goals over six games.

Crossfire Select Girls U-16 McLaughlin will compete for the National Presidents Cup championship, July 9-12 in Overland Park, Kansas against the three other regional champions from Pennsylvania, Louisiana, and Missouri.

Members of the team from Kirkland are Coach Margaret McLaughlin, Assistant Coach Lynn Glenn, Bailey Arnold, Natayah Bauer, Carlee Bettermann, Haimanot Hansen, Samantha Kramer, Molly McLaughlin, Megan McLaughlin, Angela Noffsinger, MacKenna Thompson, and Natalie Vetto; team members from Redmond are Assistant Coach Siobhan Whitney, Galit Hara-Salzberg, Ellen Hilburn, Abby Linnenkohl, Kiley Whitney, and Maya Wohl; team members from Sammamish are Mira Arsova and Samantha Pegnam; team members from Bellevue are Jaclyn Erickson and Emily Vu; Natalie Mifsud is from Woodinville and Mallica Cary is from Mercer Island.