Once again it came to this: PK’s in the semi finals. In the last two Tournaments, including US Soccer’s prestigious California Cup, the CVU GU-14 Pride team had made it to semi finals only to be knocked out in PK’s. For the third straight tournament it came to PK’s.

But practice makes perfect. Sarah,  Jessica, Lauren and Desi made four straight PK’s, while Allie saved two of the three PK’s she faced, giving CVU a trip to the finals. Once they overcame that hurdle, everyone felt confident that this tournament was theirs for the taking.

Playing against a very strong Santa Barbara side the Pride fell behind early to a determined and physical team. Shortly before the halftime whistle, Santa Barbara committed a hand ball in the penalty, and Jessica again stepped up and converted her third PK in two days. In the second half, the Pride stepped up their play repeatedly putting the Santa Barbara team under considerable pressure. Finally a second handball in the box, another PK and  Jessica made it a perfect 4 for 4 to close out the scoring.

It was an outstanding effort by all the players and featured goals by Desi, Taylor and Jessica in the bracket play to get us to the semi’s. Defensively we continued the great play giving up very few chances, and building out of the back. All players contributed to our success, with the forwards and midfielders working back to help in defense, and the defenders making overlapping runs and jumping into the attack when appropriate. Coach Privat’s highly technical, short passing game has been improving with each game and the girls look ready to accept the challenge of playing in the Silver Elite Bracket next year.

Heading into the final tournament off their season, the CVU tournament of Champions, the Pride is closing in on their most successful season to date. They took second place in an extremely competitive Silver bracket, and got out of bracket in every tournament they competed in.