2011 US Youth Soccer Midwest Regionals; Minnesota Sends 2 Teams to Nationals

Only 3 of Minnesota’s 14 teams that participated in this year’s 2011 US Youth Soccer Midwest Regionals in Fox Cities, Wis., made it to the finals. They were the boys U-16  Minnesota Thunder Elite Academy, the girls U-17  Minnesota Thunder Academy East and the girls U-19 Woodbury Inferno. Of those three teams, the U-16 Boys and the U-19 Girls went on to victory in the finals and will now play in the US Youth Soccer National Championships. That tournament will be played in Phoenix, Arizona at the Reach 11 complex. Round Robin play is July 27-29 with the finals July 30-31.

The state of Illinois took 8 of the 14 titles. Minnesota and Michigan each claimed 2 with Wisconsin and Kansas earning 1 apiece.

U-16 MTA Boys

The U-16 boys Minnesota Thunder Elite Academy made it to the final of the regionals by defeating Raiders FC (IL) in a wild semifinal game that saw the Minnesota side win by a score of 4-3.

The MTA team advanced to the finals where they defeated the CUP Crew Juniors from Ohio 2-1 in overtime to earn themselves a trip to the Nationals.

The Cup Crew Juniors took the early lead in this game, going up 1-0 in the 4th minute. But Matthew Gweh of MTA tied the score in the 22nd minute. It was Gweh again for MTA who broke the deadlock with a dramatic 88th minute overtime goal to secure the win and a trip to the Nationals for the U-16 team.

Gweh and Cup Crew Juniors goal scorer Sam Bascom tied for most goals in the tournament with 5 each.

“After we scored in the first overtime period the second was just agony hoping for the whistle,” said MTA head coach Rob Zahl. “Going to nationals is a once in a lifetime experience and the team will remember it for the rest of their lives. We’ve seen a lot of the opponents through the US Youth Soccer National League and it really helped us so much because we learned how to play against the toughest teams and at the end of the day if you aren’t playing that level you aren’t going to be successful.”

U-17 MTA-East Girls

The U-17 girls Minnesota Thunder Academy East team earned their way to the finals by knocking off  the NSA Premier Fury (IL) 2-0 in their semifinal game. But a trip to the Nationals was not in the cards for Minnesota’s U-17 girls representative. They were defeated 2-0 in the final by the Sockers of IL.

According to a game report from US Youth Soccer, the Sockers FC held possession for most of the game but neither team was able to find a scoring answer, forcing the game into overtime. Courtney Raetzman finally broke the deadlock for the Sockers in the 107th minute and Katelyn Hammarlund added an assurance goal in the 127th for the 2-0 win.

U-19 Woodbury Inferno girls

The U-19 girls Woodbury Inferno made their way to the finals by defeating NSA Premier Fury (IL) by a score of 2-0. The Inferno went on to defeat Mallorca of KS 2-0 in the final, punching them a ticket to the Nationals.

According to US Youth Soccer: Inferno’s Caitlin Grabowski won a ball at midfield, served to Jacquelyn Ley who scored from 12 yards out in the 35th minute. Bozena Podkopacz showed great speed past the Mallorca defense and found Lauren DeGregorio in the 65th minute with a simple touch for the 2-0 Inferno win.

Here are the results for all the Minnesota teams that participated in this years 2011 US Youth Soccer Midwest Regionals.

BOYS TEAMS

U13 – Minnesota Thunder Academy West

U-14 – Minnesota Thunder Elite Academy

U-15 – Minneapolis United Soccer Club

U-16 – Minnesota Thunder Elite Academy

U-17 – Shattuck-St. Mary’s Soccer Academy

U-18 – Blackhawks Soccer Club

U-19 – St. Croix Red Devils

Results from group stage

GIRLS TEAMS

Maddie Nelson U-17 MTA Girls. Photo by Eileen Trebesch.

U13 – Centennial Soccer Club

U-14 – Minnesota Thunder Academy East

U-15 – Minnesota Thunder Elite Academy

U-16 – Minnesota Thunder Elite Academy

U-17 – Minnesota Thunder Academy East

U-18 – Eden Prairie Soccer Club

U-19 – Woodbury Inferno

Results from group stage