Another Busy Soccer Weekend

Our Memorial Day Weekend was spent on the soccer fields in Eugene and Portland. Cade had games Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday in Portland with his Olympic Development Team in the Friendship Cup Tournament. And Gabrielle and Willem played in Eugene in the Memorial Day Tournament.

Gabrielle's U11 EMFC Athletica Blue team won the U12 Gold division! This was their first tournament championship after four or five 2nd place finishes over the past two years so it was very exciting for the girls. In pool play they beat CFC Olimpia U12 team 4-2, tied Willamette Maroon U12 1-1 and beat Corvallis Chaos U12 2-1. It was neat to see how much our girls have improved over the past two years; they lost to the same Corvallis team 10-2 in the 2009 tournament and 3-0 last year and now beat them 2-1. In the championship game, Athletica tied Willamette Maroon 1-1 and beat them in PK's. Gabrielle took the second PK and placed it perfectly! The girls were all so excited and Elle said she couldn't stop smiling after their win!

Gabrielle and Kyndsi

The winning team including their new coach, Jurgen!

Gabrielle working hard!

Elle taking her PK (look at her teammates faces)!

Anxiously watching their teammates take their PK's

So excited after the win!

 Smiles all around!

A cool view of the celebration from another parent's camera

Willem's U10 Rovers White team played in the U10 Gold Division taking 4th place out of six teams. He and his teammates worked hard all weekend and had fun despite their three loses, two of which were against strong Woodburn teams and the 3rd against the U10 Rovers Blue (1st) team. They had the most fun, of-course, in their win against Albany Heat! Willem always cracks me up with the pictures I get of him. He can be so intense but then silly as well. The first three are of him hanging out and a little bored playing goalie (the first half) in their win...

I like this action shot of Willem...

Will and his teammates' goal celebrations...

And here's Willem posing for the camera DURING THE GAME (yes there wasn't much action when he played goalie in the first half)...

Willem does often amaze me with his fearlessness and his leaping ability...

 

I do enjoy watching him play in the goal...

 

Of-course with my camera in hand, we got a few cute shots of Nev during the weekend...

And finally here are some shots of Cade this weekend. ODP has been a great experience for Cade. He made the 1st team for the 1998 age group for the tournament which is a big accomplishment as he is one of only three players born in 1999 on the state team. It is very challenging for him playing at such a fast pace and with so many big, talented players. He continues to be very motivated and loves getting to know all the players from around the state. I look forward to next year when he can play with kids his own birth year and hopefully more his size!

The entire 40 member 1998 player pool (1st team in black, 2nd in white - for this picture)

 

Cade is 5th black jerseyed player to the right of blue goal keeper in middle

Cade plays with such intensity!