Nike Lake Oswego Cup

The Nike LO Cup has such great memories for me. It was Cade's first real tournament with a permanent ETFC team and he exceeded everyone's expectations in that tourney, making it to the finals in U10 and scoring lots of goals. It was Elle's first big tournament on Athletica and they made it to the finals as well. And in the years since, Will, Elle and Cade have given us great games and memories! Plus, it is always on my birthday weekend, which means extra shopping, Paradise Bakery giant cookies and Cheesecake Factory! Plus, we always stay at Embassy Suites which is always fun! This year brought another exciting tournament. Elle's ETFC Sol Black team played in the top group and surprised us all by making it to the final on the Nike campus Sunday morning. To get there, they tied a perennial top team, FC Salmon Creek, 1-1, tied another nemesis for them, Westside Copa TS 2-2, beat a watered down THUSC Silver team 7-0 and then beat a strong Eastside team 2-0. Elle played great, mostly at center midfield, alongside Jaida Nyby who joined Sol for the summer and fall from Athletica. In the final, the girls played strong and lost 1-0. It was another fabulous birthday weekend!

There's our tall #92!

It was a happy 44th birthday for me!

 

Playing at the Nike campus was pretty cool for the girls and their fans!

Birthday Fun for Cade & Willem

We had a family party in mid-July to celebrate Cade's 15th and Willem's 11th birthdays. It was extra special having Marilyn and Tony, Amber & kids here from out of town to help celebrate. Gone are the days of BIG friend and family summer birthday parties with hay rides and a big bar-b-que...hopefully we can start doing that again when we have a few more free weekends in the summer! For now, we have to 'settle' for our family birthday gatherings which are pretty awesome too! I always love looking back at pictures from our summer birthday parties (even smaller family ones) and love it more when we get to use Amber's awesome camera....

We tried!! :)

ETFC Premier Cup and Beaverton Cup

ETFC Premier Cup: Our soccer club held its second annual tournament and we loved having all the kids play at home in Eugene for a weekend in July. Elle played with her cousins, Athena and Meleesa, on ETFC Athletica Red (her ETFC Sol team didn't participate in the tourney this year) in the high school division which meant they got to play a game against her other cousin, Selene, on ETFC Roma! Her team won their first two games and then lost to ETFC Athletica Black 2-0 and Roma 3-0. Cade's Boca Jr. Black team won the HS division including a tough fight in the final against ETFC Azzuri/Gunners. Willem's ETFC Dortmund team played up in the U13 group and finished 1-3-1.

Selene goes up for a header

Elle battling against ETFC Roma 

Nev did a great job entertaining herself with rocks and a water bottle for most of a game

 

Elle enjoyed playing with her cousins, Athena and Meleesa, and her other cousin, Kyndsi!

 

Cade and Liam!

 

Champions!  

Dortmund Black!

Beaverton Cup: Willem's Dortmund Black U12 team played in the top division of the Beaverton Cup and ran into some tough NorCal competition as well as a tough Westside Copa team. They ended up 1-2-1 in the tourney (a win vs PCU and a tie vs an Alaska team). Willem played some keeper as well as forward and outside back. He is always fun to watch!