The Red Hots are ON FIRE!!

This was the weekend we have been working towards for the past 8 weeks. President's Cup in Yucaipa is the All-Star tournament for Riverside and San Bernadino counties and determines which teams get to advance to Tournament of Champions. We went in to the tournmanet confident that our girls would play well and represent our city. We couldn't have predicted just how well they would do.

Our 1st game was at 8:00am on Saturday against Wildomar. We played well and won with a score of 2-0. At noon, we went up against Palm Desert and won 4-0. Taylor played the game of her life, scoring 3 goals and playing with a fire I have never seen in her before. She was a team leader and a powerful presence on the field.

We drove home after the 2nd game feeling confident that Day #2 would go just as well. Taylor spent the evening relaxing her muscles in a hot bath and getting a good night sleep. Up early again Sunday for our morning game against Cornerstone Community Church. It was a solid 7-0 victory and it even gave us a chance to rest some of our girls and give other girls the opportunity to play in positions they weren't used to. Taylor got kicked in the knee late in the 2nd quarter, came off the field in tears and sat out the rest of the game to rest up for the Championship.

We had advanced to the Championship without a goal being scored against us and only one punt by our goalie. Amazing!! But we knew Yucaipa Valley would be tough competition in the final game. We had played against them last year and lost in a heartbreaking 3-2 game. Our pep talk before the game was all about playing the game the girls knew how to play and using all of the skills we had learned. We wanted them to give the parents something to jump out of their chairs for and be the team with the championship in the end.

The girls played their hearts out. We battled the entire 1st half, but the score stayed 0-0. In the 3rd quarter, Delaney fired a long shot and it took a bad bounce and dribbled past their goalie. We were up 1-0 and the sidelines went crazy! Now we were in defensive mode and just trying to hold them. The field went silent though in the 4th quarter when one of our defenders was called for a penalty inside the goal box. Our goalie, Ashley, would have to block a direct kick. AND SHE DID!! It was beautiful and protected our lead. When the final whistle blew, the girls rushed each other screaming and jumping all over! The Red Hots-President's Cup Champions!!

The girls doing our team cheer around the coaches

Matching 1st place medals!

Let's do it again in Palm Desert....