Last year, the Beach Soccer Championship was full of wonderful memories, great soccer and our 1st tournament victory of a very successful season. We were excited to return to defend our title and have a great weekend of Sand, Surf and Soccer. Thanks to Charlie and Mary for creating our great team shirts!
Although we were placed in a bracket a little higher than we anticipated, the girls were thrilled at the opporunity to play our first game Saturday at the Stadium. Oceanside Harbor has about 25 sand soccer fields, but the Stadium is usually set aside for the National and professional teams.
There were bleachers for our "fans", world flags and an official scoreboard!
Many teams usually split into two smaller teams since sand soccer is 5v5, but we felt it was important to keep all of the girls together, even if it meant less playing time. There weren't even enough chairs for all of our subs!
Our first matchup was against Lakeside Lightning and we dominated most of the game, winning 8-1. Our girls played with great aggressiveness and put their shots in the net.
Taylor played left forward most of the weekend and really fought hard. She scored a few goals in the four games and had some nice assists as well. Her knee didn't seem to give her any trouble.
We also had the chance to watch several other games, including Lauren's first game of the day. As much as the girls wish they were on the same team, they did enjoy at least being at the same tournament!
We played two more games in the afternoon...tough matches against Surf Premier 1 and 2. We lost our 1st 5-3 and won the 2nd 6-3 and we felt pretty good going into Sunday morning's game. We were bruised and battered after 3 very physical games and ready for a good night's rest.
We were back early on a cold, rainy morning for our tough battle against Oceanside Breakers. Bella supplied the face paint and the girls had a ball getting our game faces on and giving Charlie a very scary mustache!
The rain continued to come down as we had a very tough game. Taylor scored the first goal early and it was evenly matched for a while. But then the ref lost all control, made calls we didn't understand and things started to fall apart. We kept battling back, but in the end, couldn't pull out the win. Taylor left the field with an injured foot and their were lots of tears about what could have been, but we are so proud of the girls and how hard they fought.
Allison was so excited to get the call from Hugo's team to play in the tournament as well. She played with them in the Hawks Shootout and needed her help again.
I only got to watch her morning game on Saturday which they lost 4-0, but Allison scored the only goal and fought off tears from a bloody nose in the 2nd game. They lost 3-1, but Matt said she played well.
On Sunday afternoon, the sun finally came out just in time for her Quarterfinal game against Encinitas Express. She scored another goal and played really tough in both offense and defense. They won 4-3 and advanced to the Semifinal!
They had two hours before the game so they did some team bonding in the sand and water.
The semifinal was a tough battle against South Bay and they lost 6-0. They just couldn't match their footwork and passing, but it was a great opporutnity for Allison to get to play and experience club soccer. She will be more than ready next year!
Thanks to the Hawks U9 Red team for letting her play!
Charlie and Mary had all of the girls over to celebrate our big win this weekend. The girls all love being together so it was fun to have a chance to play off of the field. 
Some lounged in the pool and hot tub, while others had fun doing jumps off of the waterfall. Charlie grilled hot dogs and each of the girls brought a side to share.
Allison and Amanda tried to master Cannonballs!
Taylor and Madison relaxed in the hot tub.
All of the girls enjoyed popsicles before it was time to get out. We hope to do this several times this summer in between practice and our other tournaments...
