Juneau Soccer Club’s Southeast Storm — 17 girls ages 12 to 14 years old— finished second at the Adidas Clash at the Border soccer tournament in the girls U15 division.
The three-day soccer tournament took place on the Washington-Oregon border in Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington, and featured boys and girls teams hailing from nine different states.
The team, coached by Ressey Bernard, was the only team out of 12 to go 3-0 in group play in their age division. On Saturday, the final day of the tournament, the Storm won their morning semifinal before losing in the championship game to Blackhills Football Club of Olympia, Washington, 5-4 in penalty kicks.
“It was just unlucky, anything can happen in any game,” Bernard said of the loss.
After falling behind in first half, Taylor Bentley, 14, scored two goals in the second to give her team the lead. However, Blackhills’ tied the game on a breakaway in the final 10 minutes of the half to send it to penalty kicks. Blake Plummer, 13, and Isabella Hanna, 14, picked up the penalty kick goals for the Storm.
The Juneau team then won 5-2 over Highline Premier on Friday before winning two games on Saturday. The Storm defeated Tualatin Hills United Soccer Club 4-2 and cruised past Rainier Soccer Alliance Elite 5-1 that evening.
Each day of the tournament heated up to over 90 degrees.
“They didn’t complain about it being hot, but we gave them a lot of water and some electrolyte supplements and I feel like they did fine,” Bernard said. “But yeah, that last day on the turf, it was almost 100 degrees, that was a little rough.”
After practicing four days a week, the team will now switch to just two for the rest of the summer.
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nolin.ainsworth@juneauempire.com.
