Girls U16 win at the National Games in Hawaii

Torrance United AYSO Select Girls Under 16 team made a big splash in the recent 2008 AYSO National Games held in Hawaii, July 6 thru July 13.  The National Games are held every 2 years where teams from all across the country come together to compete in an Olympic-like environment.

The team was coached by Tony & Laura Warfield and Herb Countee.  They started planning for the trip to the National Games back in 2007.The coaches brought girls together from 2 different leagues (North Torrance - Region 16 and Central Torrance - Region 15). The team conducted various fundraising events to help lower the costs by putting on a spaghetti dinner, running a snack bar at tournaments, and held several raffles for an ipod, gift baskets and even a Hawaiian vacation.

The team actually was only able to play together in one tournament prior to heading to Hawaii. However, they came ready to play!  After a day of friendly warm-up games, opening ceremonies, Hawaiian entertainment and a fireworks display, over the next 3 days the Torrance girls played 5 games. In pool, they played North Hawaii, HI (1-1 tie), Tarrytown/Sleepyhollow, NY (5-0 win), Santa Barbara, CA (2-0 win), Diamond Head, HI (3-0 win), and Kailua, HI (0-2 loss), taking 2nd place in their pool. This advanced them to the Quarter Finals on Sat. The team faced a very physical local team from Aiea, Hawaii and in over time lost 0-2, which disappointedly moved the Torrance girls into a consolation bracket. The team came back on Sunday morning to play in the Semi Finals where they had to face another strong team from Kona, Hawaii. The coaches gave the team an inspirational motivation talk and they were ready to go. The scoring went back-and-forth and when the game was tied 3-3 going into extended play due to injury time added on by the referee, the Torrance team scored a 4th goal and moments later the game was over. Torrance United advanced to the Championship game - their opponent was another California team from Chino Hills.

To start the match, the referees lead the 2 teams onto the field in a championship ceremonial parade. Both teams were playing their 10th game of the week and had to reach deep and find it within themselves to play one more game. At the end of regulation, the score was tied 0-0, which sent the match into OT. When the final whistle blew at the end of two over time periods, the score was still tied, both teams were declared Co-Champions.

The coaches all agreed that, “the team performed beyond their expectations and just did a fantastic job. The girls should all be proud of this accomplishment. It was worth all the months of hard work and training they put in and it was an experience they will never forget.”