Crossfire Challenge Recap
Seven Ranger Gold teams took on the Crossfire Challenge College Showcase this weekend. This summer showcase hosted at 60 Acres in Redmond, WA and is becoming one of the largest and most competitive summer tournaments held in the Northwest. Under the sun, in 90 degree weather, our Ranger teams competed against talented teams from across the west coast. Here are some of the highlights from the Showcase.
2002 Girls – 2nd Place
The 2002 Girls Gold team won their group with three wins and advanced to the finals with a 1-0 win over Seattle United. They scored seven goals, while only conceding four. During their group stage game versus North County Alliance, the girls earned a last minute free kick on the top of the box, and scored scored with seconds left in the game to pull off a late 2-1 victory.
2000 Girls – Semi-Finalist
The 2000 Girls Gold team advanced to the Semi-finals, after a dominating group stage run. Playing with no subs, the Rangers gave up an early first half goal and were down 1-0 to PacNW. They battled back and scored a late equalizer in the second half to take the game to overtime. The Rangers gave up a late penalty kick in overtime, and ended up losing the semi-final 2-1.
2004 Girls
“Crossfire challenge was a real battle of attrition for our team,” Coach Blaine explains. “Although we didn’t advance, we played three hard fought games only giving up 2 goals.”
The highlight of their tournament was a last second free kick goal to earn a tie against Eastside. A last second foul by Eastside, put Kristina Roby over the ball 25 yards out from the goal. Roby curled the free kick into the top corner in the dying seconds of the game to seal the tie for her team.
Although it was an individual highlight it was a team and club effort this weekend for the 2004 girls. “Three teams combined to make up our group this weekend.” Blaine said. “Thank goodness for the 04 blue team and the 05 gold!”
2001 Boys – Semi-Finalist
The 2001 Boys team scored a whopping 13 goals this weekend. They kicked the showcase off with a 7-0 win over the Spokane Sounders. They advanced to the semi-finals, but were defeated by the Eastside Timbers.
2004 Boys – Semi- Finalist
The 2004 boys went 2-1-0 over the weekend, advancing to the semi-finals. In an exciting goal filled semi-final game, the Rangers scored a late goal to tie the game and sent it to overtime. Unfortunately, they gave up a last minute goal in overtime, and ended up losing 4-3 to WA Premier.
“The weekend provided a lot of growing moments for us as an age group,” says head coach Kyle Segebart. “The competition required us to be sharp for every game and this emphasized the importance of maintaining a high performance training environment throughout the week.”
