Cara, Marilyn, Charlie Are National Champs

[Editor’s Note: Ms. Tuzon is manager of the Santa Monica United FC team.] 

In an exhilarating culmination to a five-month march to the national title, Santa Monica United FC’s girls under-13 soccer team won the National President’s Cup on Sunday in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park.

Three of the four Culver City girls on the SMU team were part of this win in Kansas, Cara Conroy, Marilyn Hernandez and Charlie Kayem.

The fourth, Allegra Weil, was traveling in Denmark with her grandmother. She was following her teammates on social media. The game was streamed live on YouTube.

The championship trail began forming in March when SMU’s girls were crowned the Cal South State champion. In June, they traveled to Everett, WA. Competing for the Far West Regional President’s Cup, they won the Region IV title.

This qualified Santa Monica United to play for the national title at the National President’s Cup in Kansas. The Region IV win was unprecedented in Santa Monica United’s history.

After generous support from CalSouth, SMU and the community, the team traveled to Overland Park last Wednesday with head coach Fabian Amezaga, assistant coach Robert Bahedry and a cadre of supporters.

Forty teams from across the nation competed in the National President’s Cup’s five age brackets for boys and girls U13 to U17. Pool play consisted of three games between the four regional champions, with the top two finishers playing for the national title.

SMU won the first game against Region III representative North Carolina, winning 2-0 on goals by Sadie Holt and Riley Adams and a strong showing by the defense led by Goalie Conroy.

The team moved on to play Region I champion Pennsylvania.  SMU scored three goals, two from Giulia Trevellin on penalty kicks after Pennsylvania fouls and one contributed by Tupelo Sullivan, with a final score of 3-2. That match was followed by a tough loss to Region II winner Kansas that resulted in a three-way tie for the two top spots. After a nail-biting tiebreaker calculation, SMU G13 learned they would play for the national title.

The win set up a rematch with North Carolina for the title.

The game was live streamed and watched by many supporters from around the world.

After 18 scoreless minutes, midfielder Dakota Margolis sent in a strong corner kick to the 18 where teammate Holt connected to bury the ball in the net.

SMU locked down the remaining 54 minutes of playing time, recording a 1-0 shutout and clinching the national championship.

At the awards ceremony it was announced that SMU goalie Conroy won the Golden Gloves award for best goalie in the age bracket, and the team was awarded the prestigious Sportsmanship award.

Coach Amezaga credited the team’s hard work and teamwork.

“The biggest hurdle for them was believing in themselves and believing that they could get the job done,” he said. “Our motto was ‘Why not us?’

“Why couldn’t we be the first team to make club history?  We worked extremely hard on the mental aspect of the game,” Amezaga said.

“We made sure that regardless of the outcome, we wanted to say we left it all out on the pitch.”

Amezaga said that “all 20 players contributed to this championship.

“These players epitomize the definition of a team. No superstars. They genuinely want to see each other succeed.  They deserve this.”

The coaches and club deserve praise for their dedication and support.

They took a 13-player team from its first practice three years ago to a technically skilled, mentally tough team that managed to overcome every challenge.

Their expertise and commitment were crucial.

CalSouth and Far West Region IV had a strong showing at the tournament, with three of the 10 champions hailing from CalSouth and seven of the 10 from Region 4.