NASHVILLE, TENN. — The Team Boca girls U18 Premier team won the U.S. Soccer Region III Championship held June 22 in Nashville, Tennessee and will now compete with the other three U.S. region winners for the US Youth Soccer national title next month in Phoenix, Arizona. The Team Boca girls fought through adversity on and off the field during the long week of tournament playoff games, winning in dramatic fashion all the way. The tragic death of teammate Melissa Bergstein in a February car accident devastated the close-knit group that have played several years together at Team Boca. The players all wore a #23 patch on their uniform (Melissa’s jersey number) and dedicated the season to Melissa’s memory and felt her presence guiding them. “It was an incredibly hard-fought tournament and our girls simply refused to lose” said Bill D’Addio, Team Boca’s Director. “I’ve never seen a group of players more inspired and focused on winning a championship,” said D’Addio.
The Team Boca girls beat Maumell Soccer Club (AR state champs) 7-0, Lonestars (Texas South state champs) 4-3, Mandeville SC (LA state champs) 4-1, Dallas Texans (TX North state champs) 3-1, Texas D’Feeters (Premier League West champs) 2-1, and the Nationally # 1 ranked Ponte Vedre Storm (FL state champs) 2-1 in the championship game. Both the semi-finals vs the D’Feeters and the Finals vs Ponte Vedre were dramatic come-from-behind wins. Forward Tatiana Coleman scored to tie the championship game with only seconds remaining, with the winning goal by forward Natalie Punal coming in overtime. Four of the teams Team Boca beat to advance (Lonestars, Texans, D’Feeters, and Ponte Vedre) had all previously eliminated Team Boca in past regional championships as Under 14 – Under 17 teams. Their win in the championship game over Ponte Vedre was extra special since Ponte Vedre beat Team Boca just last month in the Florida state championship finals by a score of 4-3, which forced Team Boca to qualify for the Southern Regionals as the Premier League East representative.
The Regional Championship win is the first for Team Boca since its U18 girls team won in 1994 and went on to take third place in the nationals. In 1993, Team Boca’s U16 girls also advanced to the nationals, earning the national runner up spot.