Sodium Wins United Cup! [version 2.0]

To coin the very first ever blog post; 'Sodium Wins United Cup!' posted June 25th, 2007.
What a way to finish the United Cup, with back to back wins over the team that beat you in State Cup.

The Early Game
What a thing to behold when all the pieces fall into place. How fun it was to watch Sodium dominate with such finesse and patience. The game was pretty lopsided the first half with the majority of play occurring in the Hotspur end of the field. One of the golden rules of the game is 'You Gotta Finish' and despite plentiful attempts, the half-time score was locked 0-0.
Now, I don't care if you're a Sodium fan or a Hotspur fan, the second half had so many fireworks that you had to appreciate the play!
The second half started out with a supposed Andrea Theriau handball in the 18 yard box. I say supposed because I was blocked from the play and of course all the Sodium defenders deny it ever happened. That resulted in a Hotspur PK. They scored and took a 0-1 lead. Now, on the sidelines, we were having deja vu all over again!! But, if you looked really close, you could see in the eyes of the Sodium players that there was no way they were going to let that happen. That one event, Hotspur scoring a PK, was enough to ignite the lady warriors and start the attack! To tie the score Jadyn McMillan dropped a perfect pass to Lexi Frey who ripped the net and send the Sodium faithful into a tizzy! Next, it was Hannah Lautenbach's turn to feed a perfect pass to Lexi who waltzed it in for the lead! Now the stands were rally abuzz as Sodium had the lead 2-1. On the ensuing corner kick Taylor Moscoe faked and pooched a little pass to KJ. Now, if you're a loyal Sodium fan you never like to see a fake corner kick because it has become such a powerful weapon in Sodium's arsenal, but this time the Hotspur girls were caught off guard and KJ drove clear inside the 18 yard box before loading up and ripping the net at the far post before any Hotspur even knew what hit them! Sodium was now on scoring auto-pilot as they took a commanding 3-1 lead. Late in the second half when you figured Sodium might try to coast we were all surprised to find Emmy Owens feeding Lexi yet again who left a trail of SSC bodies on her way to yet another score, her third, and a 4-1 Sodium lead! With 20 seconds left Sodium let down for just a moment and the Hotspur girls squirted in a goal to bring the tally to 4-2 as the final whistle blew. This win gave Sodium the points lead in the bracket. How sweet the victory was after State Cup but the final showdown was yet to occur. The battle for United Cup Champion was to happen in just 2.5 hours, stay tuned....

The Championship
Hot. The weather, the play. The Hotspur came out inspired and fired up! They took it to Sodium from the opening whistle! The battle was fierce all first half with the play going back and forth. The first half ended 0-0.
The second started as the first ended with the battle contained mainly to midfield. Sodium caught a break and a corner kick which Laura Camp lined up and fired to Lexi Frey who took up where she had left off the first game and fired it into the net for a 1-0 Sodium lead! With just 6 minutes left the match a deflection lead to a Hotspur break-a-way and a goal to tie the match. Sodium ratcheted up their play and began a relentless attack on the Hotspur goal. Shot after shot was wide, high or gobbled up by the SSC keeper. With just under 2 minutes Emmy Owens broke down the right side and into the 18 yard box where she was heading for a certain goal! The SSC defender mugged her from behind which resulted in a Sodium PK. Jadyn McMillan was called on to attempt the PK and give Sodium the win. She calmly lined up the ball, eyed the keeper and ripped the shot past her into the net! Game, set, match. Sodium is your 2009 United Cup Champion! How fitting the victory comes on a PK.

From the sidelines:
If I had the space I would write a few lines about every lady warrior this weekend. Each one contributed at such a high level. From Taylor Luty's diving deflection in the Championship game, to Kelly Priest's consistent hard-fought midfield play, to Erika Cook who elevated her play at whatever position she was asked, to Lexi Frey's 4 goals at forward on Sunday. There were so many champions this weekends. There were so many heros.

Thanks Sodium, for giving us a great weekend of soccer. Thanks for playing your hearts out and leaving everything you had on the field. This team has that very special feel Sodium fans, the feeling that something awesome lies within their grasp.

Other Tournament News

Clash at the Border
As far I could tell, here are the results. They weren't tallied on the site.

#1. WSA Courage (34 pts) Sodium beat this team a couple weekends ago.
#2. OR Rush (30 pts)
#3. Reign 95 Purple (11 pts)
#4. FC Crush (10 pts)
#5. FC Portland (9 pts)
#6. OSA Inferno (6 pts)

Up Next:
US Club Regionals - Bellingham, WA


With the Championship medals around their necks the lady warriors scream: TEAM!

With a smug look of confidence the Sodium fans yell; GO SODIUM!!