News: Tournaments

2010 National Tournament Has a Bittersweet Ending
June 28th, 2010
Gabe Trujillo

Tournament was going to be the culmination five great years with the Arizona Heat soccer team. After spending the last five years with the Heat, I decided to join the new Arizona State University Power Soccer Club at the conclusion of the season. But before I join my new team, I wanted to make sure that my final season with the Heat would be our best season ever.

Expectations were high as we welcomed two new teammates from Indiana, Ginny Munson and Katie Dickey. The two came from a successful power soccer program, so we were hoping some of that winning spirit would follow them to the Valley of the Sun.

And follow them it did.

From the first practice, our new teammates brought a renewed vigor to the Heat squad that hasn’t been around for a long time. Our team had a new dimension and excitement that gave us hope for a very successful 2010 season.

It didn’t take long to see the impact of our new teammates. The Heat won their first ever PowerBlast tournament and even took Third-Place at the Western Regionals. The Arizona Heat won more games during the season than they've ever had before. We had developed a great chemistry throughout the season and were eager to see how we would do against the Nation's best at the National Tournament.

We arrived in Indianapolis and couldn't wait to get things started. Our...

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2010 Nationals: A Lesson in Perseverance
June 28th, 2010
Tony Jackson

After a great second place finish at the Western Regional, we on the Arizona Heat 2nd Degree were feeling really good about our chances at this year’s national tournament. However, those hopes were dampened slightly when we found out that one of us wasn’t going to be able to make the trip. It would change our game plan a bit, but we still felt strong heading to Indianapolis. Arriving at the airport, another member of our team showed up extremely ill, but he decided to make the trek anyway. He wanted to be there for the rest of us and he was sacrificing his health for the team. When the team arrived in Indianapolis, it was decided that our sick teammate was too sick and needed immediate medical attention. A trip to the hospital now left us with only four players. Despite the circumstances, we had to carry on.

The first day of the tournament was particularly challenging because we were playing with a different line up and we had never played against the other teams. Unfortunately the two games against the RHI Indy Cruisers and North Georgia Screamin’ Eagles resulted in two heavy losses, but we knew that there was still plenty of soccer left to be played. Off the court, our teammate who fell ill was being kept in the hospital, so we knew we had to continue without him on Friday. That 8am game on Friday morning against the DASA Firecrackers was...

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2010 National Champions
June 20th, 2010

Circle City Rollers repeat as Division I national champions; Courage Thunder claim Division II title

FISHERS, Indiana: Local powerhouse Circle City Rollers repeated as USPSA National Champions at last weekend's National Tournament. The tight match against Atlanta Synergy was finally decided in the penalty kick round, just as it was the year before. The San Jose Stemarollers defeated the Tampa Thunder to take third place.

In Division II, Courage Thunder continued their movement up the ranks by beating the RHI Indy Cruisers for their first national championship. They had previously placed third in 2008 and second in 2009. The Indy Cruisers returned to the national tournament this year after a two-year hiatus to take second place. Ball State Fury defeated DASA Firecrackers for third.

For more scores and final standings, visit USPSATeams.org. The Division I championship match can be seen in its entirety online at xAble.com.

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San Jose Hosts International Power Soccer Weekend
May 30th, 2010
Jenny Mitchell

Last weekend, the San Jose Steamrollers hosted the Vancouver Lightning for two days of exciting International Power Soccer games. The BORP Bay Earthquakes (from Berkeley), Hollister Free Wheelers, and Santa Barbara Rollin' Gauchos also participated in the tournament, which served as a season finale for some teams and a warm-up for the USPSA National Championships for others.

The Opening Ceremonies and National Anthems were very moving, but as soon as the first whistle blew, it was all business. San Jose and Vancouver kicked off the tournament with a tense opening match. Both teams played good defense and the game ended up tied 0-0 – San Jose's first tie all season. Berkeley and Santa Barbara picked up the pace for the second game. The Earthquakes scored three goals each period for a 6-0 win against the Gauchos. Two goals apiece were scored by Brandon Johnson, Jessica Lehman, and Team USA member Kendra Scalia-Carrow. Vancouver then faced the hard-hitting Hollister Free Wheelers. Both teams played admirably and Hollister came away with the victory by a score of 1-0.

The Steamrollers brought more energy to their second match of the day against the Gauchos. Santa Barbara fought hard and Bill Balles scored, but they couldn’t keep up the pace and San Jose won 3-1. Berkeley then took their shot against the Vancouver Lightning, who continued...

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2010 D2 Midwest Regional Results
April 1st, 2010

Monticello High School, Monticello, MN
March 26th-28th, 2010

Final Standings

1st Place: Courage Thunder
2nd Place: Indy Cruisers
3rd Place: GLASA Fire
4th Place: Madison Marauders
5th Place: Ball State Fury
6th Place: Driving Force
7th Place: DASA Firecrackers
8th Place: RHI Indy Inferno
9th Place: Courage Tornados
10th Place: Courage Blizzards White

MVP: Lexi Heer, Indy Cruisers
Sportsmanship: Robert Keck, Courage Tornados
Golden Guard: Pete Winslow, Courage Thunder

For detailed tournament scores, visit www.USPSATeams.org/results.

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2010 D1 Midwest Regional Results
April 1st, 2010

Huntington North High School, Huntington, IN
March 27th-28th, 2010

Final Standings

1st Place: Circle City Rollers
2nd Place: RHI Sudden Impact
3rd Place: Ball State Cardinals
4th Place: DASA Dynamites
5th Place: Turnstone Flyers
6th Place: CNY United
7th Place: Courage Blizzards Blue

MVP: Jordan Dickey, RHI Sudden Impact
Sportsmanship: Deandra Bardell, Courage Blizzards Blue
Golden Guard: Michael Archer, Circle City Rollers

For detailed tournament scores, visit www.USPSATeams.org/results.

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Road to Victory: Winning the D2 Eastern Regional
March 24th, 2010
Tyler Farmer

It was finally here. After a long wait, the D2 Eastern Regionals had finally arrived. Day 1 started with me, my teammate Russell Gregory, and my dad (and coach) loading up in our van and making our way down to Lucky Shoals Park in Norcross, GA. On the way, we listened to some music to try and get pumped up, especially a song by Muse called "Uprising", which has the line "We will be victorious!" We got to the gym early and started getting our guards on so we could warm-up. The butterflies were already flying around at a mile a minute even though I felt like we were the team to beat. After everyone was ready, our coaches gathered us up for a quick talk. We had no idea that they had a surprise for us...NEW JERSEYS (a red one & a blue one). They're AWESOME! I liked our old jerseys, but we had used them for 3 1/2 years so it was time for some new ones. So we put on the new jerseys and were ready to play. First, we played at 10:15 against the Chattanooga Speeders, a very talented team who have been our rivals for 3 years.

We got off to a fast start & when the final whistle had been blown we had won 4-1. Next, we played at 12:45 against the Orlando Hurricanes, a physical team. We won 2-0. After that, we played against the Carroll County Dominators, an up and coming team at 3:15. We knew going it would be a tough game, but thankfully we...

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2010 D2 Eastern Regional Results
March 15th, 2010

Lucky Shoals Park & Recreation Center, Norcross, GA
March 12th-14th, 2010

Final Standings

1st: North Georgia Screamin' Eagles
2nd: Chattanooga Speeders
3rd: Carroll County Dominators
4th: Orlando Hurricanes
5th: Lakeshore Power
6th: Charlotte Power Surge
7th: Shepherd Strikers

MVP: Cameron Watkns, Chattanooga Speeders
Sportsmanship: Justin Wilson, Carroll County Dominators
Golden Guard: Carlin Camp, North Georgia Screamin' Eagles
Golden Ball: Cameron Watkins, Chattanooga Speeders

 

For tournament scores, visit www.USPSATeams.org/results.

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Arizona Heat Blazes Path to Nationals via Western Regional
March 12th, 2010
Gabe Trujillo

As the calendar switched to 2010, the Arizona Heat looked to build on a great 2009 by qualifying again for the National Tournament during the Western Regional in San Jose, Ca. Along with a new season, 2010 also brought several changes to the Heat squad, including two new members. Athletes Katie Dickey and Ginny Munson joined the squad this season after moving to Arizona to attend Arizona State University. Once they joined the team, many hoped that they would bring their winning ways with them from their former squad in Indiana.

And they didn't disappoint.

After months of practice and preparation, it was finally time to test out the 2010 model of the Arizona Heat. We traveled to San Jose with high spirits and even higher expectations, and couldn't wait to get on the court. Since we didn't have a game on Friday, we went to cheer on our division-two team and anticipate our first game Saturday morning.

As the sun finally made its appearance Saturday morning, we were eager to get things going. Once we all got guarded up, we made our way to the court to spin kick away any pre-game jitters. Our first opponent was Glendale and we wanted to get the tournament off on the right foot. It didn't take long to see the improvement of this year's squad as we came away with a decisive 6-1 win over Glendale. The team showed great chemistry and...

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Road to the Top: Winning the D2 Western Regional
March 12th, 2010
Talia Geliebter

On Friday March 5th, 2010, I traveled to Union City to pick up my teammate Tyrone before going to San Jose. As we were in the car, I asked him if he was nervous and he told me that he was, but only a little. I was getting nervous myself for my stomach was flip-flopping around. When we saw the sign for San Jose, I told myself that it would be okay and that if we lost, as a team, it would be fine and we would go to Indianapolis anyway. Good thing it wasn't raining either because it would have been an awful day.

Once we got off the highway and onto the main road where the gym was located, I whispered to myself, "Breathe, Talia. Breathe." That helped, a little. We were late by the time we got there, so we hustled on over to the Spartan Gym Complex and got our foot guards on right away to warm up with my team, the BORP Crushers. At exactly 4:30 pm, it was GAME TIME! The team that the BORP Crushers were playing against was the Glendale Wild Wheelers team from Glendale, California. We beat them 2-0! The Glendale Wild Wheelers were a new team and they tried to be a good team, but they didn't really have a strong defense.

It was 5:50pm by the time the game was over and I had to eat dinner before the next game which was at 7pm. So, I stuck around the gym eating my dinner that I brought from home. My coach, Chris Finn wanted everyone to be back in...

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