Every January, local U10, U12 and U14 girls and boys teams compete in the AYSO Area P All-Star Soccer Tournament, which features the top youth squads from all over Los Angeles County, including Culver City, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, South LA, Central LA, West LA and Hollywood. This year, Region 69 (comprised of players from Pacific Palisades, Brentwood and Topanga) is sending an unprecedented five teams to the Sectionals, thanks to inspired efforts at the Area Ps in Culver City and Santa Monica. Advancing out of the Area tournament is a daunting task. First, teams must play four pool games, after which teams are seeded 1-8 for the subsequent single-elimination rounds. Each of the five teams advanced in a slightly different way: U10 Girls After the Golden Lightning lost all four of their pool games, no one gave them much of a chance to advance. However, in true Cinderella fashion, coaches Mark Mosch and Chris Holland rallied their kickers and the team dug deep to rattle off upset after upset to finish second and earn a spot at Sectionals. Team members included India Holland, Caitlin Mosch, Gracie Abrams, Hadyn Peffer, Katherine Reiss, Tessa Nikkhoo, Mikaela Kupfer, Sydney McIlvain and Sammy Truman. These “Golden Girls” caught lightning in a bottle to keep their season alive with a second-place finish. U10 Boys Pool play produced a 2-1-1 record for the Pali Panthers, who hit their stride at just the right time, finished in second place and will be a tough team to reckon with at Sectionals. Coaches Dean Grinsfelder, Christian Donohue and Rodrigo Catalan piloted a talented group consisting of Nicholas Catalan, Jackson Collar, Gavin Donohue, Matthew Grinsfelder, Alec Katz, John Lee, Alexander Liebeskind, Stefan Mimoun, Marcus Partain and Brendan Sharpe. U12 Girls Perhaps no team in the entire tournament was as dominant as The Pali Storm, who outscored their opponents 20-1 in pool play and established themselves as one of the favorites heading into the Sectionals after reaching the Area finals against Culver City. Under the direction of coaches Scot Vorse and Don Parcells, the Storm was made up of Delaney Arth, Jayne Baumgarten, Caity Buerge, Ashley Conte, Grayson Houge, Caitlin Keefe, Michaela Keefe, Danika Masi, Caitlin Neapole, Kaitlyn Parcell, Annie Polson, Georgia Raber, Charlie Robinson, Emma Ulfengren and Lili Vorse. U12 Boys Pali Real got behind the 8-ball early, dropping its first two pool play contests, but rebounded to reel off four wins in a row to advance, including a thrilling 4-2 win over a previously-unbeaten Hollywood side in the semifinals. The team finished runner-up, consisting of Cooper Adams, Ethan Blaser, Kyle Entin, Max Foucaut, Koorosh Hadavi, Will Holbrow, Spencer Howard, Chris King, Alex Lee, Cooper Lee, Griffie Morris, Matthew Nyman, Cole Stanton, Matt Thomas, Gabriel Vasquez, Gabe Wachtel and Jesse Wilkenfeld, banded together behind the coaching trifecta of Steve Morris, Sergio Vasquez and Bryan King. U14 Girls A better name for The Palisades Storm might be the “Cardiac Kids.” No U14 Girls All-Star team from Region 69 has advanced to Sectionals in over a decade–that is, until coaches Bob Madden and Dan Cook guided their determined group to penalty-kick wins in two elimination games and a gutsy third-pace finish. “This is the most resilient, talented team I’ve had in my 20 years coaching AYSO girls soccer,” Madden said. Down 2-0 at halftime against Beverly Hills and with only nine players, the locals stormed back to knot the score in regulation time on goals by Sarah Trenton and Liesal Staubitz. Rounding out the squad were Zoe Lemelson, Elizabeth Madden, Rachel Weston, Mathis Rodriguez, Caitlin Bremner, Emily Cooke, Angeline Holt, Jackie Olofson, Kristen Goldberg and Lynn McIlvain. So what?s next for Region 69?s “Fabulous Five?” The Section 1 tournament will be held March 6-7 in Riverside, featuring the best teams from Southern California. The winners of each section will move on to the California State Championships in Camarillo later this spring. Pali Rox!, coached by Phil Pecsok, made it all the way to the U12 state finals last year.
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