AYSO Region 97: Lightning takes home title

The Lightning won four games to win the Area Q under-10 boys soccer

championship in AYSO Region 97.

The squad defeated the Hornets, 4-3, beat Manchester, 5-1, earned a

victory over the Blazers, 3-1, and edged the Coyotes, 3-2.

Against the Hornets of Corona del Mar, Colton Gyulay scored three

goals and Ivan Becerra added one to lead the charge in the first round.

Strong offensive support was provided by Marcos Urquiza, Steven Miller,

Brecht Vanthof and Matthew DiFrancesco. The defense was anchored by

Patrick Briand, Drew Diller and Wil Curiel. Goalkeepers John Ryder and

Miles Flanders were solid in the net.

Against Manchester, the Lightning received goals from Becerra,

DiFrancesco, Miller and Gyulay. Ryder nearly earned a shutout.

Against the Blazers, the offense was led by Gyulay (two goals) and

Becerra (one goal). Miller, Sergio Garcia, Vanthof and DiFrancesco

dominated the midfield. Defense was led by Curiel, Urquiza, Briand and

Diller.

With the victory over the Coyotes of Tustin in the first-place game,

the Lightning advance to the Section 11 championship in March.

In girls under-12 action:

* The Bee-utiful Babes took second place in the Area Q League

Championship.

The Babes beat teams from Irvine North, Irvine South and Newport Beach

to win their pool and qualify for the final where they faced Tustin.

Forwards Jamie Lawson, Rachel Parker and Jacki Smith played well.

Despite strong efforts by Erin Epp, Valerie Avila, Emily Dahl, Erin

Kircher, Angie Seagren, Spencer Vostmyer, Samantha Mangione, Elise Molnar

and Jaclyn Risser, Tustin scored in the second and fourth quarters.

Goalkeeper Danielle Goodman made key saves throughout the game. Parker

scored in the fourth quarter on a corner kick, but the Babes could not

come up with another goal and fell to Tustin.

In girls under-10 action:

* Pretty and Purple 1, Slammers 0 - Lauren Crites scored with seven

minutes left to lift Pretty and Purple in the league championship game.

With the midfield and defensive help from Maddy Ludes, Veronica Seidner

and Rachel Perry, Pretty and Purple ran down the clock to earn the win.

Pretty and Purple battled to a 4-4 tie against Corona del Mar to

advance to the championship game.

In the first two rounds, Pretty and Purple earned two victories.

Crites, Natalie Argueta and Bianca Posey scored goals. Kimmy Ramser and

Claire Ramser contributed in the midfield while the defense of Maddy

Beck, Alex Griggs and goalkeeper Claire McElroy held opponents to two

goals.

In girls under-10 all-star action:

* Newport Beach Breakers earned a 2-0 win over Long Beach-Belmont

Shores to take third place in Gold Division of the Corona-Norco Pony

Express Tournament.

The Breakers suffered their first loss of the season to Fountain

Valley in a semifinal game. The Breakers placed first in their bracket to

advance to the semifinal game with wins over the Tustin Gold, Jurupa Gold

and Corona Norco.

Scoring goals in the tournament were Tina Theriot, Brianna Schwartz,

Elizabeth Eddy, Caroline Hardenbergh, McKenna Cottam and Zoya Farzaneh.

Marianne Jones, Terra Friedman, Kasey DeYoung, Kelly Heenan and Courtney

Francis dominated defensively for the Breakers (13-1-1).