Slammers play for title today

Most teams headed for the Snickers U.S. youth soccer national

championships prepare with limited, intense training sessions and

rest to keep their players fresh.

The Slammers FC under-14 girls from Newport Beach have taken a

different path this year with a 16-day, 12,000-mile journey that they

hope ends with two gold medals hanging from their necks.

The Slammers opened play Wednesday at the Maryland SoccerPlex in

Germantown, Md., with a hard-fought 3-2 win against Eclipse

(Libertyville, Ill.) Select, then defeated Tophat ’07 Gold from

Georgia, 3-0, on Thursday, setting up today’s title match against

Pennsylvania’s FC Delco Fusion.

The Slammers were fresh from last week winning their age group at

the Gothia Cup in Gothenburg, Sweden, one of the world’s largest

youth soccer tournaments with nearly 1,400 teams from 55 nations

participating.

Teams normally would not travel abroad so close to the national

championships, but it was an invitation that the Slammers said they

could not decline. Prior to their victorious run at the Far West

regional in Honolulu last month, they had won the Manchester United

Premier Cup in May. That earned them a trip to the Gothia Cup

sponsored by Nike, and the team left Southern California for Sweden

on July 12. They arrived in Maryland on Sunday and don’t expect to go

home until after today’s national championship final at 8 a.m.

“I give these girls a lot of credit,” Slammers coach Walid Khoury

said. “They are handling it pretty well. This has been a long trip

already, but it was a lifetime opportunity and we took advantage of

it.”

The Slammers know they are facing stiffer competition this week

than they did in Sweden. In eight games, they did not allow a goal

while scoring 52, defeating Tillberga IK of Sweden, 2-0, in the

championship game. While the soccer wasn’t top-flight, the team did

enjoy the tournament’s atmosphere, which included a crowd of 41,000

fans for the opening ceremonies and nearly 4,000 games.

“It was one of the best experiences ever with the opening

ceremonies and playing teams from different countries,” said

lightning-fast forward Mo Press, who scored two goals against Eclipse

Select. “Every country plays their own style of game, and it was cool

to see it.”

With a group of young players, missing the comforts of home could

be expected. Khoury said the worst part for girls during their stay

in Sweden was the food, and many of the players have not seen their

families since they left home.

“It’s actually really hard,” Press said. “I’ve had my whole family

here, but some of the girls don’t and they’ve been homesick the whole

time.”

Yet they want to follow the footsteps of last year’s Slammers

under-14 team, which came here and won the club’s first national

title. They are considered by most observers to be the strongest team

here. It’s just a question of whether they can hold up for three more

games.

“We’ve got to show up like champions, and I think they will do

it,” Khoury said. “That is a great, great team that we played today,

and our kids found a way to win.”

Two Newport Beach residents, Taylor Fallon and Jacqueline Zinke,

play for the Slammers. Fallon will be a sophomore at Corona del Mar

High in September, while Zinke will be a freshman at Mater Dei.