Give It Your Best and Believe In Yourself

What was your family doing over the Memorial Day weekend? Were you relaxing at the beach or taking in a movie before a big BBQ?

Maybe you were discussing the World Cup with some neighbors.

Well, a group of standout soccer players from the South Bay traveled to Oregon to test themselves against some of the best competition in the country at the prestigious Manchester Untied Premier Cup at the Nike Campus in Beaverton.

Only teams deemed to be among the Top 20 in the country in their age groups were invited to the tournament – a group that included the Beach Futbol Club's Girls G95 team, which is coached by Shelly Marsden, the Redondo Union High girls soccer coach.

"I started with some of them at Under 9 and then took over the team at U12,'' Marsden said. ''This tournament at Nike is a big deal with only the top 20 boys and girls U14 teams in the country being invited. What matters is the type of year you have in U13.

''Nike asked us to apply after we went to the National Cup finals, where we lost on PK's. We also went to the Blue's Cup, another prestigious national tournament where we lost in the finals in overtime. So for the two biggest tournaments in the country for U13, we really established ourselves."

Just gaining an invitation to the tournament is a big accomplishment — when you think of how many soccer teams there are in the United States, how good do you have to be to be in the top 20 in your age group? But what these girls did on the field was truly amazing. The Beach Futbol Club team recorded victories over Lake Oswego, Ore., 2-0, and then beat Crossfire Premier from Redmond, Wash., by the same score 2-0.

Once out of pool play they played the perennial powerhouse Alta Loma Arsenal FC in a defensive battle that was scoreless at the end of regulation. They fought kick for kick until losing the quarterfinal match on a goal on Arsenal's fifth penalty kick.

They ended up finishing in eighth place and it was a trip they will never forget. To top it off, Kimby Keever from Manhattan Beach scored four goals and won the Golden Boot Award as the top scoring player in the tournament.

Redondo Beach had five girls on this powerhouse soccer team — Megan Perkins, Katrina Cohen, Janel DeCurtis, Erin Guernsey and Shannon Simon.

Simon is one of the team captains and said the trip to the Nike campus is one she will always remember. "Going up to Portland was actually a really good experience because as a team we got to bond,'' she said. ''We were in a different area and it's really green up there with all of the big trees. It was really interesting to see the other teams play."

Cohen, who plays center mid for Beach FC, agreed. "Seeing all of the different players and how good all of the teams are was really amazing," she said.

Cohen and Simon will be playing soccer at Redondo High next year and they are looking forward to playing against Keever when Redondo plays Mira Costa the next four years.

"We'll make sure we mark Kimby all over the field. She's really good," Cohen said.

Simon was a little more direct. "We'll stomp them," she said.

Cohen had an outstanding year at St. Lawrence Martyr School. Before her trip to Oregon, Cohen was named to the All-Catholic Youth Organization teams in soccer and softball. For this fantastic accomplishment she was also awarded the CYO Female Athlete of the Year at a ceremony at Dodger Stadium.

Cohen has a great philosophy for young athletes to follow. ''Always give it your best and believe in yourself," she said.