Boys and Girls AYSO U11 Extras are West Section 1 Champions!

Santa Monica's AYSO Region 20 U11 Extra Boys and Girls BOTH become Section 1 Western League Champions!

The Santa Monica boys U11 Extra team, coached by Victor Komlos and Monti Khatod, played their hearts out in a hard fought 3-2 win over Beverly Hills this past Saturday evening to become the Section 1 Western League Champions. All playoff games were played in Pasadena at Arroyo Seco Parks.

Beverly Hills scored in the first few minutes of the Playoff Finals, but Santa Monica didn't let up for a minute. The motivated SM Extra boys quickly set up for the kick off, and collectively took control of the game, playing beautiful pass possession, controlled soccer like they've been working on all season.

Soon Gabriel Sherman kicks in a sweet goal, just past the BH goalie off a nice through ball assist by Khaelan Zeitlin, to tie the game, 1-1. BH gets another goal, but shortly afterwards, Gabriel Sherman scored again to tie the game 2-2. The Parents of both teams were all standing, nervously and excitedly cheering their boys on! With just a few minutes left in the game, Orlando Popkin of SM dribbles around two BH defenders and shoots right into the right corner of the goal to score……….GOAL! What a win for Santa Monica, who are now the Section 1 Western League Champions!

When I was posting this exciting news to my Facebook page, as were many other proud parents, I saw a posting that the girls U11 Extra Team, coached by Gary Berry, Anthony Kavanaugh and Katie O’brien, also won their playoff finals game, against Westchester. Go girls! I wasn’t able to get a “play-by-play” of the girl’s game, but congratulations to all of these hard-working young girls and boys for becoming Santa Monica Section 1 Western League Champions! Both of these teams now advance to the Section 1 Championships this March. Keep a lookout for them and let’s all wish them luck!