Santee Girls AYSO Soccer to Represent East County in So Cal Tournament

By John Velasquez

Santee All-Stars Soccer Girls 14-U defeated Lakeside All-Stars and move on to represent East County at Garden Grove for the Southern California AYSO Tournament this presidents weekend.

The team led by coach Nathan Vail and Asst. Coach David Breidt started off by entering the team in the New Years Round Up so the girls could get to know each other and to size up the competition. The girls took first place in the Round Up and knew they would see Lakeside at some point during the East County Section 11 Tournament.

El Cajon was the first challenge that Santee faced winning 4-0. The Lakeside team was next and surprised Santee by scoring three goals in the first half. Coach Vail gave the team a pep talk and Santee came back strong both offensively and defensively scoring the tying goal in the last minutes of the game keeping Santee in the hunt for the finals.

The was next and in first place at that time, Santee scored the first and only goal of the game, although a handball call (in the goalie box) during the final minutes of the game gave the girls a scare, but the goalie came up big blocking the penalty shot propelling Santee into the Semi-finals.

Santee faced La Mesa again in the semi-finals defeating them 2-0, while Lakeside took care of business on their end setting up the final game. Santee scored first and were up 3-0 by the half. Coach Vail reminded the girls of the adversity they overcame against Lakeside and that they would be coming out strong in the next half. But, Santee didn’t look back and finished the game with two more goals winning 5-0.

Good luck this weekend Santee All-Stars!