U7 Girls are 3v3 Runner-Up National Champions!!

The Alliance U-7 girls participated in the winter nationals this past weekend in Austin. Despite the cold and rainy conditions, Alliance held true to form and took second place in the 3v3 competition. The tournament was by invitation only, meaning that you had to qualify for the event by placing in one of the regional tournaments in 2010, and fielded some of the best teams from across America.

Alliance was placed in a tough bracket to begin the tournament, and narrowly advanced out of the qualifying round on goal differential, thanks to a late goal with 10 seconds left in the last qualifying match. The excitement continued as Alliance defeated a good Dallas team 3-2 in the semi-finals, who advanced out of their qualifying bracket as the number one seed with an average 8-goal margin against the opposition. The game was fast-paced, but in the end, Alliance's defense kept their offense in check and came out on top. In the finals, Alliance played a team from Frisco, started slow, and fell behind 3-0. However, in the second half, the defense held solid and the offense kicked in to close the gap to 3-2. Alliance was pressing hard and had several good opportunities to tie it up. However, Frisco sealed the win with a late break away goal with under 1 minute to play.

Congratulations to the Alliance girls team; Nicolle Valle, Kate Castaneda, Ava Shannon, and Danielle Shannon.