Dateline:  Sunday, April 20, 2008 Columbia

 The 98 Boys Red captured the U09 State Title this weekend.  After a slow start falling behind two goals early in the first match against oneof the strongest teams in the division, the Boys settled down and ran up a 4 to 1 goal differential to post a 7-3 win against Columbia United FC Red.  With the throttle on cruise the boys won the second match 8-1 against the Aiken Panthers, followed by a 2-1 victory over Columbia United FC White.  The finals drew a rematch with Columbia United FC White.  Both teams fought hard and were in the game the entire match.  The 98Boys captured the title with a 2:1 result.

The teams of the U12 Academy Girls division appeared to be the very evenly matched.  The 95 Girls’ first two matches each ended in a draw.  The third match would decide if the finals were in the cards.  Both teams fought hard.  Summerville posted the first score.  Temperance Russell answered with the equalizer from a breakaway early in the second half.  Summerville followed with a crossing goal near the baseline that just edged past the goalie at the near post, moving ahead 2-1.  With approximately twelve minutes left Coach Howie pushed Nicole Meyers up top with Temperance to try to score, leaving Emily MacNear and Company t to deal with Summerville’s attack.   Emily, along with Francesca Tolatta and Megan Hurn did a superb job neutralizing the attack.  The match ended 2-1 with Summerville moving on to the finals.

The 95 Boys Red rose to the standard in the U12 Division posting a 9-0 result against the Columbia United FC Boys.   However, the second match was different.  The Boys were just not on their game, but managed a 2-1 lackluster victory against BCU Academy White.   The third and final match against BCU Academy Goal ended in a 1-1 draw.  While both teams ended their group with 2-0-1 results, BCU Goal advanced to the finals on points and won the title.