Club soccer: Northwest Soccer Academy wins state, starts quest for next title

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May 22, 2012

Club soccer: Northwest Soccer Academy wins state, starts quest for next title

By Chris Whitfield chriswhitfield@daltoncitizen.com The Dalton Daily Citizen Tue May 22, 2012, 08:05 AM EDT

This past Saturday, the Belles won the U-17 Georgia President’s Cup, beating the Bartow Youth Soccer Association Galaxy 1-0 on a first-half goal from Courtney Bell, who plays high school soccer for Heritage-Catoosa.

With the win, the Belles will represent the Peach State at the United States Youth Soccer Association’s Region 3 championships scheduled for June 7 to 10 in Greensboro, N.C. The region champion will move on to compete at the USYSA National President’s Cup during July in Sacremento, Calif.

It is a big step forward for a program that started with coach John-Eric Bolger and a handful of players four years ago. In terms of club soccer, the team is still in its infancy, but that doesn’t mean the talent level isn’t there, Bolger said.

“It has been an ongoing process to build it up,” he said. “They are a great group of kids, and the for the last 12 months, we have had a club team that can play with just about anyone in the state of Georgia as well being able to go throughout the Southeast and be highly competitive.”

The Belles include players from several local high schools — Dalton (Alejandra Salaises and Alondra Salaises), Northwest Whitfield (Selena Gomez, Paige Smyth, Vanessa Vega, Andrea Garcia, Juliana Gomez and Jessica Romero), Southeast Whitfield (Diana Sandate and Andrea Lopez) and New Hope Middle (Nancy Paz). Other team members are from Calhoun, Heritage, Peachtree Ridge, Ringgold, Chattanooga’s Girls Preparatory School, Community (Unionville, Tenn.) and Alabama’s Fort Payne.

Competition in the President’s Cup is the second-highest level in USYSA. Elite-level teams play in the Champions Cup. The victory in Saturday’s finals marked the first state girls championship for the Northwest Soccer Academy.

Played over the past two weekends at McCurry Park in Fayetteville, the Georgia President’s Cup saw the Belles open the tournament with a 6-0 win over the Cobb YMCA Strikers Blue on May 12. Later that same day, the Belles beat the Galaxy 3-2 in the round-robin portion of the event. In the semifinals on May 13, the Belles beat Kennesaw FC 95 Gold, 1-0. Through the tournament, the Belles outscored their opponents 10-2.

In the finale, Bell’s first half goal held up thanks in large part to the team’s defensive efforts after a couple of chances to put the game out of reach slipped away.

“I felt like we played pretty good in the first half, but the second half was a little hectic,” said Smyth, a center back defender who will be a senior at Northwest next school year. “It was pretty tough, especially in the last 10 minutes when Bartow really pressed and attacked hard.”

Now, the team will head to Greensboro and face the champions from north Texas, south Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina.

“You will have teams coming from major metropolitan areas,” Bolger said of the regional. “I suspect that we will match up favorably with most of the teams given the quality of players we have. We will be at a disadvantage in terms of overall experience in the club soccer. There will be players from all of these teams that will be playing college soccer.”

Still, while the Belles may not have experience in major tournaments, Smyth said she was excited to get the chance to start gaining that experience.

“I think we will see some pretty good teams, but I am nervous because we don’t know what to expect,” she said.

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Club soccer: Northwest Soccer Academy wins state, starts quest for next title

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