The St. Louis Scott Gallagher IL Premier girls battled to the end but fell a bit short, losing 2-0 to the NSA Premier Fury of Illinois Sunday morning in the Under-17 title match at the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships in Phoenix.
“We gave it our best; the girls played hard and they played well,’’ SLSG coach Tony Schmitt said. “Each team had good chances and NSA managed to put a couple of theirs away. It’s obviously not the result we were hoping for, but sometimes all you can do is tip your hat toward your opponent. They have a great team and they deserve to be national champions.’’
The Fury received goals from Zoe Swift in the 34th minute and from Corinne Harris in the 56th.
“Nicole Breece (Parkway South) was dangerous on a free kick and we had a couple of other balls that pinged around the box, just waiting for somebody to get a foot on,’’ Schmitt recalled. “At this level, you have to be good, but you also need a bounce or two to go your way. We never did get the bounce we needed.
“But I don’t want to take anything away from NSA. They put a couple of shots away and they were the better team.’’
Still, Schmitt could not be any prouder of his squad. The team, which includes some of the top high school seniors-to-be from the region, bounced back from Wednesday’s 6-0 drubbing to rally past the So Cal Blues of California 2-1 on a goal from Jenn Miller (Cor Jesu Academy) in the 90th minute and then knocked off the FC Pennsylvania Strikers 1-0 on a Breece first-half goal to earn a spot in the Sunday’s title match.
“It hurts to get that close to a national title and not win it, but we have nothing to feel bad about,’’ Schmitt said. “We fought through injuries _ we lost (defender) Haley Albert (Eureka) to an ACL injury a week before we got here _ and illness and some other adversity, but we still somehow found a way to get to the championship game.
“One of the things we pride ourselves on is being prepared mentally, physically and emotionally for every game. If that’s the case, and it definitely was for us today, win or lose, you can walk away from the field knowing that you did the best you could.
“As a coach, I couldn’t ask anything more of these young ladies.’’
After a few weeks of much-needed rest, Schmitt and his squad will start working for next season. The 2012 U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships will be played in Rock Hill, South Carolina.
“That’s clearly the goal,’’ Schmitt said. “It won’t be easy, but I know these girls and I know how much they enjoy being challenged.’’
