The FC Salmon Creek Nemesis girls soccer team won the Northwest Champions League under-13 division championship on Sunday, beating a Gresham, Ore., team in a penalty-kick tiebreaker.
The Nemesis beat the Eastside Timbers 3-2 in the penalty-kick shootout after the teams played to a 1-1 draw in Sunday’s final.
The Nemesis reached Sunday’s match by winning a penalty-kick shootout over an Idaho team in Saturday’s semifinals. The games were played at Marymoor Park in Redmond, Wash.
“They have just really developed and grown and become such a quality team,” Nemesis coach Tina Ellertson said. “I’m just so proud of how well they’ve done.”
Goalkeeper Hallie Byzewski came up big in both weekend games, Ellertson said.
In the championship match, Isabella Serrano put FC Salmon Creek up 1-0 on a play that started from a corner kick. Mackenzie Ellertson passed the ball back to Serrano for the shot.
Callie Rheaume, Savannah Harshbarger and Sydney Weber made penalty kicks for the Nemesis in the tiebreaker.
The Northwest Champions League is a 16-team tournament that brings together top teams from Washington, Oregon, Idaho and British Columbia. This is the first NCL championship for a team from FC Salmon Creek.
In Saturday’s semifinal, FC Salmon Creek defeated FC Nova Grey of Boise. The teams played to a 2-2 draw before the Nemesis prevailed 4-3 in the shootout.
Madison Kemp scored twice in the first half to give the Nemesis a 2-0 lead. The Boise team scored twice in the second half.
Rheaume, Harshbarger, Kemp and Weber made penalty kicks. FC Nova hit crossbar once, and Byzewski made one save in that shootout.
The Nemesis players were: Ava Benedetti, Byzewski, Allison Corral, Sydney Dodge, Avery Fairbrother, Mackenzie Ellertson, Harshbarger, Kemp, Serrano, Lucy Mohammadi, Malaika Quigley, Rheaume, Remington Riley, Ally Turkington and Weber.
Coach Tina Ellertson was assisted by her father Joe Frimpong and sister Crystal Frimpong. They coached the first round of tournament games in August while Tina Ellertson was playing for the Portland Thorns FC in the National Women’s Soccer League championship match.
This title qualifies the Nemesis for the 2014 Surf Cup tournament in San Diego. The team also went unbeaten in the Oregon Premier League next and summer will represent the OPL at a national tournament in North Carolina.
Area teams reach recreation soccer semifinals
Nine recreational youth soccer teams from southwest Washington have reached the final weekend of the Sports Authority Washington Youth Soccer Recreation Cup tournament.
Semifinal and final games for Washington’s recreation-level soccer state tournament will be played on Saturday and Sunday at the Starfire Complex in Tukwila.
Most teams qualified by winning quarterfinal matches played Saturday.
Boys teams from Clark County in the semifinals are the Camas-Washougal Giants (under 11), the Vancouver Westside FC United (under 14), the Vancouver Westside Dragons (under 16) and the Vancouver Westside Millennium (under 19).
Girls teams from Clark County in the semifinals are the Vancouver United Screamers (under 11), the Vancouver Westside Dynamite (under 14), the Vancouver United Blue Storm (under 15), the Pacific Tigers (under 16) and the Vancouver Westside Pumas (under 19).
Quarterfinals scores for area teams are in the Community Sports Scoreboard.
Ugly Sweater runs draw 75 to Ridgefield
John Varner of Vancouver won the 10-kilometer Ridgefield Holiday Ugly Christmas Sweater Run on Saturday. The 48-year-old finished in 41 minutes and 35 seconds.
Kyle McCartney (21:27) edged Kevin McCartney (21:31) to win the 5-kilometer race. The 15-year-olds are from Vancouver.
A total of 54 runners completed the 5-kilometer course, and 25 finished the 10-K. See the Community Sports Scoreboard for results.
Prep hockey team wins again
Team Gaustad beat Team Deadmarsh 3-1 on Sunday in a Winterhawks Varsity Hockey game.
Alex Kasper (Mountain View High School), August Komlofske (Heritage) and Alex Stoneham (Union) had assists for Team Gaustad. Team Gaustad has players from Southwest Washington and north Portland in the high school hockey league that plays at the Winterhawks Skating Center in Beaverton.
Glenwood Little League registration opens
Online registration for Glenwood Little League’s spring 2014 season opens Tuesday.
Any boy who is age 5 by April 30, 2014 and any girls who is 5 by Dec. 31 can play Little League.
To register, or to learn more about Glenwood Little League including the league boundary, visit www.glenwoodlittleleague.org.
The league will hold an in-person registration 6-8 p.m. on Jan. 14 at the New Traditions Building, 11815 NE 113th St., No. 110.
Later this month, The Columbian will publish a list of area Little League registration opportunities. League representatives may submit their information by sending an e-mail to paul.danzer@columbian.com.
