OPL Teams Win On National Stage - Oregon Premier League

OPL Teams Win On National Stage

BOISE, Id., SAN DIEGO, Ca. -- Three teams representing three clubs in the Oregon Premier League won championships at two different events, gaining entry as winners of the OPL State Cup or Northwest Champions League.

The BU15 Westside Metros Galacticos, qualifiers as winners of the OPL State Cup, won the Super Group running away, after a close opening round win over Ironbound SC out of New Jersey. The Galacticos hung on for a 3-2 win that day, going on to win 6-1 and 6-0 in the remaining group play. They were then able to dispatch another OPL club, the ESUFC Pumas, winning the semi-final 4-0, before earning their National Champions medals with a 3-1 victory over Almaden out of Cal North.

FC Portland’s GU13 Navy team, after qualifying via the USCS Regional in Seattle at the end of June, entered the GU13 Premier group and earned a comfortable 2-0 win on the touranment’s opening day over Snohomish United out of the Seattle area. They would go on to earn a 1-1 tie and a 2-1 win to advance to the tournament Finals, where they held on for a 2-1 win over Galacticas FC, the team they had tied 1-1 in group play.

Wrapping up USCS Nationals, a host of other OPL teams, most qualifiers as OPL State Cup Champions competed well against their counterparts from around the country and represented Oregon well, but came up short against some very talented teams from around the country.

Meanwhile, down in San Diego the GU15 OSSA 95 Blue, GU16 THUSC Ireland, and GU17 OSSA 93 Blue earned berths to the Surf Cup as winners of the Northwest Champions League. Also joining them were the GU15 THUSC Sodium and the GU17 Westside Metros Fury.

WSM and OSSA both played well enough during the group stages, each reaching the semifinals; OSSA fell 2-3 to Cal Odyssey, while on the next field over WSM had their hands full with a very good Maui United squad, and earned a hard-fought 1-0 win. In the final, the Fury came up just short, losing 1-0 to the Odyssey team.

The GU16 THUSC squad entered the tournament full of promise, but struggled a bit in group play earning a 1-1-1 record which didn’t advance them.

With two great OPL teams in the U15 OSSA 95 Blue and THUSC Sodium, the GU16 Gold group was a great series of games indeed. THUSC went 2-1 in pool play, their only loss coming on the last game of group play to Tophat out of Georgia, to advance to the semis; meanwhile OSSA had an average run in pool play with a 1-2 record, advancing to the semifinals based on goal differential. THUSC and OSSA met in the semis, a rematch of the OPL State Cup Championship only two months prior. OSSA bounced back from their poor run of form in group play to beat THUSC 3-0, advancing to the finals against Eastside FC, from Washington. OSSA continued their good form in the championship, earning a 2-0 win over the same Eastside team they lost to in group play.