Silver & Black takes gold

In a follow-up to its first tournament of the 2008 AYSO soccer season, the Silver & Black Attack, a girls’ Under-8 division team from Region 56, went all the way and won its division championship at the 26th annual Rich Bailey Girl Scout Tournament in Anaheim Jan. 12-13.

The squad had claimed third-place at the Long Beach Mayor’s Cup tournament. The Silver & Black Attack won the crown in Anaheim by going undefeated (3-0-1).

Behind the outstanding play in goal by keepers Casey Sommer and Michael Guptill, they allowed just one goal in four tournament games.

In their tournament opener Saturday, the Silver & Black Attack spotted Blue Crush a 1-0 lead but rallied in the final minute of play to score the tying goal, which came when Mikayla Edwards found an open Jessica Ruggiero who got her shot past the Blue Crush keeper, leaving the teams in a 1-1 final.

In their second game Saturday, Lindsay Heckman scored the only goal of the match as the Silver & Black Attack edged the Express.

The Sunday morning game found the Silver & Black Attack in a must-win situation in order to reach the championship game. Behind a defense of Kayla Herbert, Chloe Genova and Nicole Jacobs, they shut out the Wolves, 2-0 behind the two-goal scoring of Edwards. In Sunday’s championship final, the Silver & Black Attack faced a rematch with the Blue Crush. This time, it was all Silver & Black.

Edwards set up the first score of the match when she drove the left side of the field and centered a pass to Ruggiero, who sent a shot into the back of the net just 1:30 into the game. Later in the half, Gretchen Kirkreit scored to make it 2-0, and that score stood to give them the title.