Wednesday, February 13, 2002
|
Wednesday, February 13, 2002 |
|
Lightning teams capture state titles By MICHAEL
BOYLAN
The AFC Lightning 84 Gold boys team and the Lightning 84 White girs team recently captured state titles. The boys won the 2002 Boy's U18 Georgia Snickers State Cup and the girls won the U18 Georgia Soccer Championship. The boys went 5-0 during the cup run defeating United Quest 6-0, Concorde 9-0 and GSA Phoenix 3-2. In the semifinal against Columbus, Lightning was down by three goals with 21 minutes to play. The team scored four times to make it to the final. Lightning faced Stone Mountain Storm in the final and won 3-2 in penalty kicks. After a scoreless first half, Stone Mountain took a 1-0 lead 10 minutes into the second half. Lightning equalized 10 minutes later when Ben Link scored off of a Warren Ukah and Omar Jarun assist. Link was involved in another goal 10 minutes later assisting a goal by Kevin Erickson. Stone Mountain tied the game with a minute remaining. Te shootout went 19 rounds before the Lightning stopped Stone Mountain, capturing their second state title in three years. The AFC Lightning 84 White team outscored their ooponents 22-0 in the first weekend of round robin play. They defeated United Quest 83 Red 11-0, 84 Peachtree City Lazers 8-0 and Metro North Metros 4-0. The final game pitted them against the Tophat 02 Gold Team. The team did all of this with two players missing. Allison graham was training with the U19 US national Team and Amy Steadman was out due to injury. Kristin Stewart scored twice in the first half. April Siuda assited on the first goal and Dana Van Winkle assisted on the second. Tophat scored towrads the end of the first half and again in the second to tie the game and force overtime. In overtime, Tabitha Lowey scored off of a cross from Stewart and melanie Schneider scored off of a Van Winkle assist. The Lightning will play in the Region III tournament in North Little Rock, Arkansas this summer, facing champions from 10 other southern states. Region champions play in the nationals in Bethesda, Maryland in July.
|
