Boca Jrs Academy Girls Sparkle in Northwest Showcase

TACOMA, WA --- Last weekend the Boca Jrs Girls U18 team participated in the Northwest Showcase held in Tacoma, Washington.  In spite of having had only a couple of practices since the recent tryouts, the team performed very well and won all three of their games.  The Showcase is sponsored by adidas, the new equipment supplier and partner with Capital Athletic Soccer Academy.  In addition to strong competition in a beautiful setting with excellent fields, the event also includes seminars held at the Tacoma Convention Center designed to assist the youngsters with the process of making informed choices of colleges to attend after graduating from high school.  There were also sessions on sports psychology and dealing with the cost of college. 

On the field the Boca team took no time to click and played an attractive and creative brand of soccer.  They played against a very good Croossfire team from Washington first and won 2-1.  The next game was against the formidable FC Portland Sapphire.  For the first few minutes it looked like the FC Portland team would dominate the game and then after a solid defensive stand the Boca team went on a classic counterattacking run with five one touch passes that found Brynne Konkel in possession at the wing.  She received the ball, beat one defender and crossed it to Emily Hay who chested the ball into the goal.  Boca then took over the game and played with a great deal of confidence and ended up winning the game 2-1 with Brandi Vega scoring the second game an a great individual effort.  The third game against Les Boise from Idaho was less artistic but Boca persevered and won 1-0 and showed a great deal of patience and maturity in a rough and poorly officiated match.  Myia Williams and Erin Rost took turns in goal and played well with exceptional distribution out of the back that allowed us to play a possession game.  The defense played great the whole weekend with Sierra Casas, Rachel Rodman, Alli Kelly and Alex Del Agua holding fort and assisted by Courtney Strombeck and Jen Ericsson as needed.  At center midfield we had excellent play from Danielle Lovato, Crystal Romero and Courtney Strombeck. The wings were held by Jen Ericsson, Briana Scales and Rachel Mercik.  Rachel Mercik had just returned from National U17 camp and attracted some special attention from the FC Portland team but did her usual impressive play at the wing along with Jen Ericsson and Briana Scales.  Danielle Lovato also pitched in on the wing in addition to her excellent play at center midfield.  At forward Brandi Vega, Emily Hay and Brynne Konkel were very impressive and dynamic.  They looked like they had played together for a long time regardless of which pair was in the game.  Brandi Vega also played well at center midfield when needed. The forwards were very effective in putting defensive pressure on the opponents in addition to effective attacking play.  Alexia Poon, Elle porter and Kelsey Costan did not participate due to injury but are getting close to getting healthy and ready!

The Boca team received a great deal of attention from college coaches who seemed to completely ring the field whenever Boca played.  After the event numerous coaches spoke with the coaching staff and have e-mailed and called inquiring about our players and hoping to get them interested in their colleges.  This was a very productive event for the team.  This weekend, our boys Boca Jrs Academy team will be attending the boys’ version of the Showcase of Champions in Tacoma.