Gwinnett Soccer Association
"Where Champions Train"

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The GSA U16 Phoenix 85 Red Athena team became the first girls team from Georgia to win the US Youth Soccer National Championship.  This year's tournament was held in Indianapolis the week of July 23rd.  And no one was more pleased, or surprised, than head coach Ted Colburn.

"We could never have possibly dreamed of winning a national championship" Colburn said.  "Our goal as a team is to provide an environment where players can develop the talent to play Division 1 college soccer.  It just so happened that we were playing our best soccer at the right time this year."

GSA dominated the state and region tournament, outscoring their opponents 57-1 through 10 games.  

The wins earned the team a spot in the national competition.

During the state tournament in December, the girls defeated Augusta (7-0), Brookwood (6-0), Metro North (7-1), Cherokee (5-0) and Tophat (3-0).

At the region championships held in Memphis in June, GSA won against Arkansas (10-0), Louisiana (9-0), North Carolina (4-0), Oklahoma (5-0) and North Texas (1-0) in the final.

At Nationals, the girls came from behind in three of the games, including the final, which ended at 1-1 with GSA winning 4-2 on shots from the mark against the Southern California Blues.

Megan Tuura played in goal for the entire tournament until the last four minutes of the final, making numerous saves.  Austin Somers replaced her, as she is the team's primary penalty kick goalkeeper.

Colburn was impressed with Somers' short, albeit valuable stint in the tournament.

"She came up big, stopping two penalty kicks," Colburn said.  GSA's penalty kicks were scored by Paige Harwell, Monica Buff, Elizabeth Guess and Allison Harris.

To get to the semifinals, the girls beat the Chicago Eclipse 4-2 and the Southern California Blues 3-1.  They tied the HBC Fury from New York 3-3, making it to the final based on points.

Courtney Foster won the Golden Boot award for scoring the most goals in the tournament.

Foster scored three goals, as did her teammate Ashley Foster.  Amanda Garcia scored two goals, while Elizabeth Guess, Jessica Manting and Colleen Znosko each added one.

The team did have to face is share of adversity.  Ashley Foster played just 30 minutes in the final because of a badly sprained ankle and Amanda Garcia played the last 40 minutes of the final with a hyper-extended elbow.

"Our girls showed a lot of pride and personal courage," Colburn said.  "I tried to take Garcia out of the final, but she wouldn't let me.  Injuries were not going to keep these girls from playing."

Colburn noted several other keys to his team's success, including the organized defensive play of Allison Harris, Monica Buff, Candace Rivers and Ronda Brooks; the high work-rate and ball-winning capabilities of midfielders Shelly Hoddeson and Sara Geiger, the creativity of strikers Colleen Znosko, Courtney Foster and Ashley Foster, and the valuable minutes received from the teams reserves, Jessica Manting, Paige Harwell, Elizabeth Echols, Rosie O'Toole and Shauna Mueller.

Three big playmakers were Ronda Brooks, Amanda Garcia and Elizabeth Guess.

"Ronda Brooks made several big stops and big plays in our defense," Colburn said.  "And Amanda Garcia dominated the middle of the field.  Elizabeth Guess was our playmaker up top, creating several scoring changes for her teammates and herself."