newsminer.com

The Eclipse 92 completed a most amazing sweep at the USA Cup youth soccer tournaments on Saturday.

The girls 16U squad posted a pair of exciting victories on Saturday to claim the championship trophy, giving them a sweep of the two USA Cup tournaments that they competed in during the past 10 days in Blaine, Minn.

The team opened their trip by winning the USA Weekend Cup in impressive fashion.

Both of Saturday’s wins were by the slimmest of margins — 2-1.

The Eclipse opened the day’s play defeating Newmarket United of Ontario on penalty kicks to advance to the championship game against the Twin Cities Fire.

In the title contest, the Eclipse scored late in regulation to tie the game at 1-1, then scored again in overtime to claim the crown.

“What a day,” Eclipse coach Bruce Gard said in an e-mail to the News-Miner late Saturday evening. “Both championships are ours. We’re still taking it all in.”

Players on the championship team are Christin Davis, Allyse Eide, Kacy Gilbert-Gard, Josephine Halvarson, Kimberly Hingst, Anita Holladay, Katie Hovda, Kaitlyn Evans, Zoe Kurth, Natalie Nickle, Lilia Hernandez, Jenna Powers, Mildred Elizabeth Rogers, Marissa Rorabaugh, Jaime Sawchuk, Shelby Solomon and Sloan Solomon.

The championship game was an adventure in itself.

After playing the first five minutes, the game was delayed three hours because of rain and a tornado watch.

When play resumed, the TC Fire scored its goal in the first half to set the stage for the Eclipse’s second dramatic comeback of the day.

With 1:30 remaining in the game, Rorabaugh followed a cross from Holladay into the net to tie the game and set up two 5-minute overtime sessions.

With three minutes left in the second overtime, Hovda cleaned up a ball inside the box for the game-winning goal. Hovda wound up scoring the team’s first and last goals of the tournament.

“What’s so true about soccer is that it is a team game, and no team can win without working together toward a common goal,” Gard said. “This team had the focus and determination to get the job done and never showed any signs of cracking.”

In the semifinals, the Eclipse rallied to tie Ontario 1-1.

“We dominated the two overtime periods but couldn’t find the back of the net,” Gard said.

Rogers, Kurth, Holladay, Powers and Shelby Solomon were all successful on their kicks, while one Ontario player missed.

“What a dramatic way to advance,” Gard said.

It was just the start to a very dramatic day.