In the soccer world Vancouver has been looked over, well not this year! This past weekend there were several teams representing the Vancouver area for the WSYSA Challenge State Cup semi finals and finals. One of those teams was the FCSC Nemesis 96 GU13 girl’s team. They came to Seattle for one reason, to win the state title, and that they did!
The girls battled through a tough season, training hard all year for the state cup. On Saturday in the Semi finals they faced a tough Emerald City FC team that thought they had the game in the bag. After a quick goal by ECFC, the Nemesis buckled down for a great 3-1 victory. The goals were scored by Megan Bissell, Olivia Haveman, and Shyla Edwards. A great defensive effort led to confusion and frustration for the ECFC team.
On Sunday afternoon the Nemesis faced a great team from Spokane who came from a come back win the day before. The girls were fired up and ready to win the title. The first whistle blew and the game began. It was kind of like an arm wrestling match going back and forth. Nemesis struck first with a great goal by Olivia Haveman, shooting right past the keeper. Spokane came back quick with a great shot outside the eighteen to tie the game. The first half ended in a tie, but the Nemesis girls were not done. The second half proved to be a battle and when the final whistle blew it was still 1-1. The girls were tired, but knew they could do it. The first ten minutes of overtime produced no goals, still tied 1-1. The whistle blew to start the second half of over time, ten minutes to score a goal and hold on. Five minutes into the second overtime, great hustle by our forwards Mckenna Harshbarger and Olivia Haveman produced another goal by Olivia assisted by Megan Bissell. With five minutes to go Spokane went into hustle mode and took many shots to try to tie the game. Nemesis keeper Mari Chopp came up HUGE the last minute of the game as well as our tough as nails defense to preserve the victory. When the final whistle blew, all seventeen members of the Nemesis 96 team rushed the field (as well as their coaches) to celebrate. This was a huge victory for FCSC Nemesis 96 and also a huge victory for Vancouver soccer.
The team is comprised of players scattered around Vancouver, they include: Mari Chopp ©, Rilee Helsel ©, Kelsey Campanelli ©, Megan Bissell, Haley Briggs, Sarah Cash, Shyla Edwards, Meagan Forsman, Sarah Furth, Julia Green, McKenna Harshbarger, Olivia Haveman, Paula Hoover, Madison King, Abbi Ness, Casey Sorenson, and Shelby Yackley. Head coach Katie Tyrrell, assistant coaches Tom Briggs and Jon Bissell. A big thank you also to our team manager Heidi Furth and all the wonderful parents!
