The Mead Cup is the largest tournament in region 2 during the fall season. This year it had 524 total teams, 40 divisions, 7,950 players, 899 games, and 350 referees. The three day tournament weekend began on the drive to Dayton on Friday. The temperature gage on my car read 102 around 330pm as we drove into Cincinnati. We knew then that our games were going to be really hot on Saturday. We at least were scheduled to play at 8am and noon instead of late afternoon. Most of our players did not arrive to the hotel until late and unfortunately did not get into bed until late as well. Saturday morning came early with us facing our first opponent at 8am. We played against Metro FC Toledo. We came out pretty strong with lots of shots on goal but we had some trouble finishing. We controlled the ball pretty well and seemed to out play them most of the game but unfortunately tied 2-2. We knew with the tie we would have to win out the rest of our pool play games in order to make it to Monday's semi final round. The heat did not play a huge roll in the outcome but it was pretty hot by the end of our first game. We had a couple hrs to rest and change venue locations for our 2nd game at noon. By the start of our second game, the heat was really high so the tournament implemented mandatory water breaks during the rest of the games that day. We played against Blast FC in our second game. We came out and played really aggressive controlling the ball well. We got lots of shots and actually finished pretty well this game. Our defense on the ball was really good and did not allow our opponent to get many shots at all the entire game. We won the game 7-1. We were glad to get a huge break of over 24 hrs before our third game which was schedule at 2:45pm on Sunday. The girls enjoyed some good team bonding time at the hotel while playing ping pong, swimming, playing hotel tag, and playing some extreme indoor soccer pickup games in the huge hotel atrium. By the way, my team won the 4v4 tournament - Just Saying!! The rain came in during Saturday night and continued most of the day on Sunday. We were fortunate that at our game time it was barely sprinkling. We faced BSC Storm and won a close game 1-0! We knew we were facing a must win game to make it to Monday in the semi final game. I was extremely proud of the whole team effort to pull out that game. On Monday morning we played MV Rangers Premier in the semi final at 9:15am. I challenged the girls to play as aggressive as they could during the whole 60 minutes and if they did, they would have a really good shot at playing later that day in the finals of their first tournament together. The girls must have listened because they played really aggressive the whole game against a pretty physical team. We passed the ball well and maintained possession well throughout the game. Our defense was solid and our keeper play was strong the entire game. We scored 3 goals and only allowed 1 goal in the very last second of the game. With that win in the semi final 3-1, we secured our spot in the finals 1:30pm. We were set to face a team from Cleveland named Pennine White who had won all four of their games to make it to the final. I asked all the girls prior to the start of the championship game how many of them had won a select tournament and only three players raised their hands. I told them that if they played with intensity and played together as a team the way they have been training since the beginning of the summer right after we formed the team that there was no doubt in my mind that they would all win the championship of this tournament together. They came out and played very aggressive with intensity on the ball. They were solid on offense and defense the entire game. We got an early goal off a corner kick and it sparked the players from that point until the last whistle. They not only won the game they won it strong with a final score of 3-0! We shut the team out and recorded the second shutout of the tournament. The whole weekend was a huge success not because we won the tournament but because the players came together and played strong all weekend!! Even though they tied their first game, they battled every game they played. I am extremely proud of the whole team effort. Well done girls!!
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