Region 69 AYSO Boys and Girls 10U Squads Make their Community Proud at Section 1 Tournament
By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor
When the Pali FC Predators, an AYSO Region 69 Extra 10U girls squad, arrived at South Pasadena Middle School for the Section 1 West Circuit Playoffs last Saturday afternoon, they were ultimate underdogs. They left four and a half hours later with smiles on their faces, medals around their necks and satisfaction in knowing they will get to play more games.
“We were about a .500 team in the regular season and this is our first year together,” head coach Mark Jaffe said following a 3-0 defeat to Palos Verdes in the final. “We were seeded fourth out of four teams so to advance is pretty surprising.”
The Predators dressed only eight players for the seven-on-seven tournament (Blake Fassnacht is also on the roster but could not make it) yet stunned top-seeded Santa Monica 1-0 in the semifinals courtesy of a highlight reel goal by midfielder Nicole Sacks, who dribbled through a sea of defenders and blasted the ball into the upper right corner of the cage midway through the first quarter. Pressure by Catie Sterparn, Georgia Weinstock and Mila Zagalsky, stout defense by Kaela Jaffe and Lindy Hallman and clutch saves in goal by Nadine Jaffe (no relation to Kaela) and Presley Karsh stymied Santa Monica, which had defeated Palisades twice in league play, including a 2-1 win before Thanksgiving. Triathlon coach Rad Hallman is Jaffe’s assistant coach.
After a two-hour break in which they ate lunch and rested their weary legs the Predators were back on the field to try to upset second-seeded Palos Verdes, which had drawn its first game with the Predators and won the rematch to close the regular season. This time the game was scoreless until the final seconds of the third quarter when Palos Verdes broke through on a scramble in front of the net. PV tallied again midway through the fourth quarter and added an insurance goal two minutes later.
Still, Palisades’ reward for placing second is a berth in the Section 1 Playoffs March 4-5 at Rancho Jurupa Regional Sports Park in Jurupa Valley, where it will go up against East Circuit champion Rancho Cucamonga and runner-up Redlands. Turning 10 were Weinstock and Zagalsky, who celebrated by feasting on birthday cupcakes. It was a team “party” neither of them will forget.
That morning, Region 69’s Extra 10U boys team, called the Pali FC Warriors, was determined to keep its dream season alive versus a formidable Beverly Hills side and after 50 minutes of back and forth semifinal action Palisades found itself on the short end of a 3-2 result—a fitting way to conclude a remarkable turnaround season.
The Warriors struck first on Will Hill’s well-placed shot from beyond the 18-yard box in the first quarter.
Beverly Hills responded with two goals of its own to take a 2-1 lead in the third quarter, but Palisades equalized when Zach Haynie rippled the twine on a perfectly-timed cross from Remy Moore. Beverly Hills netted the winner with six minutes to go and managed to hang on.
Coached by Donald Moore and Meridith Hill, the talent-laden roster consisted of Hill, Haynie, Keller Jackson, Foster Badt, Sam Foster, Alec Saturn, Remy Moore, Jackson Moore, Ben Ahdoot, Yonah Finkelthal and Sina Naiem.
The Warriors entered the Section 1 competition fresh off winning the Santa Ynez Classic where they went 4-0 and outscored their opponents 26-6. Remy Moore had three goals, Hill and Saturn each had two and Haynie and Finkelthal added one apiece in a 9-0 shutout of Lompoc.
That was followed by an 8-0 victory over Paso Robles in which Jackson and Hill each scored twice and Naeim, Jackson Moore, Remy Moore and Ahdoot all added one.
The semifinal round pitted Palisades against San Luis Obispo and it took five goals by Hill for the Warriors to prevail 6-3 in double overtime, including the tying penalty kick late in regulation. Saturn scored the goal of the tournament on a flying volley off a corner kick to put Palisades up 4-3 in the first extra session and Hill padded the lead with two more goals. The final was just as dramatic as Pali FC edged Lompoc 4-3 in a shootout. Remy Moore had two goals, Hill the other in regulation.
True to their nickname, the Warriors battled to the last whistle Saturday, giving every ounce of energy and displaying good sportsmanship.
Afterwards, Coach Moore gathered his players together, thanked them for their effort and reminded them how far they have come in 12 months.
“I could not be more proud… we outshot them by a lot, we just missed on a few chances and that’s soccer,” said Moore, who also piloted the PPBA 9U All-Stars (nicknamed “The “Nachos”) to the Pony Zone playoffs last summer—a team that featured his twin boys, Badt, Foster and Hill. “We were 1-13 last year and here we are with as many wins as we had losses a year ago. That’s incredible! We didn’t lose today… we learned.”
With that, they took off their shin guards and cleats and headed home to the Palisades for basketball games at the Rec Center. The Warriors finished the fall season with a ledger of 13 wins, four losses, two draws.
Meanwhile, local All-Star teams in the 10U and 12U boys and 10U, 12U and 14U girls divisions all lost in the quarterfinals of the Area 1-P playoffs. Area 1-P is comprised of 10 regions: 69 (Palisades/Brentwood); 19 (Culver City/Palms); 20 (Santa Monica/Venice); 70 (West Los Angeles); 76 (Beverly Hills/Bel Air); 78 (Hollywood/Wilshire); 1031 (South Los Angeles); 1567 (Los Feliz); 1595 (Watts); and 1647 (West Adams).
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