The Pali Storm, a local AYSO girls’ U12 All-Star team, ended its remarkable season by capturing its third and fourth consecutive championships at the Orange County Spring Classic in Irvine May 22-23 and the Santa Barbara Splash last weekend at UC Santa Barbara, two of the largest tournaments in Southern California. In Irvine, the Storm easily won their pool by beating North Irvine 5-1, Tustin 5-0 and South Ontario 6-1. In the finals, Palisades met Costa Mesa, which jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first quarter. Still trailing 5-2 after three quarters, the Storm went on the attack and scored three goals, the last one tying the score with two minutes remaining in regulation. In overtime, the Storm continued to attack and scored twice more for a hard-earned 7-5 victory. In Santa Barbara, Palisades once again dominated its pool with shutout victories over Camarillo (7-0), Malibu (2-0) and Lompoc (4-0). In the finals, the Storm faced Diamond Bar and again found themselves trailing late. Pali continued the pressure, scoring to tie it with less than 10 minutes left, then tallying the winner with 90 seconds remaining. The win marked the Storm’s 18th straight to end the season. “They faced tremendous adversity these two past tournaments and handled it like true champions,” Coach Scot Vorse said. “You could see by the girls’ attitude and body language in both finals that they were not going to give up. I was most proud of their maturity, calmness and confidence in each other. It was great to see the pride the girls had in themselves after both these championship games, knowing they had faced tough challenges and conquered them as a team.” Racking up more than 50 wins this season, the Storm stamped themselves as one of the area’s best teams ever, equipped with an explosive offense that averaged better than five goals per game. The offense was led by Jayne Baumgarten, Caity Buerge, Ashley Conte, Caitlin Keefe, Danika Masi, Caitlin Neapole, Kaitlyn Parcell, Georgia Raber and Emma Ulfvengren. Not to be overlooked was the stellar defense of Delaney Arth, Grayson Houge, Michaela Keefe, Annie Polson, Charlie Robinson and Lili Vorse, which had nearly 40 shutouts and did not allow a shot on goal in numerous games. Pali Powers to PK Wins Pali Power, a local U10 girls’ AYSO All-Star team, certainly has a flare for the dramatic. Dan Forman’s squad won its second consecutive shootout tournament over Memorial Day weekend. First, at the Quartz Hill Shootout, Pali Power dominated its entire age division, finishing first out of 15 teams from Southern California and Nevada by converting 8 out of 10 penalty kicks. Not satisfied with one shootout championship, Pali Power hit 13 of 15 penalty shots at the Cypress Memorial Day Classic, defeating Rowland Heights in a sudden death shoot out to defeat another 15 Southern California U10 teams to again top its age division. The team roster for both tournaments consisted of Alexandra Angeledes, Chloe Beardmore, KK Bishop, Josie Bleakley, Ava Button, Caroline Douglas, Caroline Flintoft, Elyse Forman, Maddy Glick, Kate Holt, Izzy Levi, and Cameron Stokes.
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