H.B. Elite squad victorious

The Huntington Beach Soccer Club’s Gold Coast Extreme Elite U-12 girls’ team was victorious over the weekend, winning the Fullerton Rangers Summer Classic Soccer Tournament at Sunny Hills High in Fullerton.

In Saturday’s preliminary matches of the Fullerton Rangers Summer Classic, the Gold Coast Xtreme GU-12 Elite defeated Santa Clarita Valley Magic-Green 2-0, with Rachel Flory and Jade Kratovil scoring one goal each. It also beat AC Brea, 4-0, on goals scored by Brooke Escala, Sarah Steinhaus and two goals from Flory. The victories propelled the Elite to Sunday’s semifinal game.

There, Elite battled against Freedom FC. With the match ending in a 1-1 tie, the game was decided on penalty kicks, with Elite winning, 5-4. Kiana Dinsmore, Morgan Felix, Sarah Djafri, Steinhaus and Kratovil scored the goals. In the championship match against a talented Fullerton Rangers team, the score was tied at 1 at halftime. The two teams battled for an additional 40 minutes that included two consecutive five-minute overtime periods. The squads wound up in penalty kicks, with Elite beating the Rangers 3-1. Goals were scored by Felix, Djafri and Steinhaus.

The Elite had additional support with precise passing from midfielders Jenna Low and Jocelyn Ceccarelli and the strength from defenders Natalie Peters and Sami Oliver.

The 4-0 record over the weekend would not have been possible without the outstanding performance of goalkeeper Sumer Rahe, who was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player and received the game ball trophy.

After winning the Spring Cup Tournament in May, this is Elite’s second consecutive tournament championship. The team will participate at the Xtreme Cup this weekend in Huntington Beach.

— Submitted by Chris Low

Softball team headed to Washington: The 14U Huntington Beach Breeze Travel Fastpitch Softball team will be heading to Mt. Vernon, Wash., to play in the ASA Western National “A” Tournament July 27 to Aug 2. The team will be playing many of the top-ranked travel ball teams in the West. The team won last year’s 12U Triple Crown Champion in Park City, Utah, and went 48-23 this year as a first-year 14U team.

The team is comprised of Erika Jason, Makaela Williamson, Lauren Howard, Brynne McNabb, Lauren Flores, Nicole Minnicucci, Emily Cardona, Cami McNabb, Courtney Shenkman, Shanon Riley, Brittany Hitchcock, Ally Forsberg, Raegan Zschach, and Cassie Baughman.