Tuesday May 26, 2015 - Over the US Memorial Day weekend FC Durham Academy traveled to the Erie Memorial Day Classic with 8 teams from U10-U14, having tremendous developmental success as an Academy.

Our 2003G and 2002B ended the weekend as tournament champions. Congrats to both groups of players!

The 2003G opened the tournament with a 4-1 win over Arsenal FC Arsenal, with a strong display of possession, support, combination play and fullbacks driving forward in wide areas.  Goal scoring from Jamie with 3 and Kate with 1 to start the event off on the right foot.

In game 2 of the round robin, the girls faced a strong squad from Century United of Pittsburgh.  Opening the scoring for FC Durham was Sierra OG with a heart driven rebound goal.  In the closing minutes of the game, FC Durham goalkeeper Dior made a great save on a penalty-kick, but then FC Durham was beaten with a in-direct free-kick from 25 yards out to end the game in a 1-1 draw.  This result advanced the girls as the 3rd seed entering the 1/4 finals.

In the 1/4 final game, they faced Arsenal FC Arsenal who came out with great confidence scoring first early in the second half.  The FC Durham girls stayed relaxed and kept going forward to be rewarded with another well earned goal by Sierra OG to take the game into over-time.  In the first over-time half, Jamie battled into the penalty area to draw a penalty kick and then converted to give FC Durham a 2-1 victory and advancing to the semi-finals later that day.

After playing 180 minutes of soccer in a day and a half, the girls entered the semi-final versus FC Pittsburgh digging deep and taking a first half lead of 2-0 with 2 well built goals by Jamie.  In the second half, FC Pittsburgh tied the game with their Goalkeeper scoring on a penalty-kick and a direct free-kick.  The over-time halves went scoreless with FC Durham having multiple opportunities to close the game.  In penalty-kicks FC Durham goalkeeper Dior came up with 2 outstanding saves to lead the girls to the Championship Final on Monday.  Penalty-kick goals scored by Megan, Jamie, Charlotte and Ava.

The championship final was a quality display of tactical soccer by the FC Durham girls who came up short on many opportunities to finish in the first half.  In the second half, FC Durham goalkeeper again made a tremendous save on a penalty-kick, which grew momentum for the girls.  With 2 minutes remaining, and a well rehearsed attacking pattern, FC Durham fullback Sierra T overlapped and took a penetrating pass from Charlotte to finish with class into the backpost.  Congrats to Hotspurs Select on a great weekend of soccer as well!

Congrats girls on the weekend's developments and success!