Youth soccer: Stampede thunders into NorCal’s final rounds

The Davis Stampede, a U11 girls soccer team, won two of three games last weekend to reach the final rounds of the NorCal State Cup, to be contested Feb. 9-10.

On Saturday, Davis fell behind by a pair of goals in the opening half, before rattling off five straight scores to defeat the COSC Odyessy, 5-2, in a qualifying round contest. Anne Ayotte scored the first Stampede tally off a pass from Yasmeen Dmeiri, then Grace Barger set up Lily Byrne for the equalizer. Jordan Davis scored a few minutes later to make it 3-2.

Byrne and Kaitlyn McElhern put in the final two goals and Sophie Karperos had an assist.

After dropping a 4-2 contest to Modesto, the locals beat Danville, 2-1 in the quarterfinals to stay alive. Ayotte scored Davis’ first goal then Grace Carlson netted the game-winner.

Warning

The Davis Warning, a U12 girls team, dominated America Canyon from start to finish, firing shot after shot at the opposing goal keepers and controlling possession for the majority of the match to win 5-0.

Fiona Stachen-Payne kicked off the Davis scoring with help from Lindsey Vernau. The next tally was the first by Meghan Eisenman, who added another later in the contest. Rounding out the local scoring, Angela Herrera slotted home a penalty kick, followed by a goal from Sasha Ballowe.

Warning players Gia Fanucchi, Averi Brayton, Abby Johnson, Leah Pinto and Delaney Seward kept the offense on the attack all game.

Domination

The Davis Domination, a U12 girls team, shut out the Pleasant Hill Deception, 4-0, on Saturday.

Chella Grattet scored Davis’ first goal early in the second quarter, followed by an Alissa Casillas long-range tally that put the locals up by two at halftime.

The Domination’s attack continued in the second half with goals from Laurel Krovetz, off of an assist from Lucia Ferrer, and a booming score from Sara Ludden. Claire Duisenberg, Julia Albertson and Caroline Duncan created quality offensive opportunities for the locals.

Mitchelle Atungulu, Allison Ayers and Claire Stevens ensured the win by shutting down the opposition.

Heat

The Davis Heat, a U16 girls team, played two games at the Santa Rosa Nike Showcase this weekend, tying the United Blizzard, 2-2, before falling 3-0 to the Marin Blue FC.

In the opener, a few uncharacteristic errors by the locals allowed the Blizzard to take a 2-0 lead midway through the second half. But Davis battled back down the stretch, grabbing the momentum on a spectacular save by goalie Christina Roeckl-Navazio.

Strong offensive pressure from Heat players Alexia Moore, Brooke Rosenblum, Emily Strack, Olivia Haass, Suleikha Sutter and Mikayla Vang eventually led to a goal by Sophie Hernandez. After good defense from teammates Renee Schuman, Claire Dicker, Melissa Teuber, Hannah Thompson, Annie Leck and Elexsis Valenzuela kept things close, Davis’ Jaha McClean scored the equalizer off of an assist from Kaitlyn Wagner.

The locals fell behind again in the match against Marin, and this time an energized Heat squad could not come back in the second half.

Ambush

The Davis Ambush, a Davis U12 boys team, dropped a 2-1 contest to the Davis Galaxy on Saturday. Strong defense from the Ambush’s Evan Deas, Ben Park, Bjorn Krall and Joshua Noll, along with brilliant saves by goalie Matt Belenis kept the Galaxy to one first-half goal.

Evan King scored for the Ambush early in the second half to tie the match. However, despite the strong play of Robert Michel, Noah Fahnos, Nathan Fong and Steve Noll, the Galaxy managed to slip another goal in to capture the match.

Los Azules

The Davis Los Azules, a U16 boys team, defeated the Elk Grove Bravos, 3-0, on Sunday.

The locals’ first score came from Ryan Tinsley, off of a well-placed corner kick from Rudy Campos. Niko Pandeleos later netted a penalty kick to put Davis up by two, and the final goal came from Otto Nichols, with an assist from Thomas Oide.

Otto Anirudh Ramakrishnan and Caleb McYates helped with the Los Azules attack while, on the other side of the ball, Alec Farboud, Bryant Murray, Jaun Pablo Almanza, Ryan Quinn and Will Stukas combined to hold the opposition to only one shot, which was saved by goalie Mac Meersheidt.