Tuesday, January 9th, 2019 -- It was a banner year for Arizona at the 2019 ODP West Championships as the state claimed four titles.
The four titles were split evenly between the boys and the girls as the 02 Girls captured the 17U title and the 05 Girls captured the 14U title. On the boys side, the 04 Boys won the 15U title and the 06 Boys clinched the 13U title.
Following the infographic which recaps the entire tournament, there are photos, match highlight videos, and recaps of the title matches.
2002 Girls
Arizona bested Cal South, 4-3, in a back-and-forth match that featured a hat-trick from Arizona's Mollie Griswold. She scored the opening goal in the 4th minute and Cal South answered the deficit with an equalizer from Gabriella Guzman in the 17th minute. This would be the theme throughout the match as Arizona's Madison Cullian scored in the 24th minute and Cal South's Olivia Sekimot scored the first of her two goals in the 30th minute. Griswold slotted home a penalty in the 44th minute and Sekimot answered in the 47th minute. It took until overtime to settle this one as Griswold's third and final goal ended up as the game-winner for the 02 Girls title.
"It feels amazing I can hardly believe it," said Arizona's Rilee Rottweiler. "All I felt was excitement and it was good to come together as one group and to scream and let it out."
2004 Boys
Arizona defeated Oregon 3-0. Blake Bernal opened the scoring for Arizona when he slotted home a penalty in the 17th minute. Just three minutes later, Vladimir Stevanovic scored his 7th goal in the tournament. Arizona put the match out of reach thanks to Charloe Moran's goal in the 43rd minute. The title capped off an impressive weekend for Arizona who didn't drop any points while scoring 17 goals and conceding two.
"It's a great feeling to be a champion," said Bernal. "We played well throughout the whole weekend. We had some great performances throughout the team. We were just really happy to win because most of this team has been together these past two years and we have been unable to get through the final to win it so today has been great."
2005 Girls
Arizona claimed the 14U Girls title in a 2-0 victory over Southern Nevada. Arizona's Brooke Fabri had a team-high nine goals heading into this match and she wasted no time putting her mark on the match with a goal in the first minute. Arizona doubled its lead when Nathalie Lewis scored in the 36th minute. Southern Nevada's Andrea Leyva was able to cut the lead in half in the 57th minute but it wasn't enough as Arizona's defense shut down Southern Nevada to close out the match.
"It feels really good because we all worked really hard to get to this moment," said Arizona's Ella Rustand. "It also feels good that we accomplished this as a team."
2006 Boys
In a tight match, Arizona defeated Cal North 2-0. Izahi Amparo scored his third goal of the tournament in the 16th minute and Kyen Wallace scored the game-winner in stoppage time when he got on the end of a cross on the back post after spiriting from midfield. The win was the fourth shutout for Arizona in five matches.
"It feels amazing," said Amparo. "We worked hard to get here and the team did really well together."