Semifinal Bound: Cups & RCL Round-Up – February 2019

Wednesday, February 6, 2019

Two sides (2001 & 2004 Rave) are headed to Starfire this weekend for the Final Four of the President’s Cup, finishing off a cup season that saw three other sides reach the quarterfinals of their State and President’s Cup tournaments.

STATE & PRESIDENT’S CUP TOURNAMENTS

The 2001 and 2004 Rave sides are in action at the semifinals of the President’s Cup this weekend at Starfire. The 2001 boys finished second in their group with a 2-0-1 mark to qualify for the final four while a 1-1-1 mark in their group was enough to earn a wildcard spot in the quarterfinals. It allowed them to avenge their lone loss (1-2) in group play at home to Eastside FC with a 1-0 victory on the road in the quarterfinal to claim a spot at Starfire.

Also advancing to elimination play from the ongoing brackets were 2002 Rave, 2002 Shale and 2003 Shale. The 2002 Rave side reached the State Cup quarterfinals with a 2-0-1 record in group play, but were knocked out by PacNW on the road. The Shale boys took the lead on a free kick early in overtime of a deadlocked President’s Cup contest at home against Washington Timbers Saturday at SFCC only to see the visitors tie it up late and take the decision in penalties despite a great save from Spokane Sounders keeper Cole McKenzie in the shootout. The 2003 Shale boys earned a wild card in the President’s Cup as well, but were knocked out in the quarters by WPFC in a narrow 2-1 contest.

RCL FALL/WINTER…

2002 Boys

In a long-postponed contest, the Rave boys were finally able to complete their season and posted a 1-0 victory over Seattle United Tango B to close the three point gap for first and claim the U17 RCL1 championship via the head-to-head tiebreakers.

2006 Boys

The Rave boys return to play February 9 still atop the U13-D2 table. The Shale boys split in their return from the long break, rebounding from a loss at Harbor Premier with a victory at Crossfire Premier on the opening weekend of February, keeping them in the running for a top three finish in U13-D4.

2005 Boys

The Rave boys were unbeaten in their two matches in January, posting a 2-2 draw against Seattle United away from home to kick the month off and finishing it off with a 4-0 win at Three Rivers. They remain atop the U14-D1 League by seven points. The Shale boys returned to play after a lengthy break in U14-D3 action, playing to a split on the road in the final weekend of January. They downed Snohomish United 3-2 before falling at FWFC. They opened February with a pair of draws, finishing scoreless at PacNW and in a 1-1 stalemate at GS Surf.

2005 Girls

The Rave girls returned from their lengthy break with a narrow 1-0 road loss at Washington Timbers that snapped their six-game unbeaten run in U14-D1. The break for the Shale squad, though, will go another two weeks as they do not return to U14-D3 play February 16.

2006 Girls

The Rave girls ended their on the final weekend of January with a tough road trip, falling at FWFC and PacNW in U13-D1. The Shale girls, meanwhile, faced the U13-D3 leaders Thorns North FC in their return lone game since returning to action after the holiday break.

RCL WINTER/SPRING…

2000 & 2001 Girls

With a majority of the games away from home since returning to play, the 2000 Rave girls have struggled a bit in U19-D1 with a 1-2-1 record through the course of January, but still remain mid-table and well within striking distance of the top three. The 2001 Rave ladies, meanwhile, are still in a neck-and-neck race for the top spot in the same league. They returned to RCL play at the end of January and have outscored their three opponents in the past two weeks by a 13-2 scoreline, downing Whatcom and winning on the road at Harbor Premier and Eastside Reign.

2002 Girls

A rough start before the holidays, the 2002 Rave girls have returned to play with a positive unbeaten run. In mid-January they downed Three Rivers 4-0 and played Blackhills, who they previously lost to, to a 1-1 draw. They kicked February off with a 4-1 win at GS Surf to put themselves third in U17-D1 at the midway point.

2003 Girls

The Rave girls kicked things off with a bang in U16-D1 with three wins against Washington Rush (twice) and Harbor Premier before suffering a narrow 1-0 loss at FWFC to close out January. The quickly rebounded with a 1-0 win against GS Surf to keep them second with several games in hand on the leaders. The Shale girls returned from the break with their first points of the season, earning two wins the final weekend of January at FME Fusion and MVP Marauders to move mid-table a third of the way into a campaign that has only seen them on the road thus far in U16-D3. After another road game they host the next five.

2004 Girls

The Rave girls returned to play with a 1-0-2 run in January to extend their unbeaten start to four games in U15-D1, but a road trip last weekend to face the top two sides saw them drop close contests to Eastside Reign Academy and Washington Rush. In U15-D3, the two sides from the club are dominating play with a combined 10-3-3 record, and sit first and third at the midway point. Shadow United are nearly perfect through seven games with a 6-0-1 mark, posting wins in all four outings since the holiday break, sweeping FWFC and Washington Rush on the road and dominating Eastside FC and FWFC at home to remain atop the table. It has been a yo-yo campaign for the Sounders Shale girls as they split both road trip weekends in January with losses on Saturdays and wins on Sundays. They ended the trend with a win at home last Saturday against FWFC.

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