After sweeeping the U18 State Cup in January, three more Lightning teams came up big in the June part of the Georgia State Cup. Adding to the list of State Champions are the U17 85 Gold, U15 87 Gold and U14 88 White.

Championship weekend saw eight Lightning teams going into Saturday's semifinals. The day got off to a very slow start with all 3 teams playing at 9:30 losing. U14 boys, U16 boys and U17 girls were all eliminated. The 12:00 PM games were faring no better. U16 girls and U19 boys had both lost and the U15 Boys were behind 0-1. At that point, the tides started to turn.

A minute into injury time at the end of the game, the 87 Gold scored on a Patrick Murray free kick to tie GSA Phoenix Red 1-1 and send the game into extra time. The first half of extra time saw GSA go up 1-2 on a penalty kick, but the 87's came back as Alex Achor scored to tie it again at 2-2. In the second half of extra time, Dathan Knott scored to give the team the lead for the first time in the game. Another penalty kick was awarded against them, but keeper Patrick Mitrovich came up big, saving the kick to preserve the lead. Knott later scored again to put the game safely away at 4-2.

The 2:30 semifinals were both success stories but very different tales. The 88 White U14 girls controlled most of thier game beating Cobb FC Lady Chiefs 2-0. The 85 Gold had a much more exciting time of it against the #1 ranked United Quest Red team. Getting up to a 1-0 lead, the U17's defended intensely for the remainder of the game to preserve the score. Through all of it, they endured two red cards and ended the game playing 9 against 11, but would still not give in, hanging on until the end to win 1-0.

Sunday's finals saw the 87 Boys playing arch rivals Cocorde, the 85 Boys playing Norcross Fury Gold and the 88 Girls against their arch rivals Tophat 06 Gold.

In the U17 boys final, the 85 Gold fell behind 0-1. Playing without two of their regular starters (suspended from the semifinal) and losing their sweeper early in the game due to injury, they equalized late and sent the game to a socreless overtime and then to penalties. Anthony Pecca saved Norcross' 5th kick, giving Lightning the championship.

The U15's also had a tough game. They scored in the first 22 seconds of the game, but allowed Concorde to equlaize ten minutes later. The deadlock remained through regulation and for the second game in a row they went to extra time. Nader jarun and Alex Achor both socred in extra time to beat Concorde 3-1.

The U14 girls had lost to only one Georgia team in the spring. Tophat beat them 1-3 in the final of the Concorde Tournament and again 0-5 in their season meeting. The final turned out to be a very tense affair with both teams missing good chances. At the end of regulation it was still tied at 0-0. With 5 minutes to go and both teams thinking of penalty kicks, Brittany Schneider scored from a Kasey Warren corner kick giving Lightning a 1-0 lead. In the final minute, Tophat looked like it would tie the game, but goalkeeper Jenny Ross came up big with a diving save to preserve the score and give the 88's the win.

All five teams will represent Georgia at the Southern Regionals, June 27th to July 2nd. You can follow their progress at the Regionals at http://www.usysregion3.org/SR/index.html.