LIGHTNING TEAMS DISAPPOINTED IN SEMIS

Semifinal day proved to be a disappointing one for most of the Lightning teams in the state cup. The day started off on a bad note when a missed offside call led to a penalty kick in the first few minutes of the U16 Premier's game against Concorde. Concorde went on to win the game 6-1.

The U14 girls were in full command of their game, going 2-0 up on AFU 92 Elite. Two defensive breakdowns in quick succession allowed AFU to equalize. The 92's were never able to find the form they showed at the beginning of the game and eventually lost 2-3 in overtime. They will still be going to the Region III Tournament later this month as R3PL Champions despite losing.

The U12 Gold team lost to NASA 12 Arsenal 1-0 in overtime, and the U17 girls, Lightning 89 White lost 2-0 to GSA Phoenix. Lightning 93 White was up against the number one team, GSA Phoenix, in the U13 girls age group. Despite an amazing performance by goalkeeper Annie Stephens the team lost 3-0. The U12 girls, Lightning 94 White were scoreless in their semifinal when GSA was awarded a penalty with three minutes to go. The game ended in a 1-0 loss.

The one bright spark for the day was from the U19 Lightning 87 Premier. After a sub-par performance last weekend, they came up big, winning their semifinal 2-0. They will play in the final at 1:00 PM on Sunday against TYSA Triumph 87 Red. A win in the final would mean a return trip to the Region III Tournament where they were finalists last year as U18's.

MORE LIGHTNING TEAMS MAKE STATE CUP SEMIFINALS

The weekend State Cup games in Columbus, GA saw three more Lightning teams make it to the semifinals. The U14 girls 92 White, the U16 boys 90 Premier and the U19 boys 87 Premier all moved on to the next phase of competition.

The 92 White, coached by Technical Director, David “Chaddy” Chadwick, completed a sweep of their round robin opponents scoring fifteen goals and giving up only one. They beat GSA Phoenix 92 White 7-0, Peachtree City Lazers White 4-1 and GFC Power Gold 4-0. The U14’s play AFU 92 Elite at 11:00 AM on June 10th. The last meeting between the two was in the Region III Premier League East. It ended in a 0-0 tie, though our girls went on to win the R3PL East division, guarantying them a position at the Region III Tournament later this month, regardless of how they do in the State Cup.

Despite losing one of their key players to injury during the high school season, the 90 Premier team was able to dominate its State Cup group without giving up a goal. Their scorers were 5-0 against AFU Gold, 4-0 against Cobb FC Chiefs Gold and 1-0 against Stars 08 Elite. The Stars game was a bit of a scare. Stars put the U16’s under a lot of pressure in the first half. After half time it was a different game with Lightning taking charge and eventually scoring the only goal.

Semifinals will be against Concorde Fire Elite, the number one seed in the age group. It will take place at 9:00 AM on Saturday.

Under 19 teams are mostly college freshmen who regroup for a few weeks for State Cup. The Lightning 87 Premier team consists of almost the entire team which won the State and were runners up at the Region level last year as U18’s. With only six teams entered, the U19 State Cup had the teams divided into two groups of three. The top two teams from each group would move on to the semifinals. At the last minute, one of the teams in Lightning’s group dropped out of the competition. This put the remaining teams automatically in the semifinals, though they still had to play each other to see who would play in which semifinal game.

Playing on Sunday afternoon against GSA Phoenix Red 87, Lightning fell behind 0-1 in the first half. A penalty kick in the second half evened the score. The game ended 1-1, proving nothing. Since there was only one game in the group, none of the normal tie breakers could separate the teams. The last tie breaker is penalty kicks, which were done after the game. GSA prevailed 4-2, giving them first place in the group. As the second place team, Lightning will play North Atlanta 05 Red in the semifinals on Saturday at 1:00 PM.

We wish all of the teams the best of luck in the semifinals. For those who prevail on Saturday, the finals will be held on Sunday.

LIGHTNING TEAMS MOVE ON IN STATE CUP

Following last weekend’s State Cup games, four Lightning teams have advanced to the semifinals. The U12 boys and girls, the U13 girls and the U17 girls all made it out of the round robin stage and will play again on June 10th.

Lightning 94 White is the top seed in the U12 girls division. They started the weekend with a 1-0 win over the Augusta Arsenal Gunners. This was followed by a 7-0 romp over the Peachtree City Lazers and a 2-0 win over Concorde Fire Elite to win their group. Seeding is a bit of a guess in this age group since the teams don’t all play in a common division. Due to this, the two top teams from each group advance to the quarter final round. Lightning was put up against AFU 94 Gold, a team that has beaten them in the past. Playing with a lot of intensity, the Lightning girls were able to prevail 3-0. They will play GSA Phoenix Red in the semis.

In the U12 Boys division Lightning 94 Gold was the 6th seed. They posted 4-0 and 10-2 wins over AFU Gold East and Alpharetta Ambush 94 White. The group deciding game was against Concorde Fire Elite in which they were beaten 2-0. With a second place finish in the group, they moved on to the quarter finals where they faced GSA 94 Phoenix Red. They won this game 4-1, setting up a semifinal date against North Atlanta 12 Arsenal, the #1 seed in the age group.

In the U13 and older age groups seeding is based on the teams’ finish in the previous fall season. This is a much more accurate gauge, so only the group winners advance in these ages. Lightning 93 White, playing in the U13 girls division came in as the fourth seed, despite having had a disappointing spring season. In their first game they defeated Norcross Magic Gold 2-0. The second round of games produced two upsets as Lightning lost to Cobb YMCA Strikers Black 1-0, and the other top seeded team in the group, CGSA Shockers 92/93, lost to Norcross 2-0. This set up a very uncertain situation for the third game in which any team could win the group.

With two games being played simultaneously on adjacent fields, Norcross took an early lead of 2-0 on Cobb YMCA. This put Lightning’s fate in their own hands – beat the Shockers, win the group. Things took a turn for the worst in the second half when the Shockers scored. Lightning was able to equalize, but a tie would do them no good. With less than a minute left in the game, Lightning won a corner kick. Running a two man play, Kristi Williams passed the ball to Caitlyn Daniels then ran around her. Daniels passed the ball back to Williams who shot from outside the penalty area into the far upper corner for the game winner and a place in the semis. They will be up against the #1 seed, GSA Phoenix Red.

Lightning 87 White also advanced in the U17 girls’ age group. They beat the Kennesaw FC Raptors 5-0 and the CGSA Shockers 88 Blue 3-0. In the third and decisive game they got off to a 1-0 lead against AFU 89 Elite. Tough defending and a pair of incredible saves by goalkeeper Stacy Pugh was enough to preserve the victory. They will meet GSA 89 Phoenix Red in their semifinal.

In other State Cup action, the U15 Lightning 91 White team won a play-in game against Alpharetta Ambush 91 at McCurry Park. Goals did not come until the second half of extra time with Lightning scoring with four minutes left and again with thirty seconds left to gain a 2-0 win. The U13 boys Lightning 93 Premier and U12 girls Lightning 94 Silver also played in the State Cup this weekend but were unable to advance on 1-2 and 0-2-1 records.

Other age groups, from U14 up, play their round robin games on June 2nd, 3rd and 4th in Columbus, GA. We expect to have more Lightning teams from these age groups join the four who have already advanced to the final four weekend.