Boys and girls from AYSO Region 18 (Manhattan/Hermosa) had clean sweeps in their respective tournaments leading the way for Area 1D, which captured six division titles at the Western States Championships held Mar. 19-20 in Bullhead City, Ariz..
Competition included 1200 players and 88 teams from California, Arizona, Alaska, Oregon, Washington, and Nevada vying for title in 24 different divisions. Area 1D, which is comprised of Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, El Segundo, Hawthorne and Westchester sent eight teams and all reached championship games.
Region 21 (Hawthorne) and Region 34 (South Redondo Beach) each took home one title.
“This is by far one of the best performances that Area 1D has had in the Western States Championships,” said Phil Ockelmann, Area Director for AYSO Area 1D. “By comparison, the rest of Section 1 (that Area 1D is part of) won seven championships, all of Section 10 won seven championships, and Section 11 won four championships. Soccer is clearly alive and doing very well here in the Beach Cities.”
Coached by Alan Franz, Dr. Mike Gerhardt and Matt Grimes, the Region 18 Girls U12 Lighting squad completed an undefeated season with a 2-1 overtime win over Bakersfield in the semifinals and a 5-2 overtime win over Montebello to capture the crown.
“This was an amazing experience for the girls and we could not have been more proud and excited for them,” Franz said.
The GU14 All Star team won its second consecutive championship finishing with a season record of 19-0-1 after defeating Hillsborough 5-1.
“The girls set a goal early on of repeating their title from last year,” said Brady Ryan, who coached the MB Blue team with Frank Stepczyk. “Anything less was going to be ‘no bueno’ for this team where everyone was a contributor and truly exceeded all expectations.”
The GU12 All Star squad was coached by Alex Wegeles and held off a strong Quartz Hill team for a 3-2 victory in the championship game.
Coached by Rex Jones, the BU12 All Star team recorded a 5-0 shutout of North Park to claim its title.
“Our success this past weekend is a testament not only to the players’ love of soccer that exists here in Manhattan and Hermosa Beach,” Regional Commissioner Andrew Lelchuk said. “It is also about the dedication and contributions of our coaches, parents and others to the beautiful game.”
Region 34’s South Redondo GU14 Extra team captured its second consecutive championship with a 6-0 win over Woodland Hills. The team was coached by Kirk Reger and Ron Moore.
Region 21 (Hawthorne) GU10 coached by Ben Borth hammered Santa Barbara with a 4-1 win to close out their title run .
Other local teams winning championships were North Torrance, a 6-1 winner over Agoura/Westlake/Oak Park in the GU10 Extra division and West Torrance, who defeated South Redondo 3-1 for the BU11 Extra division title.
