Northwest Nationals G98 Red: My Site News

The NW Nationals G 98 Red team has been placed in the PDL Tier 1A grouping for the Fall '09 season with five other U-11 premier teams: Eastside FC 98 Red, Washington Premier FC 98 Black, Crossfire 98 A (Spidahl), Columbia Timbers 98 Red, and Dos FC 98 Red. The Nationals' 10-game league schedule will consist of playing one home and one away game against each of the other five teams in its grouping. The Nationals will open its Fall '09 PDL Tier 1 schedule with an away game on Saturday, September 12 against Dos FC 98 Red, a team the Nationals shut out 2-0 on June 27 in a pool game match-up in the FC Sounders adidas Cup at the Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila.

The Fall '09 league schedule for the Nationals is as follows:

Date                   Location     Opponent

September 12      Away          Dos FC 98 Red

September 19      Home          Columbia Timbers 98 Red

September 26      Home          Crossfire 98 A  (Spidahl) 

October 3            Home         Eastside FC 98 Red

October 10          Away          Washington Premier FC  Black

October 17          Home          Dos FC 98 Red

October 24          Away           Columbia Timbers 98 Red

October 31          Away           Crossfire 98 A  (Spidahl)

November 7         Away           Eastside FC 98 Red

November 14       Home           Washington Premier FC Black

Falling 3-1 in the championship game to the Washington Premier FC Black team, the NW Nationals G 98 Red team placed second in the U-11 Gold Division of the Nike Crossfire Challenge at the 60 Acres in Redmond on July 13. The Nationals squad suffered its first two losses of the season to Washington Premier FC during the tourney, also dropping its initial pool game to the eventual tournament champions.

Following the team's initial setback of the season in its first pool game, the Nationals responded with three straight shutout victories to finish second in its pool and advance to the tournament final. The team defeated the host Crossfire 98A team 1-0 in the semifinals before losing in the title game.

While surrendering only two goals during its five tournament games, the NW Nationals Girls 98 Red team claimed its first tournament title on June 28 by defeating the Eastside FC White team 3-1 in the title game of the FC Sounders adidas Cup at the Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila. The team outscored its five tournament opponents by a combined score of 19-2 during the three-day event. The Nationals posted shutouts in each of its three pool games before advancing to the semifinals to play the Evergreen 98 Green team, winners of Pool C. In the semifinal match, the Nationals defeated the Evergreen 98 Green squad, 2-1.

The five tournament wins improved the team's 2009 record to 8-0-2.

The Northwest Nationals Girls 98 Red team has identified four tournaments in which it will compete this spring and summer. The four tournaments currently on the team's schedule are as follows:

Rainier Challenge                        June 12-14                      Puyallup

FC Sounders Cup                       June 26-28                      Tukwila

Crossfire Challenge                     July 10 -12                      Redmond

Starfire Labor Day Cup              September 5 - 7               Tukwila