The Savannah United Select 2008 Girls Premier squad is the local youth soccer organization’s first team – girls or boys – to play for a national championship, and head coach Jeff Storey-Pitts knows why.
“The group is extremely together and they’re just tough as nails,” he said.
Savannah United is one of 16 squads in the 15-Under age division at the United States Youth Soccer National Championships on July 17-23 at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex near Orlando, Fla. Savannah’s four-team bracket has games on July 18-20, and the winner of group play advances to the semifinals on July 22, with the final on July 23.
“They’re probably the strongest team mentally that I’ve ever coached – boys or girls,” said Storey-Pitts, who as select director oversees the organization’s travel teams for U-13 to U-19. “They just find a way. Even when things look like they go against them, the girls find a way to make it go the direction that they want.
“It’s a great group of kids,” he continued. “They’re very connected. They’re very together. Ultra committed, and just mentally strong and tough. It’s all the stuff you can’t really coach that they have, but it helps that they’re also good players that work hard.”
The team’s co-coach, Gary Wright, has been Savannah United’s executive director for 25 years. He confirmed the milestone, for the squad of girls born in 2008 or later, as the first in the organization to advance beyond the Southern Regional quarterfinals and make it to nationals.
He sees similarities to the Savannah United 2002 Girls, which fielded Savannah United’s first state championship team and went on to win two Georgia State Cups and two Region 3 division titles, now renamed the National League Piedmont Conference.
The 2008 Girls Premier team didn’t win its bracket in the conference – but just barely. Both Savannah United and Georgia Impact (Canton, Ga.) finished 8-1-1 for 25 points, but Impact won the tiebreaker for first place after they played to a draw in their head-to-head match. Impact had a plus-23 goal differential (29 goals for, six against), Savannah plus-16 (24-8).
“They’ve been very focused and have a lot of desire to learn and get better,” Wright said. “That, first and foremost, has set them aside from a lot of the teams. A very dedicated group. When it comes to actual game time, they’re such a hard-working side that never knows when they’re beaten.
“They’ve got some very good qualities all over the field – different players that bring different things to the team,” Wright added. “Collectively, I would say they have a lot of heart and desire to always try and move on to the next step.”
The 2008 squad had already found a way to qualify for the USYS Southern Regionals on June 23-29 in Baton Rouge, La. The team in December won the Georgia State Cup for the third straight time – meaning every year it has been eligible in its age bracket.
Savannah won its first two matches in Louisiana and lost the third in group play while also losing Kamila Pena (collarbone injury) for the rest of the tournament. Depth already was an issue in the sweltering conditions, which caused rescheduling of games from midday to mornings and late afternoons.
“It was really hot. It was blazing. It’s worse than Georgia weather,” said midfielder Iris Turner, 15, who played on the two most recent state cup champions.
Savannah United, which would later be down to 11 healthy position players after another injury, advanced to the quarterfinals against DKSC of Texas in what players and coaches called the wildest game decided by penalty kicks they had experienced. It was also one of the most important games in club history.
The teams were even 1-1 through the regulation 80 minutes, and then through two scoreless 15 extra-time periods.
“We were all gassed,” Turner said. “We were going back and forth. The teams were basically even.”
Savannah United made it tougher by missing two of its first three penalty kicks in the standard five-round shootout. That’s a deep hole, and the team knew it.
“We were just praying – all of us holding each other and praying that something would happen,” Turner said.
“We’re still proud of the girls. I’m already mentally preparing that speech of you just barely fell short, it’s unfortunate,” Storey-Pitts recalled. “Then all of a sudden it just turned our direction.”
In a miscalculation, the Texas team started celebrating as if it had won when it scored after Savannah missed for the second time. Texas was up 2-1, but there were still two rounds to catch up.
“It had been a very hard game to play,” said fullback Reese Bailey, 15, with Savannah United since second grade and a member of the three Georgia State Cup teams. “I think what kept us in it was the fact they celebrated too early. It kind of put us down when they did that, but it gave us more motivation to beat them after that.”
Storey-Pitts picked up on a change in his team’s body language as a visible example of its mental strength. Savannah made its next two kicks, and DKSC missed one to be tied at 3-3.
Turner matched with the Texas player in the sixth round for 4-4. Savannah missed in round seven, and its fate again fell on the shoulders of goalkeeper Abbi Kaestner.
“I was nervous, but I can’t let it get to me because I was helping this team,” said Kaestner, 15. “I have to do everything in my power to help them win.”
Kaestner is a guest player who drove all the way from her home in Richlands, N.C., to meet the team, which she found very welcoming. Savannah goalie Allyson Rosas of Islands High School was injured during the spring and unable to play, so the club found another travel team goalie, a rising sophomore with a love for soccer who was looking for a big showcase for college recruiters.
“I knew in advance, but (the trip) came by really fast,” said Kaestner, who will be with the team at nationals. “It was like, whoa, I’ve got to go to Louisiana for a team I never played for.”
Kaestner tipped the shot high over the crossbar in round seven. After teammate Anna Shoemate came up huge and made her shot in round eight, all eyes were on Kaestner and the Texas player 12 yards away.
Kaestner got a hand on the shot to deflect it away for a 5-4 shootout win, and the celebration, for real, began.
The Chattanooga Red Wolves went up early 3-0 in the semifinals, and after Savannah in desperation later overloaded for an offensive push and got one goal from Bailey, the Red Wolves won 5-1.
The Southern Regionals winner earns one of the automatic berths from the four regionals to the nationals. But the two teams in the other semifinal -- including the eventual champion from Mississippi -- already were two of the 12 pre-qualified squads through the National League P.R.O., a series of five events from November to March.
So the other semifinal would determine a national qualifier berth – except Chattanooga had a schedule conflict and couldn’t go to Orlando. Storey-Pitts said the coach informed him right before the game that the Red Wolves were traveling to the coach’s hometown in Europe to participate in a soccer camp.
“At first I thought he was messing with me, trying to get in my head, but he was being sincere,” Storey-Pitts said of the possible “mind games.”
“Regardless of the result, and I didn’t know it at the time, we were going to nationals anyway, which is awesome.”
After the Red Wolves, who lost in the finals, declined, the berth went down the line to Savannah United – meaning that comeback quarterfinals victory clinched the berth.
“They never gave up on the team,” Kaestner said. “They stuck together and they played as a team and not as individuals, and they were very positive.”
Bailey, a rising sophomore at Savannah Country Day, called playing in the nationals “a very rare experience.”
“None of us thought we were going to make it this far,” she said. “We had a lot of confidence that we hadn’t had in previous years that we had this year during regionals. I think we can carry that confidence on into nationals.”
Turner, a rising sophomore at Richmond Hill High School, said the team might be a little nervous but it will be full of pride and play its best.
“At the end of the day, it’s just about having fun,” she said. “But we’re definitely going to try and go for that top spot.”
SCHEDULE
U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex near Orlando, Fla.
Group play for 15-Under Girls, Bracket B
Tuesday, July 18, 1:30 p.m.: Savannah United 2008 Girls Premier vs. FC Somers (N.Y.) Lady Hammers
Wednesday, July 19, 9:30 a.m.: Savannah United vs. Penn FC Youth (Pa.) 2008 F Black
Thursday, July 20, 7:30 a.m.: Savannah United vs. Solar SC (Texas) FDL 08G Hernandez
Semifinals: Bracket A winner vs. Bracket D winner; Bracket B winner vs. Bracket C winner, 10:30 a.m., July 22
Championship, 10 a.m. July 23.
PHOTO CREDIT: Cristina Coca/Georgia Soccer
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Optim Orthopedics supports the Savannah United Soccer Organization. The team doctors are Dr. Thomas Alexander and Amir Shahien. Remember, Optim Orthopedics gets you back into the game!
