Folsom Riot Girls Soccer Team Undefeated!
By cinoevil
1 photo | Posted 3/31/09 06:05 PM

The Folsom Riot, a U16 Girls Select Soccer team, defeated the Redding Missfit Renegades 1-0, silencing a raucous hometown Redding crowd on Sunday, March 29th to win the 2009 Association Cup, the premier tournament in Northern California for Select teams. The tournament began March 14th in Redding. The Riot defeated the San Jose Fury 4-0, the Pleasanton Rage Orange 4-0, and the East Diablo United 5-0 to advance to the second round. The following weekend in Ripon, the Riot outscored the Redding Missfit Mayhem 6-0 and the Davis Stars 3-0. The semi-finals on March 28th were held in Redding again, where the Riot defeated the Folsom Magic, our under 15 team, by a score of 4-1. The Magic were the only team to score on the Riot during the tournament and in a real act of sportsmanship several of the players and parents stayed on to root for the Riot during the championship game.

The Folsom Riot truly had a dream season, going undefeated with a record of 43-0-2. They scored a total of 136 goals, with every girl on the team scoring at least one goal. Each girl also had at least one assist. The team allowed only 8 goals to be scored on them the entire season. They are the 2008 Champions of the Folsom Lake Cup Classic Tournament, the Elk Grove Sunstroke, the Dublin Shamrock Invitational, the Mustang Devil Mountain Tournament, the San Francisco Golden Gate Invitational, the Fremont Kick-Or-Treat Invitational, District VI Metro League, and the District IV Challenge Cup.

“We added six new players to our team this year,” Coach Mike Cino said. “The girls worked very hard all year, learning to work together, as well as conditioning and training, and it really paid off. Association Cup is the biggest tournament in Northern California for Class III soccer. I was asked on several occasions if we had peaked yet and my answer was always, “The best is yet to come.” Our girls went out and proved me right, peaking at exactly the right time. Jim and I are so proud to be a part of this amazing group of athletes.”

Coach Jim Lehman agrees, adding, “It has been an amazing run with a group of girls that have a ‘Refuse to Lose Attitude’ which was never more evident than in the last 4 games of Association Cup. Down to 13 players, of which 3 had nagging injuries requiring treatment between games meant there were 2 subs for 80 minute games. They showed great character, effort, determination and heart no matter what obstacle was before them. It was truly a team effort of which Mike and I were lucky to be a part of.

Members of the team include Beth Balbierz, Taylor Camin, Chelsea Cino, Nicole Donato, Megan Graham, Danielle Keith, Catherine Lehman, Brianna Leiford, Ashley Lemay, Hannah Lindner, Victoria Odufuwa, Taryn Pearson, Jessica Reuter, Ann Seibel, Milla Tiab, and Joanna Turkiewicz. The girls are coached by Mike Cino and Jim Lehman.