What started as a trip to help showcase several players from last years Excel team turned into an outstanding team performance and a trip to the finals of the toughest tournament in the West Region - the Thanksgiving Surf.  Five U17 Posh players and three guests (two from FC Portland and one from Oregon City SC) joined seven U18 Excel players to play in the U19 Gold Division.  In their first game the team defeated Les Bois from Boise 2-0 with goals from Anna Miller and Kaily Winther.  

The team went down to an early goal in the second game against a very strong side from Northern Cal - the Marin Rockers.  However, second-half strikes from Winther and Tiffany Smith helped the team bounce back with a 2-1 win.  In their final group game everyone seemed to get on the score sheet as the team took care of Texas Wildfire 7-0 to win their group and advance to the semi-finals.

In the semi-final game the Englewood Storm from Colorado took an early two goal lead before Nikki Trickett pulled one back before half-time.  In the 2nd half,  sustained pressure from the Excel paid off with 10 minutes to go when Winther equalized.  After two goal-less overtime periods,  the Excel finally prevailed on penalties with Katie Ruggles making two marvelous saves.

In the final,  the Excel faced a very strong U19 Southern California team,  Cerritos Infinity and once again found themselves down by two goals at the half.  "Although we had given up two goals I was always confident we could get back in the game", said Tom Rowney,  who coached the team during the tournament. "And that's what we did".  An early goal after the break from Jessica Schoepke was just reward for sustained pressure and 5 minutes from the end it looked like they had the equalizer after a scramble in the box, only to have the referee rule against them.  "It was a very disappointing way to end the tournament," said Rowney.  "The referee twice gave the goal - the linesman on our side even wrote it down in his book.  For some reason he changed his mind and disallowed it.  I don't think he wanted the game to go into overtime."

"All things considered though,  I couldn't have been more pleased with both the individual and team performances.  Not only did we show well in a technical and tactical sense but,  we were down in three of the five games and came back with passion and commitment - we just never gave up.  The teams we played against had some very big,  strong and physical players and I know our girls came home with plenty of bruises.  I was very proud of them."

FCW wishes to thank Cara Norris,  Katy Daly and Robin French for guesting with the team and playing so well.