This weekend of November 25 - 27th the ESUA Syracuse U16 Girls won their first tournament Championship of the year at the NEWSS showcase in Long Island. The ladies played in the Championship bracket and pounded out results against Dix Hills SC Hornets (NYE), beating them for the divisional lead and a place in the finals with a must win result as Dix came into the game level on points but with a greater goal difference than Syracuse. The 2 - 1 result was a testament to the ladies battling and discipline on and off the field. The day before in an 8pm game under floodlights and an eerie fog rising from the turf, a fitting image as the game was played in Amityville. The empire girls ground out a 1 - 1 draw against this well organized and talented Rye Celtics team (NYE). The Celtics were tipped as a tournament favorite but lacked the finishing to beat Syracuse. Our first game of the weekend was midday on Saturday against an impressive looking but under achieving Wall SC Elite 96 (NJ) who’s warm up routine was most impressive and unfortunately more impressive than their on field play as Syracuse cruised to a 1 - 0 victory without breaking a sweat. All goals from divisional play came from Elisa Marchione and Cassidy Bruen.

The final on Sunday evening was ironically against Empire Syracuse’s nemesis BC Fusion, now renamed and reclad in an all new uniform and logo as the United FC SA from Binghamton. This is the same team Syracuse had previously lost to in our state cup qualifying game and then gone on to beat them on home turf 3 - 1 only a few weeks after the state cup loss. The game was tighter then Syracuse would have liked and an early goal from Julia Heberger in the first 5 mins sealed the result but not without a heart stopping penalty with 15 mins to go that allowed the United FC club a glimpse at putting the game back on track for them but after some on field arguments between the players resulting in the penalty taker being distracted by the argument and our keeper Alyssa Jim being as sharp as a tack as she had been all weekend, pulled off a game winning save, diving to her left and teasing the ball around the post and from that point forward Syracuse never took their eye off the trophy and as dark fell and the flood lights illumined the field and smiling faces of the team the game was won. Final score 1 - 0 to EUSA Syracuse U16 Girls! Congratulations.