November 18-- As darkness fell on Sunday evening there was still one BRYC All Star squad that had unfinished business.  Earlier in the day eleven other BRYC teams had played for tournament championships.  Five of them had came close and earned handsome Finalist trophies for their weekend effort.  Six of them had finished their tournament on a winning note and brought home tournament Chammpionships.  Coach John Kelleher’s U19 Boys, the Strykers, were intent on making it seven! 

After two really hard-fought battles earlier in the day, a 3-2 win over Prince William followed by a shootout victory over the Northern Virginia Soccer Club in mid-afternoon, it would be a test of wills against a second team from perrenial powerhouse Prince William that would test the boys in the final, under the lights at Lake Fairfax Park.  With the score knotted at 2-2 as regulation time expired, the final match of the Herndon tournament would once again come down to peanlty kicks.  The boys had broken the BRYC PK jinx earlier, but could they do it a second time?  Yes they could!  Congratulations to John and the Strykers for a great tournament.

There’s no way to do justice to the eleven other squads who also came home with tournament hardware, but congratulations are also due to the other six tournament champions: the U9 Boys coached by David Ross and Andy McBride; the U11 Boys coached by Scott DiRocco; the U11 Girls coached by John Decker and Uwe Mobius (see the story of their thrilling tournament win now posted on the U11/12 Girls page) ; the U12 Boys coached by Mauricio Milian (who has now coached many of the boys to three consecutive tournament championships)  and Kevin Ross; and both BRYC teams of U12 Girls, coached by Jon Fredrick, Ed Gagermeier, Tom Mastal and Tom Small.  Joining the list of proud trophy-earning BRYC squads are five Finalists:  Coach (and All Star Tournament Coordinator) Anthony Pagano’s U9 Boys; Mohamed Diaw’s U10 Boys; Tracy Seamans’ U10 Girls; John Beattie’s and David Knight’s U14 Boys; And James and Joan Sullivan’s U16 Girls.  They all came oh-so-close! 

To the other seven BRYC squads in the U9-U19 age groups...all reports are that you played hard and played fairly, but it wasn’t meant to be this season.  Your efforts haven’t gone unnoticed and your good sportsmanship has won priase for BRYC.  Thank you.  And for the five squads of U8 boys and girls playing in their first All Star tournmament "just for the fun of it", congratulations on earning that first All Star patch.  We hope you’re all registered for the spring season, hoping to experience the thrill of being an All Star once again!

Here are just a few pictures tournament photos, with many others posted on the individual league pages.