The Santa Barbara Orange Crush 10U AYSO team won the Section 10 League Championship over the weekend to continue their stellar season.
The Orange Crush opened the weekend with a trio of high-scoring wins over Chatsworth/Porter Ranch (7-2), San Luis Obispo (9-1) and Culter/Orosi (5-1).
In the semifinal matchup against Encino, Santa Barbara earned an overtime victory in penalty kicks to advance to the championship.
The championship game was another dramatic one, as the Orange Crush pulled out a win in penalty kicks once again over the Santa Barbara Chicken Fingers to earn the title.
“This team continues to find new ways to win games,” coach Chris Runquist said. “Sometimes, it’s our striker attacking up the middle of the field. Other times, it’s our wingers dribbling up the sidelines, crossing the ball or shooting from different angles.
“Often, our center back is able to keep possession and distribute the ball to create plays. And our defense has mostly kept the ball out of our half of the field. In the Section finals, our goalie was able to deny our opponent on all five of their overtime kicks from the mark. Their remarkable success has truly been a team effort.”
The Orange Crush has not lost a game this season, going 22-0 while outscoring opponents 173-22. To go along with winning the Section 10 title, they also finished first in Region 122 and won the Area 10W Tournament.
They will now move on to the Western States Championship on March 16 at Lake Forest Sports Park.
Players who competed in the Section 10 championships were Abe Motola, Anders Runquist, Cristian Balfour-Ritchie, Davin Clapinski, Jase Hooper, Jude Duncan, Sylvester Bunker and Titus Cockrell. The team is coached by Chris Runquist and Gus Duncan.