REDMOND, WASHINGTON – Thursday featured jubiliation, heartbreak, pain, triumph, tears, anger and satisfaction, all at one place in the same day.

There must be a national championship going on here.

The Elite Clubs National League’s first National Finals began here at 60 Acres Soccer Park, with semifinal matches in 3 age groups to go with more than 50 placement games featuring some of the top Girls clubs and teams in the country. In the end the championship matchups for Saturday were set, but perhaps more importantly, the legitimacy of this new competitive venture and the establishment of this event in particular as its centerpiece was cemented.

There was no questioning how much the players wanted to win here, and the fact is we finally have a national championship based largely on a team’s performance over an entire slate of league games, rather than just single elimination matches.

Now the league is still moving forward, with most of the rest of the major clubs in the country joining next season, and an expanded schedule to include regional stand-alone games to go with it, but a good number of the large contingent of college coaches on hand here commented that the quality present on the fields Thursday is impressive.

U15 Semifinals: Arsenal FC 3, CASL Spartan Elite 0; Dallas Sting 2, Eclipse Select 1

Cle Kooiman’s Arsenal side is a very well-coached unit with deserved to win Thursday. While Damon Nahas’ CASL side was unfairly pegged with a 3-goal deficit, the Arsenal team showed a great combination of tough tackling and creative attacking play.

The former came from Nebraska verbal Megan Borman and fellow midfielders SarahTeegarden and Brooke Boothe. Together they kept youth national team standout and rumored North Carolina verbal (as an 8^th grader) Joanna Boyles from having much of an impact on the match, especially in the 1^st half.

The latter came from USC verbal and standout forward Kaitlyn Johnson, who scored 3 highlight reel goals. First she beat three defenders inside the box before rolling the ball in. In the 2^nd half, she took a ball with her back to the goal, exquisitely turned her mark, ran in on goal and then when she appeared to be ready to go for a power finish, lashed out with her off foot for a surpise goal. On the third she got away with pulling back a defender to start the move, but again showed excellent control in beating 3 defenders before finishing off her hat trick for the final 3-0 scoreline.

Johnson said the team’s preparation from Kooiman, who has only been in charge of the group since March, makes a difference.

“We practice like we play,” Johnson said. Everything is hard and we pretend it’s like a game. Our coach makes us work hard. He’s a good coach.”

Tatu’s powerhouse Sting squad, which is also qualified for the U.S. Youth Soccer Nationals, went up 1-0 on a goal from a corner by Britt Blackwell. Paige Jarsombeck equalized early in the 2^nd half for Mike Nesci’s Eclipse team, but Caity Heap got the winner for Sting, also off a corner.

U16 Semifinals: Mustang Rampage 2, Crossfire Premier 0; PDA Charge 2, Stars of Massachusetts 1

The midfield for Joe Owen’s Mustang team had a strong grip on much of this game, putting the Crossfire backline of Laura Rayfield, Emma Hold, McKenna Swanson and Shayla Page under pressure. But the Washington team’s defensive quartet performed admirably, dealing with a high percentage of the attacks.

Mustang was bound to break through at some point, and their attack was buoyed a good bit by left back Jasmine Nickelberry, who was active going forward and possesses a good, hard shot.

Mustang went up late in the 1^st half with a very well-worked goal. Celeste Boureille played a great pass down the right flank for Allie Torru who , after running into the box and seemingly set for a 1v1 finish, pulled a pass back across her body to a blind spot where Torrus industriously ran onto the ball and finished with aplomb to make it 1-0 for Mustang.

Nickelberry created the 2^nd goal, midway through the 2^nd half, running in from the left and squaring a ball for SMU recruit Briana Gaines who hammered a finish home from 20 yards out.

Mustang goalkeeper Abby Steele, on her way to Oregon, was sharp throughout in keeping a clean sheet, coming off her line well and handling whatever offensive efforts Crossfire could muster.

In the other semifinal, Cory Persson had put Jason Dewhurst’s Stars team up early 1-0. Christa Camassa tied the game for PDA in the 2^nd half, then Amanda Dailey scored a late winner. There was more drama at the end of the match as Stars pressed forward valiantly in search of an equalizer, but PDA goalkeeper Lisa Capelli made a big save and defender Carly Black cleared a ball of the line to preserve the win for Mike O’Neill’s New Jersey side, setting up a transcontinental final.

U17 Semifinals: PDA Tsunami 3, Ohio Elite 2 (OT); Stars of Massachusetts 1, Lonestar SC 1 (Stars advance on penalties, 3-2).

This game featured two teams that wanted to attack and did. PDA had a couple of good early chances. Kaitlin Hogman went close with a shot and Stefanie Scholz’s header from Sarah Fichtner’s cross was saved well by Ohio Elite goalkeeper Kayla Price. On the other end, Ohio Elite sublime attacking midfielder Ellyn Gruber hit the crossbar with a brilliant individual effort.

But PDA went up 1-0 when Jessica Musmanno finished from short range after Amanda Flugstad-Clarke’s corner set off a scramble in front of goal. Ohio Elite made the halftime scored 1-1 when Kristin Leist made a great run down left wing, beating two defenders before her ever-so-lightly touched shot managed to elude PDA goalkeeper Lauren Viverito to the tie the score.

Ohio Elite’s Sarah Seig put her team on top with an opportunistic block of a goalkeeper clearance that ricocheted into the back of the net. That was a cue for PDA’s terrific attacking standout Danielle Colaprico. The Virginia recruit was putting on a show out wide, taking players on 1v1, slashing inside and out and generally making life miserable for the stretched Ohio Elite defense. It was Colaprico who eventually scored the equalizer, first-timing a pass from the active Kiki Foushee to make the score 2-2. Colaprico, Foushee and Daphne Corboz were all dangerous in the forward third, but the match went to overtime.

Gruber was sideline with severe cramping for Ohio, while the New Jersey side’s forward were continuing to attack. Price made a diving save to deny Foushee, and then another good stop on Corboz. The winner ended up coming via an own goal, as Colaprico’s dangerous serve was headed into the net by an Ohio defender, coming up against a strong aerial challenge from Foushee.

One final moment of drama remained as a 50-yard free kick from Ohio’s Lauren Colliver very nearly went in, but Viverito punched clear at the final moment and PDA was in the final.

In the other semifinal Hayley Brock puts Stars up early, but Satara Murray equalized for Lonestar. Stars were reduced to 10 players due to a red card given for verbal dissent, but the Jason Dewhurst’s side hung on to take the match to penalties.

In spot kicks, Stars’ goalkeeper Alex Johnson saved three and the Massachusetts’ side prevailed to set up a match vs. eastern rivals PDA. The game Saturday will mark the 7^th time the teams have faced each other this year, and Dewhurst noted the team beat the New Jersey team in all those meetings.

All of which will matter not a single iota when the teams lace up their cleats on Saturday.