BEAVERCREEK, OHIO – After three days of group stage matches, the number of teams still alive in the U.S. Youth Soccer Region II Championships has narrowed to 56, four semifinalist in each of 14 age groups (U13 to U19 Boys and Girls).

An interesting tale is told from the breakdown of the three regional divisions in TopDrawerSoccer.com’s system, that make up Region II. Those regions are the Great Lakes (Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and Kentucky), the Midwest (Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota) and the Heartland (North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska).

It’s the Great Lakes teams who win hands down in adding up the qualifiers, with 26 from those states compared to 16 from the Midwest and 14 from the Heartland. The top individual states were Ohio with 10, Michigan with 9 and Illinois with 8.

But now it’s about clubs and teams, and who can sustain a high level of performance through a 4th and 5th consecutive day of games.

Players had better conditions to play in overall, Monday, with an overnight thunderstorm leaving overcast skies and mostly cooler conditions, especially earlier in the day.

U17 Girls: Ohio Elite 3, Cleveland FC 2
A thrilling game capped off by a late game-winning goal from Ohio State verbal commit Ellyn Gruber, who was dynamite in this contest. Gruber was active in the forward third and together with her teammates on Doug Bracken’s team, combined very well and quickly in the forward third. The team needed the win to advance to the semifinal.

Erin Yenney had put the Cincinnati-area team up 1-0 early, but Cleveland’s Meghan Giesen answered back to make it 1-1. Gruber then scored her first goal of the game to make the halftime score 2-1 for Ohio Elite.

Cleveland’s Alaina Jordan broke through on the left to tie the game, but Gruber scored the winner from close range. Gruber said her team is focused on doing well in this event and beyond.

“We’ve been training for this all year. It was really important for us to win that game,” Gruber said. “Our first game we didn’t play as well but we’ve progressed each game in this tournament..

Gruber said the team’s ability to work together isn’t so much a case of long-term experience.

“We have a lot of new players actually, but I think the athleticism and the instincts kind of takes over,” she said.

U13 Boys: Minnesota Thunder Academy 1, Concordia Royal SC 1
This was meaningless according to the standings, with Sockers FC having already qualified from the group, but the match that took place on the field looked like it meant a lot, with a couple of well-coached teams really getting after it and playing some good soccer.

In the end, Minnesota earned a draw on the last play of the game, as Tanner Carlson headed home a rebound from a free kick by  Mukwelle Akale that struck the bar. There was a dispute about whether the free kick should have been awarded since the assistant referee had flagged for offside on the foul call, but the referee ruled the goal should stand.

The very speedy Akale was dangerous all day for Minnesota, and Julian Castro scored a nice opener late in the 1st half. Goalkeepers Anders Severson (Minnesota) and Mikal Outcalt (Concordia) both turned in some excellent saves. Other standouts on the day included Dominic Grida, Cory Smigel, Kevin Ludwig, Mo Mustafa, Gage Jarvis and Andrew Shepherd for the Cleveland-area club, and Javier Al-Contra, Kevin Hoof, Jacob Sphatt and Kyle Fenske for Minnesota.

U14 Boys: Cincinnati United Premier 2, Sockers FC 0
This match saw the Chicago area side control a lot of the possession, especially in the 1st half, fail to find the back of the net. Cincinnati were much more ruthless with their chances, getting 1st half goals from Jack Clark (in the opening minutes) and Dominic Isadore (with a header from a free kick by Thor Beccdahl. Wesley Mink was solid in the CUP goal while the defensive unit of Caleb Griffith, Josh Grant, GabeWelp, Thomas Moore and Hunter Stiger held tight under sustained pressure from Sockers.

For the Chicagoans, a very sound technical team, Cesar Alba, Michael Chang, Lee Gualano, Ivan Mancilla, Nicolas Vogel and Kyle Thomson stood out, but the goals never came and CUP advanced to the semifinals.

SEMIFINAL PAIRINGS (Matches Tuesday)

U13 Boys
St. Louis Scott Gallagher  vs. Lexington FC (KY)
Sockers FC (IL) vs. Heartland FC (IA)

U13 Girls
Michigan Hawks vs. KC Metro Dynamos
JB Marine Wipke (MO) vs. SFSC Lady Bluez (IN)

U14 Boys
Carmel United (IN) vs. Cincinnati United Premier
Eclipse Select (IL) vs. Bavarian Juniors (WI)

U14 Girls
Vardar 96 (MI) vs. Michigan Hawks
St. Louis Scott Gallagher vs. Sockers FC (IL)

U15 Boys
Sockers SC (IL) vs. Vardar (MI)
Carmel United (IN) vs. Minnesota Thunder Academy

U15 Girls
Michigan Hawks vs. JB Marine Wipke (MO)
Blast FC (OH) vs. Kansas City FC (KS)

U16 Boys
Lou Fusz SC (MO) vs. Grand Rapids SC (MI)
Waza FC (MI) vs. Cleveland FC (OH)

U16 Girls
Naperville Fury (IL) vs. FC Milwaukee (WI)
Kansas City FC (KS) vs. Minnesota Thunder Academy

U17 Boys
Westside United (IN) vs. WSO United Thunder (KS)
Croatian Eagles (WI) vs. St. Louis Scott Gallagher (MO)

U17 Girls
Ohio Elite vs. Michigan Hawks
Mockingbird SC (KY) vs. Ohio Premier Eagles  

U18 Boys
Javanon 92 (KY) vs. Cincinnati United Premier
Kansas City FC Strikers (KS) vs. Shattuck St. Marys (MN)

U18 Girls
Eclipse Select (IL) vs. CASA (OH)
Internationals (OH) vs. FC Milwaukee

U19 Boys
St. Louis Scott Gallagher vs. Kansas City Wizards (KS)
Crew Juniors (OH) vs. Waza FC (MI)

U19 Girls
Minnesota Thunder Academy vs. Eclipse Select (IL)
Ohio Elite vs. FC Milwaukee