GREENSBORO, North Carolina – It took nearly 2½ hours, but Real Tuzos '98 pulled off the one of the biggest upsets at the National Cup XIII Finals on Sunday.

Real Tuzos '98's semifinal victory over Monarcas Academy in a penalty-kick shootout sends them on to the U16 Boys Super Group's championship game.

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Real Tuzos '98 will face BW Gottschee – a 5-0 winner over Bloomfield SC United in Sunday's other semifinal match – for the group title Monday morning at the Bryan Park Soccer Complex.

After battling through two 45-minute regulation halves and a pair of 10-minute overtime periods without a goal allowed, it came down to the penalty-kick shootout.

Real Tuzos '98 hit all five of its shots, and Monarcas Academy made its first four. But Efrain Serrano, Monarcas' fifth shooter, bounced his shot off the right post, sending Real Tuzos' players racing into the field in celebration.

Monarcas Academy was the top seed in the semifinals, advancing out of round-robin play with a 2-0-1 record (seven points), while Real Tuzos '98 (1-0-2, five points) made it into the semifinals as the No. 4 after losing out in a goal-differential tiebreaker with Bloomfield SC United. BW Gottschee (2-1-0, six points) was the No. 2 seed.

 

U17 BOYS SUPER GROUP SEMIFINALS

UFA N.J. Strikers 2, Annandale United FC '96 1 (OT)

Peter Hall scored early in overtime to give the Strikers a victory over United FC '96 to advance to Monday's championship game.

Hall, a Manhattan College commit, scored in the 93^rd minute to put UFA ahead to stay in a tense semifinal showdown against Annandale.

UFA will now play Washington United Lightning in Monday's championship game. The Lightning advanced to the finals by blanking Ramapo Valley Tornadoes Red 1-0 in the other semifinal match.

The Strikers had taken the lead late in the first half on Kevin Primich's 35-yard free kick at the 35^th minute, but United FC '96 tied the match early in the second half on Daniel Levetown's bloop header over UFA keeper Joshua Samuels.

UFA had advanced to the semifinals by finishing first in Group B and second overall with a 2-0-1 record (seven points), just behind Washington United Lightning (3-0-0, nine points) and ahead of Annandale (2-1-0, six points) and Ramapo Valley (1-0-2, five points).

 

U15 GIRLS SUPER GROUP

NVSC United '98 Blue 4, FC Copa Celeste 0

Northern Virginia SC (NVSC) United '98 Blue advanced to Monday's championship round with its shutout victory over FC Copa Celeste in their final round-robin match Sunday.

Midfielder Clara Robbins scored two first-half goals and assisted on a third in staking United '98 Blue to a 3-0 halftime lead, and goalkeeper Logan Nguyen benefitted from a stingy defense for her third shutout of the tournament.

Robbins' first goal put NVSC in the lead just two minutes into Sunday's match, and she scored again off a free kick at the 26^th minute. Robbins then set up forward Myra Konte with a crossing shot for a score nine minutes later.

United '98 Blue added an insurance goal in the second half on reserve forward Taylor Guy's score at the 67^th minute.

NVSC will now face Maplebrook SA Rush Premier – which tied with United '98 Blue for the best record in round-robin play at 2-0-1 (seven points) – in Monday's championship game. Maplebrook advanced after shutting out IMG Academy 2-0 in its round-robin finale Sunday.

 

U14 GIRLS SUPER GROUP

North Rockland Rowdies 0, SAC United Premier 0

A defensive battle between the Rowdies and the Premier led to a scoreless tie in the next-to-last day of round-robin play in the U14 Girls Super Group.

The tie left North Rockland (2-1-2, eight points) in second place in the group standings, just behind St. Louis Scott Gallagher (SLSG) Illinois (3-0-2, 11 points), with both team having one game remaining in round-robin play.

The Rowdies need to win against Sparta United SC '00 Premier (1-2-3, six points) in Monday's finale, while hoping that SLSG Illinois loses its match against Hoosier FC 99-00 Elite Wolves (1-0-4, seven points) to have a shot at winning the group championship.

In Monday's final round-robin match, Surf Hawaii White 00 (1-2-2, five points) will play Freehold Celtic (1-3-1, four points).