The 83 Gold

team, coached by technical director David Chadwick and

assistant Kevin Dumas, won one and lost two in the

competition. More importantly, the team was able to

showcase its talent for numerous college coaches around

the country.

Their first

game against Oakwood SC (Connecticut state champions) was

tied 0-0 at the half. Oakwood scored a late goal against

the flow of play in the second half to win 1-0. The

second game was similar to the first game. The Lightning

lost 2-1 after pounding on the Richmond Striker goal and

simply running out of time.

third game, Lightning were getting used to the different

substitution patterns used in a showcase format, and

their three excellent guest players: Blake Camp from

RYSA, Gordon Eli Kelso from Athens, and Charlie Roberts

from GSA.

The boys

finally put it all together and played up to the

"Lightning standard." The team dominated the

San Juan Lightning (California North state champions, and

Region IV finalists) from the opening whistle and went on

to win 4-1.

In addition

to the three games, the team received front row tickets

to both NCAA semi-final games and the championship game,

all at Ericsson Stadium, home of the NFL's Carolina

Panthers. The players also participated in an Adidas

soccer forum which discussed college life, and was

followed by a Q and A session with Eddie Pope and Jeff

Agoos of DC United.