USYS Nationals: Philadelphia SC, Penn FC advance to finals

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Two teams from Pennsylvania are one win away from being crowned national champions at the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships in Orlando, Florida.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Philadelphia SC Coppa Rage 2005 girls booked their return trip to the final the hard way coming from behind with another goal from <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='45394' first='Gianna' last='Rivera']</strong> to tie it and a penalty kick goal from <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='41028' first='Isabella' last='Brown']</strong> to put Coppa Rage in front. Philadelphia SC has been on a mission since losing last year's final and Sunday they'll get a chance to make history not only for the club but for the city they call home. The last time a club from the city won a U.S. Youth Soccer national title was when Lighthouse SC boys won the U19 title in 1967. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Standing in Coppa Rage's way is the Minnesota club Tonka United. The game is slated to kick off at 8:45 a.m. Sunday. <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://go.redirectingat.com/?xcust=___sb__p_23039940__t_w__r_brotherlygame.com__d_D&amp;id=66960X1516590&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https://vimeo.com/showcase/9678336?video=732732638&amp;referrer=sbnation.com&amp;sref=https://www.brotherlygame.com/2022/7/23/23275899/philadelphia-sc-and-penn-fc-book-return-trips-to-u-s-youth-soccer-national-finals" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline">Live Stream Link</span></strong></a></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://x.com/epayouthsoccer/status/1550849268503793669?s=21u0026t=-ABmwKKA3fvWn_fVCqlo1Q","type":"rich","providerNameSlug":"twitter","responsive":true} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://x.com/epayouthsoccer/status/1550849268503793669?s=21&amp;t=-ABmwKKA3fvWn_fVCqlo1Q </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Penn FC Youth Lightning 2004 girls beat Tennessee SC 5-1 to get a chance to repeat as national champions. They play Galaxy SC in a final slated to kick off at 10:30 a.m. Sunday. <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://go.redirectingat.com/?xcust=___sb__p_23039940__t_w__r_brotherlygame.com__d_D&amp;id=66960X1516590&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https://vimeo.com/showcase/9678336?video=732721462&amp;referrer=sbnation.com&amp;sref=https://www.brotherlygame.com/2022/7/23/23275899/philadelphia-sc-and-penn-fc-book-return-trips-to-u-s-youth-soccer-national-finals" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline">Live Stream Link</span></strong></a></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='42066' first='Loren' last='Gehret']</strong> assisted on the first goal by <strong>Alex Murphy</strong> and scored her first two goals of the week in the convincing win for the Lightning. They were goals that have been coming for the rising Southern Columbia High School senior who is looking to add a national title to her 2021 Pennsylvania state title in her trophy case after joining with Penn FC earlier this year. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Jamie Swartz</strong> continued an impressive week in her last go around before starting her college career at James Madison with another goal and some more standout two-way play. Her goal was a rocketed shot that made it 3-1 after Tennessee had cut the lead to one, giving the Lightning the momentum right back after Tennessee had found a path back. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Kristen Economopoulos</strong> had the game-winning goal with an unreal left-footed strike from the corner of the box. Kristen had a similar bid for goal earlier in the week hit the crossbar and stay out but this one settled nicely into the back of the net after she made a defender miss with her right and put the ball on her left foot for the shot. Her goal gave all three Econ sisters a goal for the week. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://x.com/mattralph_tbg/status/1551067508286930946?s=21u0026t=-ABmwKKA3fvWn_fVCqlo1Q","type":"rich","providerNameSlug":"twitter","responsive":true} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://x.com/mattralph_tbg/status/1551067508286930946?s=21&amp;t=-ABmwKKA3fvWn_fVCqlo1Q </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Three other teams from the area came up short in semifinals played today. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Real Jersey FC 2006 girls conceded early on a ball that bounced over the goalkeeper's head and tied it up on a good goal from <strong>Makenzie McCready</strong>, who used her speed to get behind the defense and bury a chance, but weren't able to find an equalizer after giving up a second goal. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Yardley Makefield Soccer Celtic 2008 boys took the lead twice, in the first half on a goal from <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='157726' first='Sean' last='Fleming']</strong> off a corner kick by Abdullah Syed and in extra time when <strong>Reid VanDemark</strong> found <strong>Brendan Lawson</strong> on a great ball inside the box, but both times Toca FC had an answer to send the game to penalty kicks. YMS goalkeeper <strong>Billy Burke</strong> stepped up with a big save to give YMS the advantage in the second round of kicks but Toca FC fought their way back and after a miss from YMS and a save from their keeper were able to win the shootout. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Philadelphia Ukrainian Nationals 2005 boys were pushing for an equalizer down a goal when Galaxy SC tacked on a couple more goals late to win 3-0. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->