Gloucester's Fishermen Youth Soccer qualified four teams for the Essex County Youth Soccer Association playoffs which were played this past weekend at Pingree School in Hamilton.
Of the four teams Fishermen Youth Soccer sent two teams to the finals and two teams to next weekends Massachusetts Tournament of Champions Round with the U18 Cape Ann United Mettle taking home the ECYSA title and moving on to the Massachusetts Tournament of Champions next weekend in Lancaster along with U16 boy squad Gloucester Riptide.
Cape Ann United clinched the title with a 3-1 win over Ipswich in Sunday's final. Cape Ann, a team that is comprised of players from all four Cape Ann cities and towns, controlled play throughout the first half against an undermanned Ipswich squad and took a 3-1 lead into the break holding onto the lead in the second half. Goalie AJ Bertolino made several key stops in the final match.
The U16 boys squad Riptide had a successful weekend despite falling short of the championship. Riptide made it all the way to the finals before falling to North Andover 2-0.
North Andover, who played Riptide early in the regular season to a draw, took a 1-0 lead on a penalty kick goal in the first half and put home an insurance goal in the second half to seal the win and the championship.
Despite the loss Gloucester Riptide will still be heading to the Mass. Tournament of Champions as a Wild Card team.
In U14 girls action Fishermen Youth Soccer's Pefect Storm entered the tournament as the No. 10 seed but pulled off a first round upset before dropping a heartbreaking 2-1 decision to No. 2 Andover in a shootout in the quarter final round.
Perfect Storm breezed through round one with a 3-1 win and nearly pulled off a second upset over Andover. Perfect Storm got a goal from Micaiah Sidell with 15 minutes to play giving her team a 1-0 lead but Andover would come back to tie the score at 1-1 with five minutes to play in the contest.
"It was one of the gutsiest and better performances I had seen in some time," head coach Dean Sidell said. "The girls never gave up answering everything Andover had to throw at them with a counter attack. It was a tough way to lose a game but I am proud of the entire team."
After two five minute overtime periods could not decide a winner the teams went to a shootout where Grace Gustiffaro hit on her first attempt. Perfect Storm, however, was shut out the rest of the away falling 2-1 in the shootout and 2-1 in the math.
The U14 boys squad Thunder also competed this weekend winning its quarterfinal matchup over Marblehead 2-1 before falling to Boxford 2-1 in the semi finals.
