Congratulations to the U17 CASA Krew in their recent participation in the 2009 Region III Presidents Cup. The CASA Krew qualified for the region III tournament by winning the Publix Presdents Medal State Cup last fall. The Krew's state cup final was a thiller in which they scored two goals in the final ten minutes over CESA's '91 Classic. The final score stood at 2-0 for CASA which gave them an automatic birth into the regional tournament.

The regional tournament fielded many well known teams such as the Houston Express (TX), MSC Strikers (TN), CESA (SC), Miami Stars (FL), and CASL (NC) to name a few. The field was broken up into three brackets of four which represented a total of eleven states within the region. On the first day of games CASA came away with a 1-1 draw against the River Region Rapids out of Alabama. The game was close as both teams had many opportunities to take the go ahead goal. In the second game CASA squared off against a national club powerhouse; CASL Premier out of NC. CASA had their fair share of opportunities but could not capitalize and ended up losing 1-0 in dramitic fashion. The strong CASL team was the team to beat at the tournament as they went on to take home the championship. In CASA's final pool game they squared off against the Peachtree Ridge Lions out of Georgia. CASA came out slow and seemed to be on the defense the majority of the first half. After a few adjustments at half time by Coach Dave English, CASA attacked in fluries and seemed to have the game in their sight. CASA struggled to find the back of the goal even though they were very dynamic in creating chances in their oposition's final third. The game ended in a 1-1 draw.

The draw ended any chance of CASA advancing out of group play. In the end CASA showed strong against some of the best teams in their region and definitally showed that they belonged. We at CASA are excited to see how these boys will add onto their past success and how they will leap forward in the 2009 fall season.