PHOENIX⁠—Washington EPD teams kicked off Day 2 of the ODP West Championships with a bang, especially the Boys 03 squad, who scored a dramatic winner against rivals California South to notch a 2-1 result and get one step closer to the semifinals. 

The squad, coached by former Seattle Sounders pros James Riley and Amadou Sanyang (as well as Lamar Neagle and Steve Zakuani, who did not travel with the team to Phoenix) went down 1-0 early but came back to win it courtesy of two brilliant goals by Fynn Allmon. Riley spoke after the game, talking about how his team did everything right after going down a goal early. “Great win, all credit to the guys, they came out, they battled, they executed the gameplan to perfection against a very good Cal South team. Definitely over the moon for the guys as they put in the effort and saw the result. This is the first step, we want to continue and progress throughout the tournament.”

 

Allmon, the goalscorer, also talked about how good it was to cap off a great team win with his goals. “We were down 1-0 for most of the game, but the team came together and they were able to slot me in with two great balls from my teammates, and I was able to just put them away. It’s a great feeling.” Allmon also identified a few key aspects of his coach’s tactics and his team’s performance that led to the win. “We didn’t give up, we kept working hard. Cal South is a team that’s always great, always super strong and super competitive. But Washington stepped up and we were able to get the win.” Riley praised the match-winner as well, “great goal, Fynn came in and talked to me yesterday and said he didn’t think he played to his standard, I said no problem, you have a few games to make a good reaction, and he came in and two great goals for us. So the last one being a game-winner was fantastic.”

Another strong showing this morning came from the Girls 04 squad from Eastern Washington, who continued their perfect start to the tournament with a 2-1 win over their rivals to the south, Oregon. Girls 03 put up a nice fight against Arizona, securing a 1-1 draw ahead of their final group match this afternoon.

Lots more games to come, both in today’s group play and tomorrow’s semifinals. Stay tuned for more!