The semi-final match was against the ’93 A team from own club. Our own boys, the ’93 Black team, had 13 players and just over an hour to rest before the match, compared against the ’93 A team with 15 players, and nearly 24 hours rest. But at the same time, while the A team had most of their ODP players available,  they were without their two starting forwards. The match got underway about 15 minutes late, and quickly saw the difference between the two teams. While our own boys were all about quicker short movement, the A team had a much longer game. And though the first half ended in a scoreless draw the run of play seemed to favor the ’93 Black team who just seemed sharper (perhaps because they had just played earlier).

The start of the second half saw more of the same. Two different styles of play. ’93 Black worked it in with short passes, ’93 A sending it long to a fast forward. And the short game saw the early dividends. #11 Rohan received the ball at top the box looked to shoot but chose to flick the ball on to #21 Austin who was positioned off the left post. Austin received the ball, closed the distance a few more yard and put it in on the near post. ’93 Black was up by a goal.

And for another 5-10 minutes the ’93 Black team kept up the pressure with a couple of dangerous chances and a pair of corner kicks that almost saw them up by two. But with about 15 minutes left in the match they simply ran out of gas. Two matches in 3 hours against a fully rested larger squad of generally more athletic players proved to be too much. Each incursion by the ’93 A team made it deeper into the '93 Black end of the field with the '93 Black team unable to find the energy to push up afterwards. Eventually our own forwards were camped just outside the D, and the ’93 A defense was parked at the bottom of the circle. And even if the team did push up, it wasn’t clear that they would have been able to run back to catch the fast forwards on the long balls.

The first goal by the ’93 A team was a bit lucky on an impossible angle and the ’93 Black keeper was at least partially screened. But the second goal was well deserved and the ’93 A team went on to win. Perhaps it was for the better as the finals match would have been our third start of the day in less than 5 hours time against yet another more rested, larger squad in the HPFC Heat team who went on to win the tournament. Crossfire 93 Black 1, Crossfire ’93 A 2

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The third match of the tournament, the first on Sunday, was against an unknown Pumas Unam team from "Seattle’s Official Soccer School". Unknown or not, the Pumas were not without talent and the Crossfire team had difficulty coping with their speed and physical play. Still, Crossfire were able to get on the board early. #11 Rohan had done an end run around their left defender, and passed to #32 Jesse in the middle. Jesse got a shot off, but it was blocked by another defender. The rebound landed short and onto the left foot of a waiting #9 Jonathan who buried the ball inside the right post. But the Pumas quickly countered with a miraculous cross that drifted long and curved just enough to hit the inside of the far post to level the match.

After break saw more of the same. Crossfire was stringing together small series’ of passes but were mostly stopped short by the fast and physical Pumas defense. That was until #21 Austin coming down the left side with the ball made a last second pass inside to #11 Rohan, who took it in a few more yards and as the Pumas defender closed Rohan made a last second flick over to #28 Shawn who rifled the ball inside the right post to put the team back on top. But the Pumas did not give up and were able to take advantage of a Crossfire miscommunication and level the match a few minutes before full time.

On an adjacent field the NW Nationals finished with full points to go up with 20 for the tournament. Crossfire needed a win, a draw, or a loss with at least three goals to advance. The Pumas tried to kick things up a notch hoping to catch the Crossfire defense with a combination of speed and long balls, but time ran out. Crossfire came away with a draw and advanced to the semi-finals. Crossfire 2, Pumas Unam 2

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The second match of the Spring Classic was against the NW Nationals A team who came to the match sporting more than half a dozen ODP players, and it showed. The had excellent ball movement, and maintained possession for minutes at a time with most of that time spent in the Crossfire defensive end. But the NW Nationals could never seem to piece together the series to get through the Crossfire defense. At the same time Crossfire was finding it difficult penetrating the NW midfield and had to resort to longer sending balls.

Eventually, #3 Alex found himself with the ball inside the NW box with one defender to beat. Alex flipped the ball inside the defender and tried to go around the outside. But the defender stepped out on Alex and checked him to the ground. Then there was a whistle and a guy in a yellow shirt pointing to the mark. There was no discussion on who was taking the kick. #3 Alex wasn’t letting anyone near the ball. Alex passed the ball low to the right. The keeper guessed correctly and had a good extension, but the ball passed a few centimeters from his outstretched glove and into the right side netting.

And that was pretty much it. The NW Nationals continued to control the match and for the last 15 minutes pressed deeply into the Crossfire defensive end. But for all the ball movement The Nationals were only able to muster a few shots over the bar, and a sizeable collection of corner kicks that, in the end, amounted to nothing. #1 Seth and the defense picked up their first shutout of the year. Crossfire 1, NW Nationals 0

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The team kicked things off at 8:00 AM on Saturday against Eugene Metro FC - a Gold Premier team from Oregon. It took a while for the boys to get into their groove with no score at the break. But in the second half, once their passing game was in gear, Crossfire started pressuring the Eugene defense. #28 Shawn was moving down the right side and into the box when he was cut down by a Eugene Metro defender. After a brief discussion on who would take the spot kick, Shawn buried the ball into the back left of the net.

The second goal also started on the foot of #28 Shawn. Shawn was moving to the right from the center of the box. As a Eugene defender tracked him down Shawn popped a short chip over his head to #3 Alex waiting at the mark. Alex brought the ball down and one timed a powerful half volley into the back left of the net - to put the boys up by two.

Shortly after, Eugene FC made a quick run and were able to get on the board to reduce the gap to one. But the gap was restored quickly after that with #32 Jesse evading several defenders before being mown down about 6 yards from the goal by the same defender who took out #28 Shawn earlier in the match. This time #19 Hunter took the kick. The keeper guessed correctly, but the ball was hard and low on the ground and into the left side netting. Crossfire was back up by two.

Eugene Metro worked hard to close the gap against an equally hard working Crossfire squad, but the Oregon team were also fighting an uphill battle against the officials. They had suffered a few yellow cards because of dissent and then suffered a red card for unsporting behavior. Once Eugene was down to 10 players, the match was out of reach. Crossfire 3, Eugene Metro 1

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