The Rush U-12 girls are Junior State Cup champions. Coached by Adam Hunter, the girls used smothering defense and clutch goal scoring to post three wins, no losses and one tie in the round-robin tournament at the Overland Park Soccer Complex.
After their final victory of the tournament, the girls gave Hunter the traditional water bath, emptying their jugs and bottles over the coach’s head in celebration. “I’m very proud of you,” Hunter told the girls before they joined hands for the final “Rush” chant of the season. Hunter said it was the third state championship won by Rush Wichita.
Using a 3-1-3 formation, the Rush allowed only one goal the entire tournament. “To only concede one goal in all four games against some pretty quality opposition was really fantastic,” Hunter said. “It was a good effort by the kids to have a physical presence and challenge for balls.”
In Game 1 of the Junior Cup on Saturday, the Rush girls pulled the upset of the tournament, knocking off top-seeded defending champion Sporting Blue Valley Mallorca 1-0. Rush limited Blue Valley’s normally potent offense and scored off a corner kick in the second half, a goal that had Hunter pumping his fist. “Huge win,” Hunter said. “For most of the year we talked about possessing the ball and getting it wide and finding feet. In this game, we flipped the script and played more direct and kind of muddied the game up a bit. I thought the Sporting team fell into that trap pretty quick, which was nice because they kept giving the ball back to us. Playing three wide in the back made it pretty difficult for them. We didn’t get many chances, but fortunately we put one away on that corner kick.” The victory over Sporting Blue Valley put Rush in command of the tournament.
In Game 2 later in the day, Rush survived a flat performance to tie KC Legends Revolution 1-1. On Sunday morning, the refreshed Rush made fairly easy work of Toca FC, winning 3-0. Sporting Blue Valley had won its three other games, so the challenge was clear for the Rush: Win the final game and become Junior State Cup champs, while a loss meant second place. Hunter was confident. “I went into the final day thinking it was ours to lose,” he said.
The U-12 Rush girls were more than up to the season’s final task, dominating a sister team from the Kansas Rush Academy in Kansas City 3-0. The Rush outscored the opposition 8-1 and finished with 10 points. Sporting Blue Valley, which had a 15-4 goal-scoring advantage, was right behind with nine points. After the game, the girls received hugs from friends and family and proudly wore their state championship medals. Hunter said the tournament experience was “very special” for him and the girls. “To win a state championship at such a young age is something not every player gets to do,” Hunter said. “I’ve been coaching in this club for a long time, and it’s only the third state championship the club has won. I was just as invested in winning it as everybody else.”
The U-12 Junior State Cup championship roster included Aimee Nunez, Anna Fisher, Aubrey Winter, Cam Dinkla, Elizabeth Orme, Ellie Geoffroy, Emma Kolbe, Grace Long, Kaitlyn Erwin, Kellyn Barclay, Logan Riley, Madison Wingler and Peyton Martin-Peterson.
-- Kollen Long