FC Alliance girls 97 team wins tournament in Spain

Alexa Iacolucci, Rachael Moulton, and Maria Zahajko
at the closing ceremonies in San Sebastian, Spain
Photo by Alejandro Zahajko

By Alejandro Zahajko, Coach

Four incoming Shorecrest freshmen led FC Alliance girls 97 team to an unprecedented tournament championship in  Spain. Alexa Iacolucci, Rachael Moulton, Sophia Viviano, and Maria Zahajko went to 2012 Donosti Cup in San Sebastian, Spain with hopes of appreciating a new culture, seeing some incredible sites, and playing some soccer. However, not only did they experience enchanting Spain, these girls were the first team from the west coast to win the prestigious Donosti Cup in Spain in a stadium that holds over 45,000 fans.

On July 7, 2012 the FC Alliance girls played in Anoeta Stadium for the 21st annual Donosti Cup U14 championship. They beat the local team Tolosa FC 3-0 in the final. Sophia Viviano scored the opening goal just 3 minutes into the match. On a 30 yard run to goal, Viviano got behind the defense and with her left foot (she’s right footed), she hammered home a shot that opened the scoring. Former Ridgecrest student Careena Alaoui scored the second before Rachael Moulton from Lake Forest Park closed the scoring with a 30 yard shot early in the second half.

The final was only anticlimactic because the game was decided early. The match of the tournament occurred on July 6 at 3pm local time. The girls faced off against Athletico Madrid in the quarter final knock out game.  AM was the pre tournament favorite and is a storied Spanish club on the male side and many accolades on the women’s side as well.  It was a tight match with few scoring opportunities. The FC Alliance girls had a couple of chances at goal but couldn’t come up with a goal. Athletico didn’t have much but on one play a deflected ball found the foot a forward and she chipped towards goal but Alexa Iacolucci did an over the head (rockette style) clearance that prevented the winning goal. Minutes later the final whistle blew and the game was headed to the dreaded penalty kicks.

The FCA girls had been in 3 penalty kick shootouts. They were 2 and 1 going into this one. Shockingly, the first two shooters for FCA missed. However, the FCA GK, Kristen Barclay was on her game in the shootout. Remarkably, she saved 3 of 5 shots taken. Meghan Tveit hit the 5th shot and the FCA girls moved on. The Athletico Madrid girls collapsed to the ground in tears with the shocking result.

In the semi finals, Sophia Viviano scored the only goal of the game to beat UK Elite. Despite the British name, this team was comprised of all stars from across the US.

In the thrill of a lifetime, the girls played on the same field that Leo Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and David Beckham glorified. The setting for the final was at Real Sociedad’s home field, Anoeta Stadium. The girls were paraded onto the field with over 1,000 fans in the seats. With the victory, the story was prominent in the local newspaper and then scooped back home by the Washington State soccer news and the Bothell Reporter, where FC Alliance is located.

The team consists of: Careena Alaoui, Kristen Barclay, Alicia Barker, Sara Christensen, Kat Deboodt, Ciara DeGraff, Erin Edmonds, Elizabeth Holmdahl, Alexa Iacolucci, Jordan Lemieux, Rachael Moulton, Meghan Tveit, Sierra Utton, Sophia Viviano and Maria Zahajko.