Making that trip next Friday are Jamestown’s Brielle Berg, Kinsley Berg, Amy Noll and Southwestern’s Mackenzie Rogers.

“For the youth soccer part of it, this is probably going to be the highlight of their career,” Erie FC assistant coach Jake Berg said about the girls heading to nationals. “Experiencing something like this at the youth level.”

The team coached by Elvir Vila qualified for nationals after a terrific showing at the Midwest Regional National cup tournament in Chicago, going undefeated in its group and posting semifinal and championship victories to book their ticket to Denver.

“They play in a league called the National Premier League and through that league they got to qualify for regionals,” Berg said about the team. “Surprisingly, they did super well and won regionals. We knew they were going to compete, but the girls played out of their minds.”

Jamestown’s Kinsley Berg, left, and Amy Noll hold the regional trophy. Submitted photo

On the warpath to Denver, the girls defeated Minnesota Thunder Academy 4-1, FC Wisconsin ECNL RL 2-1 and tied Ohio Premier Futbol Club OPFC 1-1 to win their group. Then, in the semifinals, they defeated Cincinnati Elite FC 1-0 and won it all with a 1-0 decision over St. Louis Scott Gallagher IL ECNL RL.

The girls allowed just three goals the whole tournament and posted clean sheets in the elimination games. However, what makes it even more impressive was doing it against teams of an even higher competition level.

“On the girls’ side there is ECNL which is the top tier,” Berg added. “There is ECNL RL and ECNL NPL, most of the teams we played are ECNL RL, which is technically a level above us. But the girls didn’t have any issues playing teams that recruit at a higher level, get more exposure to colleges and all that kind of stuff.”

There was not just one girl who stood out from the team, but everyone — including the four local girls — brought their best game to get the job done.

“We’re much more technical, we held more possession than most of the girls,” Berg said about the team. “All the girls worked their butts off. Brielle, my daughter, she’s the captain of the team, but you can’t just label one girl. It’s one of those things where they all played amazing, all the Jamestown girls are starters on the team. Mackenzie Rogers from Southwestern and Brielle are basically defenders, then Kinsley Berg and Amy Noll are more on the attacking side and they all contributed like crazy throughout the whole tournament.”

Jamestown’s Brielle Berg is a key defender for the Erie FC team that will be heading to nationals next weekend. Submitted photo

After a week break, the accomplishments at the regional tournament are behind the girls and they have been focusing their training on nationals in Denver.

Not only will the level of competition increase, but the girls will have to compete in difficult conditions of a higher elevation.

“We’ve been training on Monday and Wednesday,” Berg said. “We gave them a week off in between, and we actually added in a requirement to them to be running a mile a day and 20 minutes of sprints each day just because the elevation is much different. We’re trying to get them acclimated to the difference in elevation, it’s going to be harder to breathe so your lungs are going to have to be extra strong for this experience.”

The team will head down two days before the competition begins next Sunday, but other than that the training and team strategy has remained much of the same. Coach Berg and Vira will begin to look at the team’s competition this upcoming week and prepare gameplans for a great finish.

The girls’ success has been a result of their hard work and dedication to the sport which included expanding their horizons to a team like Erie FC.

Southwestern’s Mackenzie Rogers is a key defender for the Erie FC team that will be heading to nationals next weekend. Submitted photo

“I coached all of these girls locally for years,” Berg said about the girls. “Eventually, you kind of grow out of a team. The rule is, if you’re one of the best players on the team you have to find a new team to play on. When that happened a few years ago, we did our scouting and checked out a few clubs in the area up from Buffalo and Erie. Erie FC was a perfect fit for us because of the style of play and the level that they played at. Most of these girls have been thriving in the higher level, it’s what they needed. Obviously, it takes more work and dedication, the travel a few times a week and almost every weekend we’re in Pittsburgh, or Cleveland, or Cincinnati or Columbus playing. There’s a lot of good soccer players locally, but a lot of them don’t dedicate themselves to the sport and these girls have and it’s really starting to show.”

The competition begins next Sunday with 10 teams divided into two groups and Erie FC will be a part of Group B with six teams from Manta United Soccer Club, Sporting Iowa Central, Legends FC San Bernardino, Cabosa Shreveport United and CO Elevation FC. The event will also be hosted at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park where the Colorado Rapids of the MLS play.