By Joe Malan, Staff Writer
Amid a windy, cold and wet weekend, the Enid Pumas ‘91 team won a tournament that featured a team which qualified for a national soccer tournament.
The Pumas, a team comprised of 16-to-19-year-olds defeated national tournament-bound Wichita’s EFC Attack 3-2 in the championship game of the Toyota Heritage Invitational tournament in Overland Park, Kan., last weekend.
“It demonstrates we can play with some of the top teams out there,’’ said Pumas head coach Wayne McMillin.
EFC had defeated the Pumas, 3-1 in the first game of the round-robin tournament.
“We actually played them better than the score indicated,” McMillin said. “We had six shots on goal and made one. They had three shots on goal and made all three.”
The Pumas tied Eastern Iowa United, a “select premiere” team, 1-1 in their second game.
Enid defeated the KCFC Blues, of Kansas City, the host team, 4-3 in its next game.
Every win in the tournament counted for three points, a tie for one point and a loss for zero. With four points, the Pumas moved into the tournament finals against Wichita.
This time, the Pumas came away with a 3-2 victory in double overtime.
“We scored right as time was running out,” McMillin said. “There were probably 25 seconds left on the clock.”
Isaac Kim split two defenders on that play, and shot from the 18 box — about 18 feet away — for the winning score.
McMillin credited his team’s success to his defense, composed of Aaron Ralstin, Kristian Rodriguez, Matt Blakely, Tim O’Quinn and Jose Hernandez.
“They really held up all tournament long,” he said.
The Pumas finish their 2009 season with two games this weekend — 1 p.m. Saturday at Babcock Park in Stillwater and 3 p.m. Sunday at Edmond Soccer Club.
The Pumas, who finished undefeated last year, are currently 4-1-1 this year.
