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Girls soccer team wins championship

The Menlo Park-Atherton AYSO GU19 (girls under 19) United team recently won the AYSO Silicon Valley Area Championship, defeating San Jose Destiny 2-0 at Kelly Field in Menlo Park.

Pastor Guzman, who also led girls' teams to championships in 2009 and 2011, was coach. Rudy Medina was assistant coach.

This year, so many girls signed up for GU19 soccer that two teams were formed, United and Green02. Also coached by Mr. Guzman, Green02 finished sixth in a competitive league that included teams from as far away as Salinas.

Team United had a challenging start to the season, suffering its first and only loss to San Jose Destiny. When United advanced to the championship game, it was considered the underdog, a fact that motivated the team to defeat Destiny, says team spokesman Tricia Teason.

The team record for the season was eight wins, one loss, and 28 goals scored.

Team members are: from Menlo-Atherton High School, Katie Doherty, Rubi Guzman, Chloe Green, Rosemary Hernandez, Meghan Hom, Kimberly Medina, Capri Zelaya and Lexie Kemp Dahlberg; from Sequoia High School, Lizbet Gomez and Elisa Solis; from Everest Public High School, Sofia Alcazar and Jocelyn Aledo; from Woodside High School, Katie Englis; from Castilleja, Becky Abramowitz; from Kings Academy, Hannah Lawry; from College of San Mateo, Shelby McDonald; from Foothill College, Becca Kaplan.