Pennsylvania team edges Coastal Thunder

BRUNSWICK – Coastal Thunder of Brunswick battled Lower Merion Velez to a scoreless tie through regulation and overtime before the Pennsylvania team prevailed in a series of penalty kicks to capture the title in the ages under-16 boys division of the US Youth Soccer Region I Championship at the Bowdoin College field Tuesday morning.

A total of 18 boys and girls teams, ranging in age divisions from under-12 to under-19, claimed regional titles and advanced to the US Youth Soccer National Championships in Little Rock, Ark., on July 22-27.

Coastal Thunder from host Soccer Maine once again drew a crowd to cheer them on, but Lower Merion prevailed in penalty kicks 4-2 to take the victory.

“We’ve never really done this well before. I think it’s a total team effort,” Lower Merion goalkeeper Aidan Gallagher said. “We’ve really done some hard work in training, and we’ve really improved over the course of this year.”

It was the third title of the season for Lower Merion as they also won the the US Youth Soccer Pennsylvania East State Cup, as well as the US Youth Soccer Region I Premier League.