St. Pat's Tourney Off to Fast Start

OCEAN CITY- The first weekend of the Ocean City Recreation and Parks Department's St. Patrick's Soccer Tournament was a huge success with dozens of teams and thousands of spectators cramming into Northside Park for the annual event.

Many of the top indoor soccer programs in the mid-Atlantic region, including many from the local area, participated in the first full weekend of the annual soccer tournament in Ocean City. All in all, well over 100 boys and girls teams will compete in the tournament before it is all over later this month and thousands of fans will turn out to see some of the best soccer talent in the region. The tournament has grown to the point it is now held over four weekends from late February through March.

Last weekend, the under-18 boys and girls teams competed at Northside Park and several squads with local connections advanced to the finals. The men's finals in the under-18 bracket featured the RSC Cosmos from Fenwick Island against the Colonial Mill Homes team from the Salisbury area. RSC Cosmos prevailed in the title game, beating Colonial Mill Homes, 7-2.

On the women's side of the under-18 bracket, the Makos, from the Berlin area, faced off against Team Power from lower Delaware. In a hard-fought battle, Team Power edged the Makos by a score of 4-3.

The tournament resumes this weekend with a full slate of games at Northside Park. This week, the boys' and girls under-16 and under-12 teams will compete with games practically around the clock starting this afternoon and culminating with division championship games on Sunday. This weekend marks the largest amount of activity at the tournament with 13 under-16 boys and 11 under-16 girls teams competing. The under-12 divisions will feature 16 boys teams and 12 girls teams.

The local area will be well represented again this weekend. The under-16 division will feature Decatur, out of Ocean City, and the Eastern Shore Warriors, based in Bishopville. The under-16 girls' division will feature BSC out of Whaleyville. In the under-12 girls' division, the Makos out of Ocean Pines will compete, while The Blues, also out of Ocean Pines, will compete in the under-12 boys' division