9 County Teams Will Compete in Far West Regional

Orange County’s youth soccer power will be on display starting Sunday at the Snickers U.S. Soccer Far West Regional in Salt Lake City.

Eight girls’ teams and one boys’ team from the county will compete for regional titles in various age divisions. Champions--finals are June 28--in the under-16 to under-20 divisions advance to the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships in July 30-Aug. 3 in Phoenix.

The Dana Point-based Southern California Blues are represented by four girls’ teams, in the under-19, under-18, under-17 and under-15 divisions. All but the Under-19 team, a wild-card entrant, won the California Youth Soccer Assn. South State Cup championship.

The Blues’ under-18 team features Times Orange County player of the year Sommer Hammoud of Los Alamitos High and three other first-team all-county players: Katie Ticehurst of Mater Dei, Andrea Warner of Dana Hills and Maresa Zanetti of Santa Margarita. The team also has three second-team selections: Jill Pearson of El Modena, Renee Peterson of Capistrano Valley and goalkeeper Kirsten Roy of Aliso Niguel.

Girls’ teams from Garden Grove-based West Orange County United RipTide (under-17), Mission Viejo Mirage (under-16), North Huntington Beach FC Black (under-14) and Irvine SC Strikers (under-13) are also entered.

The Irvine SC Strikers under-13 boys’ team also will compete.