Photo Credits - Lamorinda United Media

 

Lamorinda United had not lost all season, neither had the California Storm, and it would all come down to the final regular-season match on July 31. In their first WPSL season, Lamorinda United was crowned 2021 PAC North Conference Champions.

           

Entering the final match of the season, the only blemish on the 8-0-1 record of either team came against each other –  a scoreless draw played on June 20 at Lamorinda United’s Wilder Fields Complex.

 

For a shot at the PAC North Conference title, both teams needed to win their final match of the season. Lamorinda traveled to 3-3-2 Fresno Freeze while the Storm hosted the San Francisco Nighthawks in Sacramento. If both teams won, it would come down to a series of tiebreakers, muddled by the 0-0 head-to-head draw earlier in the season. It never came to that.

 

Lamorinda took care of business, as it had all season, winning 2-1 off goals from Claire Winter and Spencer Duetz. All that remained was to watch as the match being played 170 miles away unfolded.

 

It was an uncharacteristic performance by the veteran-laden Storm. After going up a goal in the first half, the Storm collapsed in the final half-hour of the match as they conceded four unanswered goals. A Milan Moses hat trick would give the Nighthawks the 4-1 win to knock the Storm out of conference title contention.

 

For Lamorinda head coach Mohamed Mohamed, winning the conference title in the club’s first season in the league over a historic and vaunted club like the Storm is a testament to the club’s philosophy.

The Storm is tied for the longest active WPSL team as they joined in 1998 as one of the founding members. In its 23-year tenure, the Storm has won three WPSL Championships and 13 conference titles. Their talent-laden roster is full of NCAA National Champions, former and current internationals, and former professional players. They also have community support that rivals full-professional organizations. Still, Mohamed never second-guessed his team going up against the league giants in such a competitive conference.

 

“We play collectively, the individual qualities of each player are used in service of the team Mohamed said. “On both offense and defense, we play together as a unit. In this league teams weren’t used to seeing that.”

 

Of the more than 30 players on Lamorinda’s roster, only one did not play in the club’s youth ranks. Mohamed wanted to offer players now in college a place to play over the summer and provide the top youth players in his academy a glimpse at the next level of play.

 

“All but one of our players had gone through the system, so it was easy for them to come back and play at a high level,” Mohamed said. “Our benchmark is a possession style of play [and] every team in our club plays the same way. That is what we are known for.”

 

Initially, the team was heavy with collegiate players returning for the summer, most of whom played on teams together before entering the collegiate ranks along with a few of their elite academy players. This familiarity, along with a newfound maturity of many of the players led to the club’s early success, including their pivotal 0-0 draw versus Storm in the fourth match of the season. It was not until the season’s halfway mark that Lamorinda even gave up a goal.

 

Mohamed credited Madison Chavez, now a junior at UC Irvine, and Elise Ziem, now a sophomore at UC Santa Barbara, for anchoring a defense that conceded just five goals on the season.

 

“Elise and I were in the same class at Lamorinda, so we work really well together,” Chavez said. “The sense of community we have is just amazing. You’re playing with the same people you have been playing with for years, so you have that connection.”

 

As the season wore on, and confidence within the club grew, Mohamed had no reservations incorporating more youth players into the mix as his collegiate players began departing to prepare for the upcoming collegiate preseason.

 

Lamorinda under-19 academy and a U.S. Youth National Team product Natalie Means was one player who thrived playing against the more experienced, physical players of the league day in and day out. This experience has helped her prepare for when she plays at Georgetown University next fall.

 

“Playing in this league has definitely helped me increase my speed of play,” Means said. “Playing against some of the ex-pros that we went up against was an amazing experience. It helped me learn how to play against the next level of competition.”

 

With a conference championship under his belt, Mohamed is already looking forward to the club’s second WPSL season. He hopes to translate the club’s on-field success to create a better playing atmosphere for his players.

 

“What surprised me most about the league was the environment, atmosphere, the excitement some of the places we played had, how much the community is behind the teams,” Mohamed said. “That is something we can work towards next season. Our community is really starting to realize how great this team, this league is. It is really something they can get behind.”

 

In their inaugural season, Lamorinda finished with an undefeated 9-0-1 record while outscoring opponents 29/5 and recording seven shutouts. The only match of the season they did not score was their draw versus the Storm.

 

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   Author:  Andrew Mosier, @AndrewMosier6 (Twitter)
   WPSL Contributor - West Region