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Renegades U19 Girls Finish Off Longtime Title Pursuit

By Leland Gordon, Redding Record Searchlight

The terrible taste of defeat from last year’s Association Cup final loss made this year’s victory taste that much sweeter for the Redding MissFit Renegades U19 girls’ club soccer team.

The local squad won what can be considered a state title Sunday, posting a 2-0 victory over the Petaluma Red Devils to win the championship tournament. The 2009 edition came up just short, losing in the title match, but behind a pair of goals from U-Prep star Kimmy Micheletti, the Renegades won it all at this year at Redding Soccer Park.

“They’re going to remember the shared friendships and the shared bond. They are truly a team of sisters and they will remember that the most,” said coach Keith Stewart. “They’ve been playing together since before high school. To be able to bring that home was not only for themselves but for the players before them.”

The U16 boys team from Redding also made the title match, but fell 5-0 to the Shamrock Rovers of Santa Rosa. Coach Brian Crane said a bad start doomed his squad, but it was a historic accomplishment for his team to make it to the championship, also at RSP.

“This was the first time a U16 boys team ever made it to the final eight, let alone the final match,” he said. “It’s a group of boys who have played together since U12 and a number play AAU basketball together. It’s a group of kids who are good kids and good athletes.”

Crane’s team is 30-4-4, using players from Shasta, Enterprise, Foothill, U-Prep, West Valley as well as a home-schooled player.

For the MissFit Renegades, the early morning game went into halftime in a scoreless deadlock. Micheletti opened the scoring in the 55th minute when she gained possession and barely eluded the goalkeeper, who had come out from the goal to try and make a stop. Micheletti tapped the ball in, and later in the contest, she used a pass from U-Prep teammate Andria Clagg to get another score.

It turned out to be a huge day for Micheletti, as she came home after the game, took a nap and then went to Shasta College and won MVP honors in the Lions All-Star Basketball game.

“I woke up around 7:20, ate breakfast, put my uniform on. I probably had been up earlier because I couldn’t sleep because I was so nervous,” Micheletti said. “They were both very rewarding but soccer is definitely the best feeling. We won eight straight to get there and we had been working for this title for four years.

“We came into the semis and we were like ‘We don’t want it to be the same as last year.’ We hated that feeling. We have so much heart. We didn’t want to have that feeling again.”

The MissFit Renegades also got a shutout from U-Prep’s Kyleigh Stewart in goal.

In seven games in the Association Cup run, the Renegades owned a 20-2 scoring advantage, and they moved their record to 34-5-1. The team has one more tournament, at the Rogue Valley Cup in Medford, Ore.

“We played in the big match at home last year and it meant a lot to us last year. It meant a lot more to the players to win it at home,” Keith Stewart said. “Most of them have been playing since they were 4 or 5, so this is the tail end of the team. Out of 17 players, 11 are seniors in high school. It was the last hurrah for a lot of them.”

The roster for the team includes Central Valley’s Chelsie Miles, U-Prep’s Cynthia Yee and Foothill players Jenna Vestal, Jean Mutch, Janelle Gaddy and Tyler Enbody.

Shasta players are Amber Fiscus, Danielle Jacobsen, Erica Hunting, Hillary Key, Allie Maxwell and Corinne Smith. From West Valley, there is Cassie DeBonis and Taylor Lambert.

To view photos from the title game, visit Leland Gordon’s blog at blogs.redding.com/lgordon.