This year the ECNL girls finals were held in Richmond, Virginia
Pictured: U-16 Final crew huddling up before kickoff. R. Adolfo Membrila, AR1 Audrey Atwell, AR2 Josh Bourque, 4th official Sean Conlee.
From the author
Over this scorching hot weekend in Richmond, we saw great talent being played. The youth soccer tournament consists of eight teams in each age group from U13, U14, U15, U16, and U17 girls. In the same way we watch the top talent play, we bring top referee talent and coaches as well. Referees flew in from across the nation to officiate one of the top competitive youth tournaments of the year. This year, Officials Management group brought in national referee coaches, Kristine Bailey, Sandra Serafini, Nami Sato Imaizumi. Each day at the tournament, these referee coaches observed games and gave referees feedback during halftime and at the end of their games. OMG also held educational meetings throughout the tournament to provide the referees with more learning opportunities from the coaching staff.
ECNL girls final crew list:
U13 final - R. Aidan Velasco, AR1 Josh Pitt, AR2 Leo Meyer, 4th official Caitlyn Olson
U14 final - R. April Castellanos, AR1 Matthew Novak, AR2 Jason Pacious, 4th official Justin St. Pierre
U15 final - R. Noah Haver, AR1 Stephanie Macfarland, AR2 Matthew Burger, 4th official Otto Leon
U16 final - R. Adolfo Membrila, AR1 Audrey Atwell, AR2 Josh Bourque, 4th official Sean Conlee
U17 final - R. Sidney Dirks, AR1 Helene Minassian, AR2 Jenna Whipple, 4th official Spencer Adamson
From the referees
"I was excited to work games with new faces and get to work high level matches with some of the best referees in the country." - Aidan Velasco
"I loved being able to spend the time with fellow referee friends and connect with people while doing what I love." - Andrew Smith
Recap
Although after the weekend we all had to part ways and return to our "normal lives", OMG continues to provide officials with more opportunities to officiate ECNL events. Up-to-date events can be found here. If you would like to apply to officiate an ECNL event, head over to our "register" section. If you are a licensed USSF official and have officiated ECNL events before and would like to join our Facebook group, apply here.