COMMERCE CITY, CO — Sophie McElligott and Isabella Strong, rising 9th graders at Melrose High School, returned to Colorado in mid-July and successfully defended their National Cup Soccer Championship – becoming two-time US Club Soccer National Champions.
Their 2008 Aztec Impact team based on the North Shore of Massachusetts had an excellent Spring season finishing with a record of 22-3-1. This included a win at the New England Regional Cup in June, which qualified the team to return to Commerce City, Colorado to defend their 2021 championship. Teams must win a regional or state cup championship in order to qualify for the National Cup.
MELROSE HIGH freshmen Isabella Strong and Sophie McElligott played key roles in helping Aztec bring home the National Cup for the second year in a row when they won the national championship in Colorado this summer. (Courtesy Photo)
Aztec jumped out to a strong start completing the group stage of the tournament undefeated including a 2-0 win over Texas, a 4-0 win over Iowa, and a 2-0 win over Illinois.
This excellent group stage showing allowed Aztec to advance to the semifinals against the local team from Colorado. Aztec prevailed in a hard fought battle over the home side with a 2-1 win and a trip back to the finals.
The finals featured a rematch against Illinois with Aztec emerging victorious 3-1. Aztec played excellent all around soccer throughout the tournament with Strong and McElligott as key contributors to the team’s success. Strong played nearly every minute of the tournament to help anchor a defense which only conceded two goals in the entire competition and McElligott was a leading contributor offensively including scoring 2 goals in the team’s 3-1 finals victory.
Congratulations to Sophie and Bella representing Melrose well and bringing home back-to-back National Championships.
