Mike Ortner, the Mandeville Soccer Club girls’ director of coaching, did double duty recently, coaching the U14 and U15 girls’ Lakers teams in the U. S. Youth Soccer Region III Championships held June 19-25 in North Carolina.

The U15 Lakers, the Louisiana State Cup Champs, went 2-1 in bracket play to earn a berth in the quarterfinals.

Ortner said his club played competitive soccer, and he was proud of their effort. “Having not won a game in last year’s regional, we showed a marked improvement this year. Breaking bracket, advancing to the quarterfinals, was definitely an improvement and a step forward,” Ornter said.

The U15s downed Clearwater, Fla., 5-3, last Friday in the opening game of bracket play. Casey Adkins and Hannah Leumas tallied two goals each to help spark the Lakers to victory. Natalie Childress booted home the Lakers’ final goal to round out the scoring.

The U15s trailed 2-0 after 11 minutes of play but showed their determination, fighting back from a two-goal deficit on two occasions. Adkins cut the margin to 2-1 with a goal in the 15th minute. Clearwater answered with another goal two minutes later to retake a two-goal margin. The Lakers fought back with an offensive barrage, notching three goals during the next 15 minutes to take a 4-3 halftime advantage.

On Saturday, the U15s trailed 1-0 at the half against Bridge SA of South Carolina. The Lakers tallied three unanswered goals in the second half to take a 3-1 victory. Ashley Martinez, Malia Cali and Emily Descant had one goal each to spark the Lakers to victory.

On Sunday, the U15s fell to GSA from Gwinnett, Ga., 2-1. GSA held a 1-0 halftime lead. Martinez netted the Lakers’ lone goal 15 minutes into the second half to tie things at 1-1. With approximately three minutes to play, GSA booted home the game-winner. The U15s had punched in a couple goals, but they were disallowed after being called for off sides on both occasions. Following the 2-1 record in bracket play, the U15s advanced to Monday’s quarterfinals against the Dallas Sting, last year’s defending national champions from Texas. The Lakers fell 4-0 to the Sting.

Ortner named KK Peters as the U15 Lakers’ top defender. He also highlighted the play of

goalkeeper Nicole Gurievsky, who he said had a solid performance in the regional tournament.

Ortner’s other club, the U14 girls Lakers, the Louisiana State Cup Champs, got out of the gate fast with an electrifying, 1-0, victory over the Edmond Soccer Club, the Oklahoma state champions, last Friday on a goal by Ellen Crist. She tallied the winning goal midway through the second half. Maddie Power fashioned the shutout.

Last Saturday, the U14 Lakers lost to Brentwood Power, the Tennessee state champs, 3-0. In last Sunday’s bracket play, the U14s fell to the D’featers representing Dallas, 2-0.

Ortner said it was definitely a tough level of competition.

“We played against some top quality teams. It’s much harder to create quality scoring against such a high level of competition. It was good to be competitive in all of our matches. Since it was the first time this team was in a regional championship, I think they gave a great effort throughout,” Ortner said.

Ortner highlighted the defensive play of Laurel Upton and Abby Schmidtt, who turned in steady efforts throughout the tournament.