Clashing styles

Championship glory tasted sweet for Perri Belzer and several other local athletes who participated in the Clash at the Border soccer tournament this past weekend.

“What I’ll remember most is being able to play with my team and winning,” said Belzer of Camas. “Getting first place was just awesome for us. We were all happy we got the result we wanted.”

Belzer and Elise Schney both scored goals to lead the Vancouver Timbers 99 Red to a 2-0 victory against the Camas-Washougal Soccer Alliance Valencia in the U-13 Platinum championship game Sunday. Five other Vancouver Timbers teams earned first-place trophies from their respective brackets, and nine more Timbers teams finished in second place.

A total of nine Camas-Washougal teams advanced to the championship round on Sunday. The CWSA United B01 captured the glory in the U-11 boys gold division. The CWSA Saints (U-11 girls), Independence (U-12 girls), Valencia (U-13 girls platinum), LadyJacks (U-13 girls gold), Pride (U-14 girls), Pilots (U-15 boys), Arsenal (U-16 boys) and United 92 (high school girls) ended up in second place.

Complete results for each age group are available at www.wsasoccer.net/Tournament/.

Having more than 150 soccer teams in the fields at six different locations in Camas, Washougal and Vancouver made this the biggest Clash at the Border in the event’s 10-year history. When the temperature climbed into the 90s Sunday, officials provided the players with water breaks every 20 minutes in between halves. In light of these challenges, director Jeff Castagnola was thrilled the tournament continued to run smoothly.

“We saw a lot of kids smiling, laughing and having a great time together,” he said. “They all definitely had a great weekend.”