Vienna Thunder Gold and Chantilly Storm both had successful weekends in Richmond at the Capital Fall Classic hosted by the Richmond Strikers.  Serving as a qualifier for the prestigious Jefferson Cup hosted by the same club, both teams were striving to win the competitive top groups of the tournament to automatically gain qualification.

 

Thunder Gold saw their weekend start against Maryland Rush’s 98 NPL team and got the tournament off to a quick start with a 2-1 win.  A 2-0 scoreline in their second game versus Chesterfield United put them in great position to qualify for the Championship but a good result would still be needed on Sunday morning.

 

Facing the host club’s Richmond Strikers Elite team, Gold got the result they needed with a 2-1 win to set them up for the Championship match where they would face SYC Stampede.  Unfortunately the goals that had been there all weekend weren’t there in the final, with the score finishing 0-1.  Despite automatic qualification not being guaranteed, the group certainly made a strong case for being accepted to the main event in March.

 

Chantilly Storm started the weekend quickly, racing out to a 3-0 lead versus PA Classics Premier, with the final score ending 3-2.  The second game saw the team playing Herndon Zephyr, and the offense was energized again.  The team put four in against their opponents while they tightened things up some on the defensive end, just conceding once.  The results and the amount of goals put them in at the top of the group for their final group game, but being in the championship wasn’t a guarantee.

 

Sunday morning pitted the Storm against BRYC Elite.  Needing a positive result to avoid the standings getting bunched together again, the Storm kept a shutout for the first time on the weekend and notched a goal to win 1-0.  They’d go on to the Championship to play Alliance SC, who had also won all three of their group games.  They found the perfect balance of defense and attack in the final, shutting out Alliance while scoring twice to win the title and guarantee going to their first Jeff Cup in the spring.

 

Congratulations to both teams on wonderful weekends in Richmond!