The Front Row with JASON ELLIOTT June 18, 2011

They've faced the best in the northwest and now, they'll take aim at the rest of the region starting Monday in Boise.

The Coeur d'Alene Sting under-13 girls soccer team will open the 2011 Region IV Championships on Monday against the Oregon Rush 97 Nike at the Simplot Sports Complex in Boise.

PLAYERS ON this year's team have been together for three years and have remained united toward the same goal - winning.

"This team can fight through adversity," Sting coach Jason Roop said. "I don't know if our skill level is as good as the other teams', but they never give up. We work them pretty hard in practice, but they seem to fight through things and don't give up. A lot of it comes from the parents. They stand behind what the coaches say and everyone is behind the group."

Coeur d'Alene won the Idaho State Cup 3-2 in double overtime against Super Nova Elite of Boise over Memorial Day weekend in Twin Falls.

When it comes to judging their talents against the rest of the northwest, Roop added they'll have to wait and see.

"We're so unclear on what the competition is like down there," Roop said. "If we end up losing, it's not because they gave up. We're the Idaho state champions, so we know we've got the ability - but there's a lot of top-notch competition in our draw."

COEUR d'ALENE will compete against the Santa Rosa (Calif.) United Freeze on Tuesday, and the Crossfire Premier 97A Reynolds of Washington on Wednesday to complete pool play, with the top two from each pool guaranteed a berth in the quarterfinals. A third team from the pool could also advance depending on points earned through the tournament.

The Sting took on U-15 teams in the area to prepare.

"Those older teams possess physicality and speed," Roop said. "They've got lots of size and strength, so we're comfortable against those kinds of teams. We don’t have a lot of super strong teams in the area. We need to play up a little bit, but it helps the team be prepared.”

They also won the Seattle-based Puget Sound Premier League with a 10-1-2 record.

“This group of kids have been traveling a lot this year,” Roop said. “There’s a need to remain committed to the program, and each of them has done so. Hopefully we can continue to compete at that level and grow into that level of play over there. That’s a pretty big step toward building for stronger competition.”

By winning the Puget Sound league, the Sting will also compete in the Northwest Champions League starting in August. They will face teams from Washington, Oregon and Idaho over three tournament-style weekends.

With some miles behind them already, the Sting don’t mind traveling the least amount (387 miles) to get to regionals.

“There will be some adversity with traveling and playing at 8 a.m.,” Roop said. “It just wears on you with the long drive, but we’re traveling the least out of anyone.”

To prepare for regionals, the team has been trying to practice in the mornings to adapt to the early morning match schedule, but have yet to play with their full roster quite yet.

“We’ve had some early morning practices, but due to (Coeur d’Alene) Charter still being in school, we’re missing a sixth of the team,” Roop said. “We were going to throw some early morning practices at them before we leave (Sunday), but we weren’t able to do that this week. We’ve got some pretty good early morning players, but we need to get used to getting up a bit earlier.”

But when the time comes, Roop believes his team will have enough to compete.

“This is a pretty big step for them and this program,” Roop said. “They’ve played in a lot of matches and tournaments and have been together for three years. Nothing is fairly new to them.”

And while they’re prepared for anything, they could face something they haven’t seen all year — the sun.

“It’s supposed to be in the 70s next week,” said Roop of the predicted forecast in Boise. “Even when we went to Twin Falls, it rained. We haven’t played in half-way decent weather since last spring. We’ve had some really crummy weather and played a lot in the rain.”

And they’ve got a chance to shine next week — regardless of what the weather is.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at [email protected].