Congratulations to the New England Futbol Club — U14 Girls Team!

Three rising 8th-grade girls from Hopkinton competed in this summer’s Helsinki Cup in Helsinki, Finland, from July 6–11.

Liat Casady, Nili Casady, and Riddhi Singh Redhu represented the US as the only American team at the tournament as part of the New England Futbol Club (NEFC) U14 girls team.

The tournament included a total of 1,729 teams from 18 countries. The 3 Hopkintonians were joined by 10 other New Englanders and 3 Finnish players. Even though the team had never played together before, they dominated their pool play and won their bracket undefeated, allowing no goals.

They won their quarter-final 2-0 and were finally stopped by the top-ranked European U14 team in the semi-finals. Their team, NEFC Rise, came away with a bronze medal and pride in strongly representing the US.

NEFC U14 Girls refers to a competitive youth girls’ soccer team under the New England Futbol Club (NEFC), with players aged 13 to 14 (born in or after 2012). It represents an elite travel/club soccer program rather than a recreational team.