Several locals and three Sammamish and Issaquah youngsters were part of a regional championship youth soccer team recently, as the Elite Player Development 98 team picked up the Region IV title in Phoenix, Ariz at the Region IV Olympic Development Program Championship.

The tournament included teams from Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Wyoming and Washington.

EPD 98 captured the title defeated Colorado 3-2 before blanking the northern California squad 3-0 to begin the tournament. The only loss of the tournament came to southern California II 2-1 before EPD 98 defeated southern California 4-0 to advance to the championship game, where they again held their opponents from southern California scoreless in a 1-0 victory.

The two players on the team from Sammamish are Kelsey Aaknes and Erika Jung. Lindsey Fujiwara is from Issaquah.

Erika Jung- Sammamish; Kelsey Aaknes- Sammamish; Lindsey Fujiwara- Issaquah; Sophie French- Bellevue (Chinook Middle School);  Samantha Hiatt- Newcastle; Hadley Bezon- Maple Valley; Asia Brisco- Renton; Emele Chaddock- Mukilteo; Madison Cooley- Mill Creak; Ashleigh Fonsen- Edmonds; Maya Gutierrez- Renton;Lisa Jensen- Shoreline; Shannon Peth- Mukilteo; Amanda Price- Auburn; Jamie Rita- Burien; Holly Rothering- Snohomish; Madison Schultz- Edmonds