North Shore United produced its best showing ever at the US Youth Soccer Region II Championships last week in Saginaw, MI.

The U17 girls team fell just one game short of a coveted Midwest region title, losing 3-0 to a strong Team Chicago Academy Botafogo in the championship match. North Shore United won its bracket by defeating Missouri state champion Harambe Viati 2-1, Ohio-North champion Internationals 3-0, and Minnesota state champion Eden Prairie Showcase 3-0.

North Shore knocked off its fourth state champion — and the defending Region II champion — in the semifinals, beating Michigan Hawks 2-1.Taylor Skorik and Hannah Groth scored in that match.

The finals saw North Shore pitted against a team filled with NCAA Division I recruits, fielding a full 22-player rosters. Shorthanded and banged up, North Shore didn't have enough to get through to the USYSA National Championships and lost the regional final.

The U14 boys, meanwhile, suffered two losses and a draw in their first trip to the regionals, but that doesn't tell the complete story of their effort in Saginaw.

In the opening match, NSU gave up a single second-half score to the Missouri state champs, Sporting KC Juniors, in a 1-0 defeat. Their second match was against Minnesota state champion Minnesota Thunder Academy. NSU took a 1-0 lead in the third minute on Andrew Edwards goal and seemed headed for three points, but the Thunder tallied the tying goal with just a couple minutes left in a 1-all draw.

Millennium Heat of Indiana, a wild card team, was the final opponent, and made a sixth-minute goal stand up in 1-0 win over North Shore.

North Shore teams come away stronger for the experience and poised to make a deeper mark at the state and regional level in years to come.