The soccer community is very special. We are all linked in a lot of ways and when one of us hurts, we all hurt. We are one big family.

Since we found out about what happened, we put our heads together. We knew we wanted to do something - first, to bring attention to their tragedy, and second, since those (West Brook) girls can't play, to somehow have them play on through us in the playoffs.

Once again our community is showing us the true meaning of caring and taking care of a neighbor, a friend, be they on the same street or be they somewhere else in our country.

That's the key. It's getting the players involved in club soccer, for us and for them. And the more of their players and our players that play club soccer, it's only going to make both programs better.

Most of us are in this more than just for playing soccer. We're in it for the bigger goal ? to move it along for the next generation.

Our team is not used to playing that kind of soccer. To us, soccer is mostly on the ground. It was hard to maintain control against them because of their long throw-ins. But it was very effective for them. They have a great team.