Futures Super Finals 2026: The Long Road

16U Girls Division I
June 19–21, 2026

Seventh

Meridian entered Futures Super Finals as the thirteenth seed.

The top twelve teams began with a direct path into the Championship bracket.

We had to earn ours.

Seven games later, Meridian finished seventh.

Every team that finished ahead of us had started inside the top twelve.

Our road was longer.

So we learned how to keep going.

The Long Road In

Our path became difficult almost immediately.

We opened against a tough Norco team and lost 9–8. That result turned our next game against San Diego Shores into a must-win.

We responded with a 9–7 victory.

When Shores later defeated Norco, all three teams finished group play 1–1. Goal differential determined who advanced.

Meridian moved on.

But advancing didn't put us into the Championship bracket.

We still had work to do.

First came Legacy, the fourth seed.

We won 15–8.

Then Newport Beach, the sixth seed, with a place in the Championship Quarterfinals on the line.

Newport is an outstanding team from a program with deep pedigree. Breaking through would require the things that had increasingly become our identity: disciplined team defense, outstanding goalkeeping, and athletes willing to do their jobs for one another.

Meridian won 9–7.

We were in.

What It Took

Getting there had already required four games.

And after losing a key starter to injury in the opening game, it required more from everyone.

Athletes were suddenly being asked to take on greater responsibility and additional minutes.

There wasn't much time to adjust.

The next game mattered.

And then the next.

That's what deep tournament runs demand.

Not simply seven athletes capable of playing at a high level, but a roster capable of absorbing adversity without losing its identity.

Players stepped into larger roles.

Minutes increased.

Responsibilities changed.

The standard didn't.

By the time we reached the quarterfinals against Santa Barbara, we had already played the additional games required to earn our place there.

The result didn't go our way.

But we had gotten where we wanted to go.

We had reached the final eight.

Finishing the Work

The next day brought Patriot, the twelfth seed.

It was everything a placement game should be—competitive, physical, and close throughout.

One goal separated us.

Patriot won 9–8.

That left one final opportunity.

SHAQ.

We knew them well.

SHAQ had entered Futures league play seeded ahead of Meridian and finished JO Qualifying as one of Northern California's strongest teams. We had beaten them at Qualifiers.

Now we had to do it again.

We did.

Meridian won 14–8 to finish seventh.

There was something fitting about ending the tournament that way.

Earlier in the Futures season, SHAQ, Diablo, and LAMO A had all been seeded ahead of Meridian.

By the end of Super Finals, Meridian had finished ahead of all three.

That wasn't about proving someone else wrong.

It was evidence of how far this team had come.

What We Learned

Seven games.

Three days.

A starter lost in the opening game.

A must-win in game two.

Two additional games just to reach the Championship bracket.

And still, Meridian finished seventh.

The six teams ahead of us hadn't traveled the same road.

We had.

And that road taught us something.

We had depth.

We had resilience.

We had grit.

And when circumstances changed, we had athletes willing to step forward.

That matters because tournament success isn't simply about how talented a team's first seven athletes are.

Deep runs test everyone.

They test preparation.

They test conditioning.

They test composure.

They test whether athletes can accept new roles when the team needs them.

Futures gave us our first real evidence that we could.

We beat the fourth seed.

We beat the sixth seed.

We reached the quarterfinals.

And after six games had already tested us, we found enough for one more decisive performance.

The road wasn't supposed to be easy.

It wasn't.

We just kept earning the right to take the next step.

Rise.