U.S. Club Championships 2026: Finding Our Identity

16U Girls Championship Division
June 26–28, 2026

Sixth

Meridian entered the U.S. Club Championships as the tenth seed.

Six games later, we finished sixth.

Along the way, we defeated three teams seeded ahead of us and began to discover something more important than where we finished.

Who we were becoming.

The Challenge

Club Championships brought together another strong field and another opportunity to measure our progress against some of the best programs in the country.

We entered the tournament without one of our starters, requiring greater responsibility throughout the roster.

But by this point in the season, adversity was becoming familiar.

The challenge wasn't simply to overcome it.

It was to play our game regardless of it.

That meant trusting our defensive system. Taking care of the ball. Playing for one another. And maintaining our composure when games became uncomfortable.

Over three days, that identity began to emerge.

Building Belief

We opened with a 19–1 victory over Foothill before facing Patriot, a team seeded ahead of us.

We won 10–8.

Next came CIU.

Another higher seed.

Another win, 12–7.

Three games into the tournament, Meridian was undefeated and headed to the quarterfinals.

Waiting for us was Santa Barbara.

We knew them well.

Just two weeks earlier, we had faced the same team. This time, the game looked different.

Our defense disrupted their rhythm. Our athletes stayed disciplined. We remained within striking distance deep into the game.

By the fourth quarter, Santa Barbara changed its approach.

Rather than continuing to attack, they began using possessions to manage the clock—holding the ball, limiting transition opportunities, and forcing us to attack against a set defense rather than allowing our defense to generate the counterattack.

It was a sign of respect.

They recognized what we could do in transition and adjusted to take it away.

Santa Barbara ultimately won 8–6.

Two weeks earlier, we were trying to solve them.

Now they were adjusting to us.

Composure Under Pressure

The loss moved us into the fifth-through-eighth-place bracket and a matchup with South Coast.

What followed became one of the defining games of our season.

The game was physical.

Competitive.

Back and forth.

With seconds remaining, we needed a goal to keep it alive.

We got one.

At the buzzer.

Tie game.

Shootout.

We missed our first penalty.

South Coast made theirs.

It would have been easy for the moment to accelerate.

Instead, our athletes settled in.

We made our next three.

South Coast missed its next three.

The fifth round was never needed.

Meridian won 12–10.

That wasn't simply execution.

It was composure.

The ability to remain present when the game gives you every reason to rush.

The ability to trust your technique when the pressure is highest.

The ability to do your job when the moment is largest.

One More Test

Our final game came against 680 for fifth place.

We started well and led into the second quarter.

By halftime, 680 had turned the game and led 3–1.

We kept competing.

They held the lead to the finish and won 8–5.

There was disappointment.

There should be.

Competitive athletes don't arrive at a tournament hoping to finish sixth.

But there was also perspective.

We entered seeded tenth.

We left sixth.

We defeated three teams seeded ahead of us.

And against the teams that ultimately stopped our run, we showed that the distance between where we were and where we wanted to be was getting smaller.

What We Learned

Club Championships gave this team something it needed.

An identity.

We were becoming a team that could defend together.

A team that could stay composed with the ball.

A team that could absorb adversity without abandoning the way we wanted to play.

And a team that believed it could compete with anyone across the pool.

The results mattered.

But the moments mattered more.

A respected opponent changing its offense because of our defense.

A buzzer-beater when the game demanded one.

A missed first penalty followed by three straight makes.

Three higher-seeded opponents beaten.

Those moments created evidence.

Evidence our athletes could draw upon the next time the game became uncomfortable.

We were beginning to understand who we were.

And, more importantly, who we could become.

Two weeks until Junior Olympics.

Two weeks to sharpen what we'd found here.

We didn't yet know what that stage would ask of us.

But we knew who we wanted to be when it did.

Rise.