By Addy Jacoby
In June, the Riverhounds Development Academy continued to add to its trophy case when one of the club’s rising teams — the 2013 Pre-ECNL Girls — took the crown at the Premier SuperCopa tournament in Salt Lake City.
It was a great way to end the team’s last season at the Pre-ECNL level before making the leap into the ECNL in the upcoming year, where the group hopes to make an impact for the club in the future. The girls placed first in the Ohio Valley Conference during their 2024-25 Pre-ECNL season, which qualified them for the tournament in Utah.
“They won the league last year (2023-24) for the Ohio Valley. Then they won the league again this year. They’ve been fortunate enough to qualify for the top bracket of Jefferson Cup a few times and then perform very well. They have become a winning team, and it’s cultured into this group,” head coach Jason Kutney said.
The girls continued their amazing run after going into a Premier SuperCopa tournament that takes teams by invitation only and is regarded as one of the nation’s elite events for teams in the U9-U12 age ranges.
“I am very proud of my team for making it to SuperCopa, and not just making it, but being able to play in the top bracket against some of the top teams in the country,” 2013 player Lucy Kline said. “I am super proud of myself and my team for our effort that we put in to win the SuperCopa.”
Kutney said effort has never been an issue with his team, and the mindset of the players has been steady, even at the young age of the players.
“It’s a group that’s definitely committed, so you know that they’re always seeking more. So it’s always been a very keen group to get out and beyond the ball,” Kutney said of the team’s ability to translate good training habits into game results.
Although the team was so successful, the road to winning a major trophy was not an easy one.
“During every game we were down, but every game we got back up and won. That’s because we wanted it more than anyone else,” said Brooklyn McCollough of her 2013 team. “We were a team. When we won the championship and stepped on that stage, I felt overjoyed and happy!”
It comes as a storybook ending to the Pre-ECNL years for the 2013 Girls, who have established themselves as a team to watch in the RDA. The next chapter for the team will have them enter their first full ECNL season starting this fall, when they hope to make more headlines in the 2025-26 season.
