Sleeping lion finally woke up. Virginia Hurricanes won the championship of North Carolina Soccer Tournament held in Greensboro, NC on July 14, 2001.

In the last tournament held at Columbus, OH, they ended up with the third prize though they had been expected to win the first. This time, they were highly motivated to "revenge" the tournament.

At a glance, the score 11-0 of the final may seem that the tournament was very easy for them. However, they had a difficulty to win the very first game of the qualification round.

In the end of the first half, they were winning 4-0. In the latter half, as they lose concentration and communication between the defense and the midfield, they missed three goals and edged by 4-3.

Si (MF) says "It was like we were losing." Totally it was, at least in the latter half. Then, they began to restructure the defense line.

For the second game, Eir, DF and serves as coach, asked Tac to play stopper instead of his original position, FW.

"I'm a complete stranger on defense, but I followed Peter's advice and communicated with Lair, Mui, and Animal," he remembers. "I'm happy that we didn't get scored until I was out."

Air Noi, also originally FW, played stopper. The aim of switching stopper was to take an advantage of heading of Tac and Air Noi instead of Peter, original stopper. In this case, it made a good side effect.

It was a good tournament for Hurricanes. They showed lots of goals, including Tac's first goal in the United States. "I would never forget how I was excited when I scored a goal with diving-heading in semi-final. Everyone in the team celebrated me. An (MF) splashed water on my face."

Keep motivated, and keep the glory. They are going to hold a team meeting at Lee District Park at 6:30pm on July 19.