July 23, 1999

Only Team West of the Mississippi Competing

After a lot of hard practice, a grueling season, a month of non-stop fund raising and the help of a local bank, the girls soccer team, South Bay Aguilas of Chula Vista, is heading to Florida and the finals of a national soccer tournament. They will be the only girl's team in their age bracket west of the Mississippi River participating.

The Aguilas will compete in the girls Under-18 Super-Clubs National Finals in Orlando, Florida July 27-31. The SuperClubs, which is part of the National Youth Soccer Association, will play the tournament at Florida State University and Disney's Wild World of Sports.

After learning in June that they had qualified for the tournament, the team only had a month to raise the $10,000 needed to pay their airfare, hotel, local transportation and meal expenses in Orlando. Together with their parents and coach Roberto Martinez, the 15 girls launched a fund raising campaign. They held a car wash, a bake sale, a raffle with prizes donated by local businesses, and sold tickets for a trip to the Viejas Casino.

The mother of one of the team members, Rosalinda Molina, told her co-workers at GuarantyBank in San Diego about the girl's efforts. While they had collected a good sum, they hadn't reached their $10,000 goal and time was running out. The bank's division manger, Senior Vice President John Halliburton, then issued the team a challenge. GuarantyBank would match whatever amount the girls raised.

On Wednesday GuarantyBank made the girls dream come true when they were presented a check for $5,000.

"When we saw how hard these girls worked to raise the money to go to the tournament, we had to pitch in," Halliburton said. "And honestly, this was really just a matter of doing the right thing for our community."

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