PHOENIX (Sunday, July 28, 1998) -- The Central Valley Mercury made it look just too easy.

The San Jose, Calif., side became the most dominant team in the history of the United States Youth Soccer National Championships today, winning an unprecedented third straight national title with a 6-0 rout of the Cosa Express of Columbus, Ohio, in the girls under-18 final.

Marcia Wallis, in her first year with the Mercury, netted four goals and added an assist at the Rose Mofford Sports Complex to add 1998 honors to its crowns in 1996 (under-16) and 1997 (under-17). No team, boys or girls, has won three consecutive US Youth Soccer championships since competition began with the boys under-19 McGuire Cup in 1935.

"I couldn’t ask for anything more," said Wallis, also Northern California’s two-time defending high school golf champion. "I guess I was just on. Some times you just have your days. I was just hitting my shots today. Our team was feeding me great balls. I couldn’t ask for better balls, right to me, right in the box. The team set me up, so I just had to finish them."

Central Valley went the first 18 minutes of the game before getting off a shot, but began to wear down the Midwest champion's defense. Wallis scored two goals in two minutes to douse Cosa's hopes for an upset, starting in the 25th minute when she put away a five-yard volley off an Anna Kraus crossing pass. She then took a long pass from Kati McBain and turned around a Cosa defender before depositing a 13-yard shot inside the right post.

"This team has been together for so long," Wallis said. "The age and the maturity -- we just play so well together. I’ve never been on a team that’s been able to connect passes so well."

She added her third goal of the half in the 43rd minute, collecting a long pass from Danielle Slaton 30 yards out and dribbling around Cosa goalkeeper Jen Odebrecht for a 15-yard shot.

"Marcia Wallis was a great addition to this tea," said Mercury coach Vicki Wagner. "She’s a hard worker, a great header and a very tough player physically."

Slaton and Staci Duncan also had goals for the Mercury, which is 84-0-2 since October 1995, with those two draws coming at the hands of older teams, one to the Central Valley Express, which took the 1995 U-17 national championship with husband Dennis coaching and daughter Samantha playing.

Whether the Mercury can take a fourth title is yet to be determined. The California-North state association holds its State Cup in April. With most of the Mercury attending college in the fall, they would still be in school at that time.

Wagner will try to convince the organization to push the under-19 age group’s Cup to June, like most other states do to accommodate college players. If not, the team could enter the Cal-South State Cup or enter the U-20 tournament, which is administered by the United States Amateur Soccer Association and may be separated from the youth tournament in 1999.

"Going into this game, we were definitely (playing as if) we’re not going to come back," Wagner said. An effort to have Cal-North change its policy "Is definitely a possibility. We have to check with the girls and make sure they’re interested in coming back for another round. And hopefully we’ll get the support of California-North to institute the change in the playing dates. It’s nothing out of the ordinary . . . Hopefully we’ll be able to come back next year and take another stab at history."

One players definitely hoping for a return is Vicki’s daughter Aly, the consensus high school player of the year and the most sought-after college recruit. Aly tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee, causing the central midfielder to miss this championship and her upcoming freshman year at Santa Clara.

I’m really proud of our team and everything that we’ve done here, but it was kind of tough sitting on the sidelines knowing that I may never play with these people ever again," Aly said. "It wasn’t just like missing the national championship, but it was I would never have a chance to play my last game with them.

Gary Davidson is managing editor of SoccerTimes and can be e-mailed at info@soccertimes.com.