March 11, 2012 - The LMSC Sabertooth Rats traveled to Virginia to play in the prestigious Annandale Premier Cup. Teams in their age group came from Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York and Illinois. The Rats opened up the tournament with a 3-1 win over FC Virginia. Later that day they defeated McLean, Virginia 2-0. On Sunday, the Rats earned their second straight shutout, defeating Essa Firpo, Maryland 2-0. The win put the team into the championship game where they would take on the very talented Manhattan Emelec from New York.

The first half of the championship game was scoreless. Two minutes in the second half, Manhattan took the lead but LMSC quickly evened things up on a nice goal by Luca "Paco" Giordanoa. LMSC took the lead five minutes later on a great goal by Tim O'Hare but Manahattan headed in a corner kick to tie the score. With only five minutes left in the game, O'Hare scored his second goal of the game to give LMSC the lead. LMSC's defense, led by goalkeeper Sebastian Connelly and defenders Justin Nachman and Griffin Wada shut down the Manhattan offense and LMSC emerged with a 3-2 win and the tournament championship.

LMSC SABERTOOTH RATS

BACK ROW: Coach Biff Sturla, Jack Herman, Luca Giordano, Julian Niggeman, Ethan Blouin, Sebastian Connelly, Griffin Wada

FRONT ROW: Harrison Bloch, Harrison Malone, Colin Burn, J.V. Jason Aoyama, Justin Nachman, Tim O'Hare