Dynamo for the Win

A win for South Dakota came on Tuesday as the SDU Dynamo girls soccer team became US Club Soccer National Champions in the U15 Premier division. The team scored 4-1 in the winning game against the Pittsburgh Riverhounds at the US Club National Cup in Denver.

Aberdeen’s very own Deshani Peters scored a total of 9 goals throughout the tournament, scoring 2 goals during the winning game. Deshani said the win gave her a great “feeling of accomplishment as a result of sacrifice and commitment.”

Dynamo is coached by Deshani’s father, Zamani Peters, and by Matt DeBoer. The team is primarily made up of girls from South Dakota, although a few members are from North Dakota and Wyoming. The other players from Aberdeen are Bailey DeGroot, Hadlee Nilson, Baela East, and Kailyn Poppen.

The 15 girls practice one weekend each month in Pierre.

The Dynamo outlasted hundreds of teams across the country to get to the championships, and Zamani couldn’t be prouder. He said the girls were very relaxed, focused, and determined, and that led them to dominate during the weekend. 

“When it really hit me, it was unbelievable, but I knew we could do it,” Zamani said.

Back in 2019, the team came in second place overall, and the 2020 championship was cancelled because of the pandemic, which makes this year’s win all the more special. 

Zamani said, “At the end of the day, you ask yourself, ‘What next?’ The only thing is to repeat it.” // —Symmone Gauer