White Salmon 12-under 3-on-3 shootout soccer team goes 3-0 in recent tournament play

Then, after sweeping their division and picking up their first-place medals, the Mustangs played a pickup game with a U12 Competitive division team. They won that match, too, to finish the weekend -- and their first 3v3 tournament -- undefeated.

"Next year we'll probably sign up for the competitive division," Mustangs Coach Craig Ludwig said. "This year we just wanted to see what it was like, because none of the girls had ever done 3v3 before."

The game of 3v3 Shootout Soccer is played in 60 cities nationwide and is different from regular soccer in some important respects.

In 3v3, teams of three go at each other in two 12-minute halves (separated by a two-and-a-half-minute halftime break) on a field measuring 40 yards by 30 yards.

Goalkeeping isn't permitted, but teams are allowed to contest possessions in their defensive zone to deny scoring opportunities.

Moreover, players can fire on the 4-ft. by 8-ft goal at will once they cross the 20-yard midfield stripe and into their offensive zone.

"It's sort of like a game of pinball. It's super fast and there's no time to rest," Ludwig noted. "You go as hard as you can for as long as you can."

Substitutions are frequent (each team can carry two reserves) and can occur only when a ball goes outside the playing field. Then, the ball has to be put in play via a kick because throw-ins aren't allowed.

"The cool thing about 3v3 is that it makes the girls work together and play as a team," Ludwig said. "I've been coaching soccer for years and it's always been a challenge to get kids to pass to each other. This time I didn't have to say anything to the kids. They figured it out for themselves. It was pass, pass, shoot."

Scoring, however, is more difficult than it sounds, Ludwig said, adding the Mustangs' four matches were close and low-scoring affairs.

"The girls had to work hard to score and even harder to prevent goals because [the other team] could shoot from anywhere once they crossed midfield," he explained.