WPFC wins Surf Cup

My name is Drew White and I am a defender for the WPFC 92 Black U15 boys. I’d like to start out saying “CONGRATULATIONS” to our Coaches and Teammates for winning The Surf Cup! It takes a lot of hard work, skill, heart, determination, and luck to win a tournament of this magnitude. I am privileged to be one of the captains among all the great players on WPFC U15 boys, I am not only grateful to be playing along side such talented teammate , but to be under the coaching Direction of Jimmy McAlister. One of the keys to our success in this tournament was made possible with my teams “Will to win”, motto and a lot of ice baths. We arrived in San Diego Friday, July 27 , our team had played tournaments in the past here so we were not extremely overwhelmed by the heat, especially after the 110 degree heat at Regionals in Las Vegas, but the humidity was another story. That day Jimmy called the team together for a tactical meeting and a light practice to get some touches on the ball. This would help us get the jet leg out of our legs. On Saturday morning, we had our first game against a Texas team named the DFW Tejanos 93 Premier. We came out on fire and controlled the game early and were up 3-1 at the half. We came out victorious 4-3. That same day, we had a second game at 5:30 against FC Barcelona Blue, last years Region 4 champions. This team was very good. I knew were in for a tough game, because their play style was so similar to ours. Every time we would score a goal they would match us with equal intensity. Though our defense stayed strong and our offense attacked relentlessly. The game ended up a tie 3-3, we were almost happy there was no OT in pool play. On Sunday, July 29, 2007 we had our third and final pool game against the Red Titans. If the Titans scored just one goal we would most likely come out second seed in our bracket. So our defense had to be on the top of their game. My team played hard, and the other team was again right there with us. We came out ahead in the final minute 4-1. Our coach said it wasn’t our highest quality, but we got the job done. We were happy to make it out of our pool, now all we could do is hope that Barcelona either tied or lost to Tejanos, to lock up the #1 seed. And they did! Barcelona tied the Tejanos 0-0. That evening we had our quarter final game, and since we came out first in our bracket we got to play Notts Forest, another home team from San Diego. “They are a very quick and skilled side and this will be a very tough match,” stated our coach. He said, “On defense watch the 1-2’s,” (or in other words, watch the give-and-goes), and it was, a tough match, we had many chances but couldn’t seem to find the back of the net. After two overtimes we went into penalty kicks from the mark. OK, now the pressure was on. We missed one PK and they missed two, it came down to our sixth shooter and he drained it. We ended up ahead of Forest, 5 pk’s to 4 pk’s. After the game my team was elated yet exhausted mentally and physically. As our reward we got to take ice bathes, again! We relaxed until our game the next morning. Monday brought another beautiful day in San Diego, we played Valley United Blast, who are one of the highest rated teams in the region and county. They support a couple of regional and national team players, no biggie right? Yeah right!! Holy cow, it was a full on battle! At the end of the game it was 1-1, so we went into golden goal overtime. Finally in the second overtime we had our chance. It was a free kick from outside the 18 yard box. As I ran up I could hear two of our mid’s discussing who was going to take the shot, I think they both saw the same hole in the wall, cause there was some Major selling going on, on who was going to take the kick. Valley fixed up a wall, but by that time our player (Nick Palodichuk) had launched a laser. It struck the wall with incredible force glancing off the wall. The entire crowd was biting their nails, both of the teams just looking at the ball wondering what’s going to happen. And something remarkable happened, the ball curved right, past the keeper hitting the back of the net still spinning. The crowd on their feet cheering! YES! Our whole team was jumping and hollering despite the fact that some of us could barely walk due to injuries and fatigue. What an awesome experience to be part of a game like that and we were handsomely rewarded with our favorite thing a nice cool ICE BATH! That evening we were in the finals against the Force SC. So Cal Champs and our nemesis from Regionals who spanked us 3-1 in pool play. Our team was nervous and excited as this was our chance to play them with our new players and our chance for redemption. To them we were just a small Washington team. Jimmy said, “no matter what happens in the game boys, I’m proud of each and every one of you.” And that was all we needed to get pumped for the game. My stomach felt like a million butterflies were fluttering around inside of me. And I could see from the expressions on all of my teammates faces that they were feeling the same way. That feeling was soon gone and those butterflies turned to fire. It was game time, baby! They scored early with a very skillful chip from one of their forwards, the ball seemed like it was going to go over the net, but it dropped down and just like that the score was 1-0. We battled hard the rest of the game, it seemed like their keeper was everywhere. There was no getting past him! Time was ticking down and we didn’t know how much time was left on the clock. Then we heard the whistle blow. Instantly we thought, oh no! But one of my players was lying down in the box. “Penalty kick!” shouted the referee. Our team huddled together. “Alright, who wants it?” “I do,” exclaimed our left outside winger (Angel Ventura). Alright we all agreed, and with a nod of the head he was up there just him and the keeper. The crowd grew quiet, both teams on their toes with expectations. He stepped forward, placed the ball on the hash mark and took a couple steps back. He stepped once forward and broke into a sprint, WHACK! You could hear his foot strike the ball, I closed my eyes only for a second, when I looked back up I seen the keeper on the ground, and the ball rolling in the back of the net! GOAL! Our team broke out into a frantic mob. Hope! We’re still in it! That was the word that crossed all of our minds. Hope! Moments after kick off the final whistle blew and we were onto overtime. For both overtimes, both teams battled, we gave it all we had, and we ended up still tied 1-1. Oh, boy, penalties again! Both teams seemed pretty evenly matched in penalties. That’s soccer!! We missed a couple of PK’s, and they missed one. Luckily the sick feeling in my stomach didn’t last long cause at the Force’s fourth kicker our keeper came up big. He made a diving save. Back to even and everything seemed to go into slow motion. We went into our 7th kicker and we were up by one goal. As their 7th player approached, we assumed we were going to 8 kickers. The kick was off, our keeper guess right and just like that Surf Cup Champions. The impossible was possible. Our team rushed out onto the field to jump on our keeper. My mind was racing; it felt like a weight was lifted off of my shoulders, it was the most incredible feeling I’d ever had. CHAMPIONS! All of our hard work paid off, we fought through the aches and pains the tournament had brought us, not just physical aching, but mental aching. The whole plane ride home I could only think of one thing, we did it. We are the champions of the greatest tournament in the West Coast. “We are the champions of the Surf Cup”. The rest of the players, Jordan Billy, Chase Butler, Nico De la Cruz, Stephen Dutson, Josh Hamilton, Nikolia Hammer, Chris Miller, Sean Okoli, Eric Owen, Troy Peterson, Evan Robicheau, Trevor Whitt and guest Jerame Wentzel.

WPS-Soccer would like to thank Drew for taking the time to write this up. I also wanted to express to the team how proud all of us are in Washington are of the boys and how well they represented the state at Surf Cup. Winning Surf is very difficult and you boys deserve tons of credit.