Pictures from RSL-AZ U16 Elite Far West Regional play versus Pumas Premier FC Academy and FC Golden State. Click on one picture and a slider gallery will form.
Weekend Soccer Preview – Dallas Cup & Far West Regional
Grande Sports Academy is going to be empty this weekend as RSL-AZ will be sending teams to Texas for Dallas Cup and to California for Far West Regional Play.
The group that will be heading to Dallas are the older boys who will be competing in the prestigious Dallas Cup. This is the 33rd year for the Cup that has seen some of the greatest clubs in the world win their tournament: Real Madrid, Liverpool, São Paulo, Tigres and many others. Over 100 colleges will be in attendance for this 9 day tournament from all over the United States as well as some based in Europe.
In simple terms for RSL to advance out of group play they must win every game. A loss isn’t an instant elimination, but a team would need a look of help to overcome that. If RSL advances they move onto the to Quarterfinals where they play the winner of another group. There are no WILDCARDS. The only way to advance is to win the group. If RSL wins in the QF’s they moves onto the semifinals followed by the final that will be played in the Cotton Bowl on Sunday.
This will also be the first time for RSL at the Dallas Cup. Defender Corey Nemeth spoke enthusiastically saying, “I’m excited to go to Dallas Cup there will be a lot of coaches watching. We will have good competition and hopefully we can perform well and get the results.”
RSL will be playing in a U19 age bracket. See that here. Because this tournament attracts teams from all over the world coaches are excited that they and the team will see something different.
“It’s always good to go to an International Tournament. We’re lucky enough to play a team from England. Different style of play were not used to see. It helps us if we hopefully go to the playoffs we can see teams that can show us something different,” said assistant coach Freddy Jaurez.
RSL-AZ will also be sending a U16 team to California to play in the Far West Regionals. The U18’s played their games last week and unfortunately were eliminated in their group.
The U16’s will be playing 3 games this weekend, 6 games in total group play, against some of the top teams in the area.
Midfielder Duncan Storey knows the importance of starting off group play with a win saying, “We’re playing the #1 team in the country. They are going to be good and we need to come out strong and battle.”
There are 7 teams in RSL’s group. Complete standings here.
It’s going to be a busy weekend with games but the players and coaches are ready. We hope to see everyone at the games!
Dallas Cup Schedule (All times Dallas time)
Sunday, March 24th – Group Stage
RSL-AZ vs Brooklyn Italians (New York)- 9:30am at Richland College Field #1
Monday, March 25th – Group Stage
RSL-AZ vs Dallas Texans (Texas) – 4:00pm at University of Texas at Dallas Field #7
Wednesday, March 27th – Group Stage
RSL-AZ vs Lewishan College (England) – 12:00pm at University of Texas at Dallas Field #1
All games below based of results in group stage
Friday, March 29th – Quarterfinals
Group D #1 vs Group E #1 – 1:30pm at Richland College Field #7
Saturday, March 30th – Semifinals
Quarterfinals winner vs quarterfinals winner – 10:00am at Richland College Field #10
Sunday, March 31st – Finals
Semifinals winner vs semifinals winner – 3:00pm at Cotton Bowl
Far West Regional (All times Pacific time)
Saturday, March 23rd
RSL-AZ U16 Elite vs Chiva Jr. USA SC – 11:00am at Ayala Park Field #15RSL-AZ U16 vs OJSC OCPremier – 5:00pm at Ayala Park Field #15
Sunday, March 24th
RSL-AZ vs Fullerton Rangers – 10:00am at Ayala Park Field #9
Community Service: Grande Sports Academy Players Volunteer at Boys & Girls Club
Make sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for more news
Every few weeks players from the Grande Sports Academy head into the city to help out with a community service project. Two weeks ago six players helped clean up a park. You can read about that right here.
This past weekend 8 players visited the Boyd & Girls Club: Nicholas Reyes, Javier Avelar, Adam Ferguson, Kaleb Goodman, Dillion Nino, Tevin Lowe, Trent Lowe and Duncan Storey.
The academy players joined the kids and played basketball and soccer with them.
“It was great to give back to community,” said Kaleb Goodman. “I love being able to provide a positive impact in the community by playing and sharing the sport that I love.”
Adam Ferguson added, “It was pretty nice. Got to play some basketball help out the community, played sports with little kids. It was fun.”
Great job academy players. Keep up the great work!
Below are pictures and video
RSL Elite U16 & U18 Recap From Presidents’ Day Cup
Make sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for more news
The U16 and U18 RSL Elite teams had impressive showings at the Presidents’ Day Cup hosted by SC del Sol over this past weekend. Even though both teams failed to win the championship for their age group the players and teams looked impressive throughout the tournament. Below are recaps for each team
RSL U18 Elite
Check out the U18 picture gallery from the tournament
Going into the tournament RSL knew their opening game was going to be tough. SC del Sol, one of the strongest teams in the tournament, defeated them 3-1, with two goals coming from set pieces. Based of the way the tournament is set up the loss to SC del Sol eliminated RSL from advancing to the next round. The team responded to this by winning their next three games and were so dominant in their final game against Colorado United the opposing teams Head Coach asked the referee to end the game ’18 minutes early.
Quotes from the tournament:
Martin Vasquez – What do you take away from the tournament? “We were disappointed when we went to Surf Cup because we did not take the opportunity to do well in a very prestigious tournament. This tournament is very prestigious coming in and one of the goals was we need to show better because there are a lot of college coaches here along with good teams. Obviously we wanted to go to the final and the first game was against the best team in the tournament. A tie would have been great because that gives us an opportunity to advance but we lost and it essentially eliminated us. The approach we took after this game was make the best of it in the next three games. Three wins when they obviously were the best team, no doubt. Individually some of them had a great tournament and our forwards scored a lot of goals it was a big plus. We take away a big plus from this tournament and knowing the next tournament is even tougher Dallas Cup we know that we’re heading in the right progression that we are taking.
Eric Gonzalez – You’re thoughts on the tournament. “It was a little disappointing in the end for us but the tournament itself wasn’t too bad. We played a couple of decent teams and in the first game we were unlucky that we couldn’t get a better result. It cost us the tournament but the team put a good effort and were happy with that.”
Aiden Tucker – You scored 5 goals, how does this feel and what are your thoughts? “It feels good. We played well this whole tournament especially the last three games we played as a team. Together we kept possession and this is the way we played and we did a really good job and if we keep doing it in practice we can do it in Dallas Cup as well.”
Friday, February 15th, 2013
U18 RSL Elite vs SC del Sol 98 Boys Armstrong (AZ) – 6:00pm, 1-3
Saturday, February 16th, 2013
U18 RSL Elite vs MN Thunder Academy Elite 94/95 (MN) – 1:45pm, 5-0
Sunday, February 17th, 2013
U18 RSL Elite vs Calgary Foothills 95s (CND) – 8:30am, 4-1
U18 RSL Elite vs Colorado United White 6005 (CO) – 1:45pm, 4-0
RSL U16 Elite
Check out the U16 picture gallery from the tournament
RSL U16 Elite wanted to build on their previous tournament championship victory last week. In the first game the team losing came back from a Duncan Storey strike and a Miles Stary header. After this RSL cruised to victories in their next two games winning their group and securing a place in the quarterfinals. Playing against SC del Sol in the QF’s, RSL looked strong throughout the games. A finesse shot by Tevin Lowe just outside of the 18 with his left foot gave RSL a 1-0 lead. They held on for the rest of the match advancing to the semifinals. This matchup was against Colorado Rush. After a nail-biting first half controlled by Rush, RSL started to pick up the pace in the second half. Tired legs ultimately doomed them as Rush scored the game winning goal with 10 minutes left. RSL sent everything they had forward and a last second header by Tevin Lowe was blocked by the Rush GK.
Quotes from the tournament:
Assistant Coach Michael Kraus – How do you some up the tournament and how has this team grown? “It was positive. It was physically exhausting playing 5 games in three days and it took a toll on them but mentally they battled last night. Today they battled for a good part of the game. when we still got behind we had the energy and mental toughness to push at the end and try to even it out. Over the last 6 months they have been getting better and playing much better soccer. The results weren’t there in the beginning but now they are playing good soccer and have combined the mental toughness and mental fortitude to go with it and now the results are coming.
Miles Stray – What is your take on the tournament? “It’s positive because in the beginning of the year we played a lot of these teams and didn’t do very well, tying or losing. We came back and it kinda summed up the fact that we have progressed over the 6 months that we have been here. It is about winning and we want to win. But the main point is to become better and get to that next level.
Miguel Martinez – Tough loss, how do you feel the team did? “We had really good games did what we could. We played our best after all but we were just tired and they were more mentally tough than us.”
Friday, February 15th, 2013
U16 RSL Elite vs Real Colorado National (CO) – 7:45pm, 2-1
Saturday, February 16th, 2013
U16 RSL Elite vs Ballistic SC U16 Boys (ID) – 8:45pm, 2-0
Sunday, February 17th, 2013
U16 RSL Elite vs LV Premier ’97B White (NV) – 12:00pm, 6-2
U16 Quarterfinals – U16 RSL Elite vs SC del Sol 97 – 7:oopm, 1-0
Monday, February 18th, 2013
U16 Semifinals – RSL U16 Elite vs Rush Colorado – 10:15am, 0-1