SOCA Travel teams hit the road over the Memorial Day weekend, with different groups headed to destinations around the mid-Atlantic, making big impacts wherever the SOCA colors were represented. The holiday weekend is the traditional end-of-season test for the U11-U15 age groups, as they wrap up their campaign. Club wide results are impressive, showing a depth of talent and commitment throughout the organization.
SOCA Elite
The Elite teams headed to south eastern Pennsylvania, competing in the FC Delco Players Cup, measuring themselves against new opponents from more northerly locations. Over the weekend SOCA teams amassed 25 wins and four draws against only nine losses. Both the U12 Girls Apprentice and the U15 Girls Elite were champions, with the U12 Boys Apprentice and U14 Boys Elite reaching the semi-finals. Check all the results here: http://events.gotsport.com/events/Default.aspx?eventid=68305
Charlottesville Premier
The Virginia Cannon Cup in northern Virginia was the destination for this group, with eight teams making the trek and putting together 21 wins and four draws and only 12 losses. The U15 Girls Premier were champions while the U14 Girls, U15 Boys, U13 Boys and U12 Boys all claimed second place in their group. See all results here: https://events.gotsport.com/events/Default.aspx?EventID=71528
Augusta Premier
Seven Augusta Premier squads also headed to northern Virginia to compete in the long-established SYC Virginian Elite Soccer Tournament. The U12 Girls Premier were finalists and the U12 Boys Premier claimed the silver spot in a round robin format. Find all the results here: http://events.gotsport.com/events/Default.aspx?eventid=70206
Charlottesville Classic
Twelve local Classic teams journeyed east to compete in the Williamsburg Invitational, where they piled up 21 wins and five draws over 13 losses in tight competition. Both the U13 Girls Classic Blue and the U13 Boys Classic Blue went undefeated, each with perfect 4-0-0 records as they claimed championship titles in their groups. Check all the results here: http://events.gotsport.com/events/Default.aspx?eventid=67459
Over the Memorial Day weekend, 49 SOCA Recreation and Challenge teams battled for local bragging rights at the club’s annual Sunburn Tournament, held at South Fork Soccer Park and Charlottesville High School.
Nearly 700 players were involved in the traditional season-ending event, capping off a fine spring season with some hot action on the holiday weekend. Warm temperatures throughout both days made demanding conditions for the hard-working players, yet there was no lack of energetic enthusiasm on the soccer fields.
A real cross-section of the club was present; with 37 boys and 12 girls teams, in age groups U19-U10 representing both the Charlottesville and Augusta regions. It was a true soccer celebration with joyful sounds heard all across the playing fields.
South Fork Soccer Park hosted the U10 and U12 games, while the U15 and U19 groups played their matches on the Charlottesville High School fields. Both sites were abuzz as local kids showed off their developing skills.
Champions were crowned in ten divisions. To view all the standings and results, follow this link: https://events.gotsport.com/events/default.aspx?EventID=71234
SOCA’s Elite high school-aged boys teams attended the nationally recognized Jefferson Cup Showcase in Richmond, over the weekend of March 29-31. The U18 squad completed a three game sweep of opponents who range from coast to coast. The locals finished second in their Elite group of 12 teams, edged out of the top spot only on goal difference.
In their opening match on Friday, SOCA defeated Maryland United FC by a 3-2 margin. On Saturday, SOCA repeated the same score line against eventual third place finishers, San Francisco Elite Academy, from California.
Their closing match on Sunday capped a strong weekend showing with a 5-0 romp over Wilmington Hammerheads from South Carolina.
SOCA’s U17 Elite Boys completed the high level showcase tournament weekend with two 1-0 wins over Achilles FC (Maryland) and Lower Marion SC (Pennsylvania) after suffering an opening defeat to FC Europa (Pennsylvania).
All Jefferson Cup Boys Showcase results can be found here: https://events.gotsport.com/events/default.aspx?EventID=66909
The weekend of March 16-17 was a busy one for several sections of the SOCA Travel program. Teams headed off in various directions to jump start their spring season with tournament competition.
Augusta Premier and Classic squads made the trip to Stafford, VA where they competed in the Stafford St. Patrick’s Day event. The Augusta U12 Girls Premier claimed their division crown, while both the U13 Girls Premier and the U14 Boys Premier teams advanced to their division championship match.
SOCA Charlottesville Classic teams trekked to the Hunt Country Classic in Fauquier County, where the U12 Boys White and the U13 Girls White squads both made it to the final championship match before bowing out.
SOCA’s U11 and U12 Girls Apprentice teams, and the U13 and U14 Girls Elite teams made the trip to Richmond to compete in the Jefferson Cup, where they faced stiff competition in a competitive early-season event. The high-level tournament will launch the girls into their CCL spring campaign.
SOCA’s U18 Girls Elite team completed a three game sweep at the vaunted Jefferson Cup Showcase, featuring top teams from around the country. The Richmond based tournament is a high-level national event, which took place the weekend of March 22-24.
In pursuit of their three wins, the SOCA girls faced unique opponents, hailing from near and far.
In their first match on Friday, SOCA faced FC Stars from Massachusetts, and came away with a 3-0 win. The victory built confidence and set the tone for the remainder of the tournament.
On Saturday, San Francisco Elite Academy, from California, provided the competition. SOCA prevailed 2-1 over the west coasters.
In their final match, SOCA defeated their near neighbors, Richmond Strikers, 1-0, to close out the successful weekend campaign.
The spring 2019 campaign kicked off with some steep challenges and good results for the SOCA U13 Boys Elite squad, at the Jefferson Cup in Richmond. With snow and wet conditions limiting training opportunities prior to the nationally recognized event, the U13’s faced tough competition while trying to quickly acclimate to high level matches.
The local squad faced four opponents from four different states over the March 9/10 weekend. SOCA dropped their tournament opener, a 2-1 loss, to United Futbol Academy of Georgia in a closely contested match, while getting their legs adjusted to game conditions after the winter lay-off.
The second match on Saturday saw SOCA press for a 4-3 win over Maryland United FC, from the Bowie area. The result was a confidence booster, as the team rolled into their Sunday morning match and posted a solid 3-1 win over Charlotte SA of North Carolina.
The win put SOCA at the top of their bracket, and set up a championship final showdown against South Carolina United in the Sunday afternoon match. The boys from Carolina carried the day as SOCA legs tired, with a 3-0 final score line.
The opening tournament will serve to launch the team into CCL league play, which will begin on March 24.
Over the weekend of March 16/17, SOCA’s Girls U11 and U12 Apprentice, and U13 and U14 Elite teams will get their turn at the Jefferson Cup.
Over the weekend of December 8 and 9, 13 intrepid SOCA Recreational teams competed in the annual fall season finale Frostbite Tournament where they faced spirited competition among themselves and an unexpected wallop of winter. The tournament was original scheduled one week earlier, but the incessant fall rains forced delaying the wrap-up tournament to accommodate an additional week of make-up league matches.
Despite the later start, teams from both Augusta and Charlottesville regions joined the fun in the frost and came out to claim bragging rights in their age group. Competition took place in two U10 boys divisions and one U12 boys division.
Everyone got a bit more authentic December weather than they may have hoped for when Sunday saw the arrival of 8” of snow at the South Fork Soccer Park venue. While games were completed on Saturday without complications, the Sunday matches were cut short by the arrival of snow that exceeded earlier forecasts.
Once games got underway on Sunday morning on clear ground, it wasn’t long before it was understood that Old Man Winter was going to have the final say. Snow made its first appearance at around 10:00 am and by mid-day, the accumulation was enough to force cancellation of the final matches.
Despite the disruption, players, coaches and supporters all seemed to enjoy the final event of a challenging season. The flakes were flying and the joyful sounds of delighted children playing soccer in the snow reverberated throughout the park.
Champions were crowned in all three divisions based upon completed matches, as follows:
Boys U10 Blue Division: T21 Navy Blue
Boys U10 Red Division: W23 Gold
Boys U12 Division: C32 Forest Green
For more information and complete results and standings, follow this link: https://www.socaspot.org/tournaments/frostbite-tournament-schedule-and-results/
Two SOCA Elite Boys teams made the trip to the weather-impacted Bethesda Premier Cup and returned with championship finishes. The Bethesda event is considered a top-flight east coast tournament, drawing teams from throughout the eastern United States and Canada.
The U13 Boys Elite swept through group play with three wins over squads from New Jersey, Maryland and Ohio, and then faced St. Mary’s SC of Maryland in the final where SOCA rolled to a comprehensive 6-0 win. In the course of the four wins SOCA outscored their opponents 16-3.
Competing in a group packed with high powered clubs, the U15 Boys Elite also swept through group play, beating opponents from New Jersey, Pennsylvania and western New York State before dispatching the Connecticut Rush 2-1 in the championship final. Along the way the SOCA U15’s outscored the opposition 11-1 and defeated three State Cup champs en route to the crown.
The Bethesda Premier Cup schedule was hugely impacted by recent rains and snow which fell on Thursday prior to the Friday event kick-off. All the U16-U19 Boys age group play at the Cup was cancelled due to poor field conditions.
For complete results and standings follow this link to the Cup page: https://events.gotsport.com/events/Default.aspx?EventID=68088
SOCA teams were spread to the distant corners of Virginia over the Columbus Day holiday weekend, where a total of eight SOCA teams won championships in tournaments located throughout the state.
Five Elite girls squads of the high school age groups trekked north to the famous WAGS event in northern Virginia, and both the U19 and U18 Elite Girls came home with first place finishes in their showcase groups. Both teams achieved undefeated records over the three days of play in one of the nation’s top girls tournaments. See WAGS tournament results here: https://wagstournament.com/schedule-scores/
The Charlottesville region Premier teams headed east to participate in the Virginia Beach Columbus Day tournament, where the SOCA-Charlottesville U19 Boys, U14 Boys and U14 Girls all claimed the top spot in their bracket. Adding to the successes, the SOCA-Augusta U14 Boys Premier also won their division at the Beach event. See Virginia Beach Columbus Day Tournament results here: http://events.gotsport.com/events/Default.aspx?eventid=67484
Most of the SOCA-Augusta Premier teams traveled south to the Kroger Cup in Roanoke. Both the U13 Boys and the U11 Girls returned with a gold medal haul at the conclusion of the holiday weekend. See Kroger Cup results here: https://soccer.sincsports.com/TTResults.aspx?tid=KROGERC&tab=3&sub=3&=1
League play will continue this coming weekend, October 13/14. SOCA Elite teams will host FC Richmond on Sunday, while the Charlottesville Premier teams will host visiting Valley AFC on Saturday.
Over the Labor Day weekend, SOCA co-hosted the second annual Blue Ridge Cup along with partners Central Virginia United, defying the heat to provide a competitive tournament event for 202 travel teams. With matches spread over the two hosting communities (boys matches in Charlottesville and girls matches in Lynchburg) west central Virginia was a busy soccer destination. The tournament experienced remarkable growth, up from 133 teams last year.
With 37 division titles on offer, SOCA squads walked away with 16 gold medal placements, demonstrating the club’s comprehensive quality across age groups and genders. Three first place champions hailed from the SOCA-Augusta program, and 13 are Charlottesville based teams. SOCA claimed 10 SOCA boys championships, and six SOCA girls titles.
“Overall we are pleased with the level of competition”, said Bill Mueller, SOCA Director of Soccer. “SOCA teams faced stiff challenges throughout and found some success. The tournament has proven to be quite useful in providing our coaches and teams an opportunity to learn a lot in a short period of time at the start of the fall season. And we enjoy hosting a local event for our families.”
Future plans include controlled growth and attracting more top competition at the Elite level. Tournament organizers are looking to add touches of service which will increase the appeal of the developing event