The final day has met its dawn in Bradenton, Florida at the IMG Cup, and champions were crowned.

San Carlos Park Scorpions U16 4-0 IMG Academy Ascenders U16

San Carlos Came out with guns blazing as they managed to notch three goals within the first 17 minutes, and added another tally in the first half, to take fifth place in the in the U16B group. IMG had a short bench, and it showed by the end of the game.

“This is an awesome tournament. This is an awesome place for these guys to play,” said Scott Bigler, head coach of the San Carlos Park Scorpions. “What I wanted to work on [in this game] was some of the things that kept us out [of the championship].”

Forward Sean Lopez was the first Scorpion to scorch the back of the net, doing so in the fifth minute with a laser to the top right. The scoring was just getting started for the Scorpions. 

In the 13th minute, midfielder Trevin Myers chipped a high ball into the box that missed everyone’s head which allowed Carlos Argueta to come in for the tally. Just four minutes later Myers found the back of the net himself. Lopez crossed it to Myers, who was then able to slip past the defense and put a shot on, the keeper saved the initial shot, but Myers followed it up with a goal off the rebound. 

The Scorpions fourth, and final, goal of the match was put in by the foot of Bryan Guevara in the 38th minute. He received a pass from a throw-in, dribbled to the top right corner of the box and drilled it into the top left corner of the net.

IMG came out tougher in the second half, but it wasn’t enough to stifle the Scorpions sting. They had two chances on corner kicks off the foot of midfielder Jordan Marzo, a free kick that sailed high by defenseman Clay Holstad and a late run deep into Scorpion territory that sailed high as well.

Virginia Legacy Wizards U17 1-0 Derby City Rovers U17

The Virginia Legacy Wizards were crowned champions of the U17B group after they worked their magic and sent the Rovers back to the races in second place. The Wizards outworked their opponents from the initial whistle, but needed to find the back of the net only once before relying on their defensive efforts.

“It was a very tough game … Four games in three days is tough. Kids are sick and banged up,” said Robert O’Brien, head coach of the Virginia Legacy Wizards U17 team. “We found a way to get into the final and then played well enough today to win it.”

The Wizards had two early chances but failed to find a strong footing to capitalize. Their first opportunity came in the fourth minute when midfielder Matthew Beatty took a corner kick that found a Rover head before finding the foot of his teammate, forward Jason Eckenrode, who zipped it slightly above the crossbar. Three minutes later, the Wizard goalkeeper booted the ball three-quarters of the way down the field and found midfielder Bradley Malarkey on the run, but he was stopped by a diving Derby keeper.

Virginia’s only goal came in the 26th minute on a beauty of a play that resulted from a free kick. Defenseman Gavin Homan took the free kick from his own side of midfield and found the head of Michael Wilson in the box, who made no mistake in sneaking by the Derby City’s keeper.

Derby City had two late balls that had potential to find the back of the net, but both shots were stopped at the hands of the goalkeeper.

Mississauga Falcons Blue U16 2-0 Virginia Legacy Soccer Club CCL Elite U16

The Mississauga Falcons lamented their place on the championship podium with two late tallies to capture first place in the U16 Blue group. Virginia Legacy Soccer Club gave it their all, but weren’t able to find a scoring touch, and ended up taking second place.

“The boys executed our strategy perfectly. We played strong defense in the first half,” said Chrysanthos Chrysanthou, head coach of the Mississauga Falcons Blue U16 team. “We threw everything at them in the second half, played total offense in the second half, and it worked out for us.”

The first half belonged to Mississauga as they were able to create a few premier scoring chances. It was VLSC’s goalkeeper who deserved credit as he kept the game knotted at zero after coming up with a few fancy saves. The first save happened in the 10th minute when Falcons’ midfielder, Marko Mandekic, sent defender Aidan Bauer-Marr on a run deep into the box. The keeper came out to challenge and came up with the save. He challenged, and saved, another try in the 25th minute when he stone-walled Gurveer Gill.

The Falcons almost found their footing in the 55th minute when forward Tajon Buchanan finagled his way through a trio of defensemen and sent a rocket off the bottom of the crossbar that bounced on the line before spinning back into play.

Mandekic broke the tie in the 68th minute when he found space in the box and blazed one past the VLSC’s keeper in the top left of the net.

VLSC pulled out all the stops on a free kick in stoppage time to try to tie the game. They sent all their players in to attack, including sending their keeper to midfield, but couldn’t convert. They ended up turning the ball over to Falcons’ Buchanan, who went on a half-field run before crossing the ball to midfielder Anthony Chrysanthou for the finish.