As the Coast Soccer League season is just getting underway, a lot of Southern California teams are trying to translate any summer success into the season. The U18 Boys United FC squad was one of those very successful teams during the summer.

Reaching the semifinals in both the Albion Cup National Soccer Showcase and the Region IV Championships,  United FC followed their performance by reaching the finals in the San Diego Surf Cup.

These great performances have United FC Head Coach Bryan Wallace optimistic for the rest of the year.

“I feel we are peaking at the right moment and we are playing the best soccer in our age group of all California, if not the nation,” said Wallace. “We have to just continue from the team’s success the last seven months into this new season.

“Going into this season, we feel for the first time in club history that we have the ability to be Coast Soccer League, state, and possibly national champions.”

The key to this success, points out Coach Wallace, is patience and overall understanding from each member of the team.

“The philosophy we have is unlike most teams in Southern California. It is to understand that if we have possession of the ball, then our opponents can’t score,” explained Wallace. “We always have enough time in the game, so there is no need to rush to score goals. We do a very good job in possession, sometimes stringing 15 or 20 touches before we go forward.”

It is this style of play that in the first two games of the Coast League soccer season has helped the team go a perfect 2-0 while outscoring their opponents 8-1 in the U19 Premier Division.

“We play with one deep striker and with attacking wingers, similar to that of the Dutch style,” said Wallace. “We are successful as a group when the ball is lost, then all ten players work endlessly to get it to back.”

Unity and cooperation from each player is something that Coach Wallace instilled early on in the year and set the mentality of an objective to work toward.

“Before the season started, I had individual meetings with each player as well as team meetings,” explained Wallace. “We determined what our individual and collective goals were going to be and what legacy they want to leave.”

For most of these players, this will be their last year playing for the club, as they head for college next year.

Midfielder Steve Palacios (#58 - 2011 Boy's Top 100), who is a member of the U18 US MNT pool, has committed to Cal Poly and will go on a trial with Dutch Club Heerenveen, meanwhile defender Erik Mackie will offer his services to St. Mary’s(m) College.

Brothers Bryan and Michael Breslin will be heading to the Big West, committing to UC Irvine, as will Christian Gonzalez, who will play at Cal State Northridge(m).

But for now the group is focused on achieving more things on the field for United.