With hundreds of teams descending  on Lancaster for Sunday play in the Cal-South State Cup, it was hard to pick out a couple of games to report on, but I was glad find a pair of U14 knockout round games that featured some talented soccer-playing teams.

U14 Boys Semifinal: Arsenal 1, Aztecs Futbol Club 0

PJ Brown’s Arsenal side rode a strong defensive performance and an opportunistic goal from Cameron Souri to beat Aztecs FC and punch their ticket to next weekend’s championship match against Xtreme Italia, 3-1 winnners in overtime against Los Alamitos Vikings.

The match really was quite even except for a momentary lapse by Aztecs in the 1^st half where Souri pounced on a backpass, dribbled around a defender and cleverly chipped the goalkeeper to provide the margin of victory.

Arsenal’s Raul Mendiola, truly one of the best players in the country for his age group if not the best, showed some class on a couple of touches, creating space for himself and setting up teammates with good passes. Aztecs largely contained Mendiola however, and his best chance came on a nice 1-2 with Edward Arrieta after which he hit a shot that went just wide. Souri and Dennis Flores also played well in attack for Arsenal. 

The Arsenal back line of Cristian Ruelas, Juan Chavez, Mykal Riley and Philipp Dominique were rock solid, with Spencer Terry also playing well in defense off the bench. Ruelas in particular showed a lot of good steps and reads from his right back position, and goalkeeper Rafa Ocampo was composed when he was called upon.

Aztecs coaches Hector Diaz Sr. and Hector Diaz Jr. have a team that plays a nice brand of soccer. Alberto Diaz and Mario Rubio are both very good on the ball for the San Diego-based team, with Diaz also showing some bite in the midfield. Alfredo Rodriguez had a couple of long-range efforts and generally provided some muscle for Aztecs. 

Arsenal coach lauded his team’s defensive effort in the face of a talented Aztecs squad.

“This team has had 2 goals scored on us in our last 15 matches or so, so we’re firm believers in staying organized and keeping our shape in the back, and we think we’ll get our chances to score,” Brown said. “Playing an Aztecs team that is so talented, we needed to make sure we had our shape right, and the boys did a helluva job.”

 

U14 Girls Quarterfinal: Surf SC 2, Slammers 0 

Jose Ocampo’s Surf side advances to play So Cal Blues in next week’s semifinal, while Real So Cal and West Coast FC will meet in the other semi.

Defending Region IV champion Surf put on a nice display of passing soccer in defeating Slammers Sunday. 

Surf forward Allie Bailey helped keep things liquid in her team’s attacking third with good running off the ball. Her good close control resulted in a couple of scoring chances early, the best which resulted in a shot blocked in the area by a Slammers defender.

Slammers showed they could be dangerous on the counterattack shortly thereafter, and Erin Owen’s long-range free kick was well-held by Surf goalkeeper Ari Zargarian. 

Surf got on the board shortly afterward. Bailey reached a Slammers pass in the forward third and tapped it to midfielder Cassie Collins. Spotting the keeper off her line, Collins hit a shot from 35 yards that hit the underside of the crossbar and landed over the goalline for a 1-0 lead to the San Diego side.

Collins then hit a good pass to Jackie Friedman that nearly doubled the Surf lead but the shot went just wide.  Surf did score a 2^nd shortly afterward however when Olivia Buechler sidestepped a defender in the penalty area and slotted home to make it 2-0. 

The Surf team have been coached by Ocampo to knock the ball around and they do it well. The back line players came under a lot of pressure from Slammers, but showed skill and poise to keep possession leave their goal free of most pressure. Lauren Lytle, Cassie Callahan and Maya Theuer were especially good at this. Midfielder Kate Perry was also instrumental to the team’s passing game

Slammers got some good play from Owen, defender Haley O’Brien and forwards Mariah Helmer and Makenzy Doniak, an especially hard worker for the Orange County team. 

Ocampo said. His team’s style has had a lot to do with his success.

“We’re a different team from any team in this age group. This is why they’ve done so well,” Ocampo said. “Another good thing about this team is that they can adjust. We do have players who can hold the ball if they need to. We know both styles but we resort to passing whenever we can. The players have confidence and are composed on the ball.”