All posts by PUSC

Cameron Douglas Commits to UCLA

College Bound_Cameron Douglas_2015

“I am so excited to share that I have committed to UCLA, the #1 ranked team in the country. The minute I stepped on the campus and met with the players, the coaching staff and Coach Salcedo, I felt at home and knew it was the right place for me. I wanted to play for a school that competes every year for a national championship, that has awesome academics and can help me become a professional keeper. At UCLA, the competitive environment everyday at practice with top notch players from all over the world and everyone fighting for a starting position will help me achieve that goal. They have an incredible track record of producing MLS players and I know I can help them win another championship. I can’t thank my coaches at Placer United enough for all that they have done for me, especially Paul O’Brien. He knew my goals and would push me everyday to be the best I could be. Even playing for the San Jose Earthquakes and now for the Sacramento Republic FC Academy, Paul has been instrumental in my development and continues to take an interest in my growth, and I appreciate that so much! I also want to thank Gene DeChateau and Matt Bernard for helping develop my goalkeeping skills and for helping take my game to the next level! I can’t wait to play for UCLA! Go Bruins!” — Cameron Douglas

Placer United Hosts Juniors Cup While Securing First Place in Six Brackets

by Steven Wilson, Press Tribune Sports Editor

August, 2015—The host teams were celebrating left and right at Placer United’s Juniors Cup hosted at Del Oro High School Aug. 8-9 as nearly all of their teams brought home hardware.

Out of the eight age groups, ranging from U8-U11 for both boys and girls, Placer United won every bracket except the two U8 competitions. The U9 girls final even included both the Placer United Gold and Black teams — a matchup that the Gold squad won 3-2 in a back-and-forth final.

Among the star teams for Roseville’s closest competitive soccer teams were the U10 Boys Gold, who erupted for five goals in the second half after going into halftime of the final deadlocked in a 1-1 tie with Santa Rosa United Boca. Placer United’s team scored three times in the opening ten minutes of the second stanza and coasted to a 6-1 victory to claim the championship.

The team’s coach, Chris Hall, was complimentary of the progress his team made over the course of a weekend. Hall also noted that tournaments like the Juniors Cup can be the earliest exposures to competitive soccer for his team.

“Tournaments help with player development because (you play) a lot of games close together, so all of the players get a lot of playing time,” said Hall, who walked around and congratulated all of his players individually during the celebration.

In the time leading up to the tournament, which was sponsored by Adidas, Placer United worked to ensure a high quality of play by searching for opposing teams that push their players to improve and adapt.

“This tournament in particular is very competitive,” Hall proclaimed. “With just the top teams in the area, the level of competition is extremely high. “The players love it. All they want is to compete with the best teams.”

Placer United, as a club, must have been very pleased with how the weekend went, as their youth tournament drew teams from some of the best clubs in Sacramento, including Sac United, FC Elk Grove, and San Juan among others.

The stacked level of competitive provided for entertaining results.

“The players bond more when they have to work harder or play more games in a stressful tournament,” Hall explained. “In the long term you see the development of the team as a whole and of the individuals on the side of skills and tactics.”

These are exactly the results that Placer United was looking for before hosting a tournament strictly for their younger age groups, focusing on player development, but of course six first place trophies were a nice reward too.

Fun & Sun at the Placer Juniors Cup

U9 Boys Silver Division Champs_Placer White_jubilation

Placer United U9 Boys Silver Division Champs Celebrate their victory!

On a recent weekend at Del Oro High School, cries and sighs could be heard throughout the town of Loomis from parents and grandparents of U8-U11 boys and girls soccer players during the 2nd Annual Placer Juniors Cup. The spectators enjoyed watching their favorite players as they kicked, headed, tackled and blocked every ball, as well saved and scored every shot.

The tournament attracted almost 60 teams from Chico, Livermore, Modesto, Sacramento, and Santa Rosa and was kicked off in cool temperatures. But the intensity and heat increased with every game as teams battled to make semi finals and finals.

By championship time on Sunday, the thermometer read 99 degrees, but nobody cared as all eyes were on the new generation of Messi’s and Lloyd’s who were way too busy battling in their own U8-U11 world cup finals.

When the final whistle blew at the end of each championship game, the joy, ecstasy and relief on lots of faces, young and old, was priceless. During the trophy presentation, one coach brought even more smiles to his players’ faces when he announced he was taking his team straight to the ice cream parlor and putting “extra big sprinkles on each ice cream cone”.

A big thank you to all the teams that attended the Placer United tournament. We hope to see you all next year. Huge congratulations to all the teams that made it through to the finals and bigger congratulations to the teams that took home the silverware.

Great job everyone Go Placer!

Photo Gallery of champs and finalists.

Macey Moen of U18G 98 Gold Headed to CSU San Marcos

College Bound_Macey Moen_2015

“I am very excited to announce that I have verbally committed to CSU San Marcos! I cannot wait to continue to play the sport I love. I want to thank my parents for their unconditional love and support; without them I would not be where I am today. I’d also like to thank my brother, Austin, for all his guidance in soccer and life. You’re amazing. To my Placer family, a big thank you to all of my teammates who have become my lifelong sisters. Thank you all for pushing me to play to the best of my ability and for always being there on and off he field. To Bart Morefield, thank you for helping me to improve my tactical game and building my confidence. To Todd DeCarlo, a huge thank for introducing the college process to me and helping immensely in my communication with the college coaches; I couldn’t have done it without you Todd! To Ron Benjamin, under you, my game improved tremendously. I cannot thank you enough for your confidence in me and pushing me to be the best player I can be. I am very thankful to have had the opportunity to play for you as I prepare for the college game. To Katie Burton, I am thankful to have you as my last coach at Placer United. I am confident you will help me and my Placer teammates prepare for the next level as we end one journey and prepare to begin another. Lastly, I am really looking forward to playing for coach Bobby Renneisen at CSU San Marcos. Coach Renneisen has already instilled confidence me and I can not wait to join my cougar teammates in their drive to be successful and have an immediate impact in joining the very challenging California Collegiate Athletic Association Conference.

Go Cougars!”

Macey Moen

Ashlee “Grace” Schouten of U18G 98 Gold Commits to CSU Monterey Bay

College Bound_Ashlee -Grace- Schouten_2015

“I am excited to announce that I have verbally committed to Cal State Monterey Bay. This has been a long process that I could have never done without the help of my coaches, teammates and parents. I want to say thank you to my teammates for pushing me in everything, and I know that wherever they are going, or wherever they end up, they will all do great things. I also want to thank Missy Price at University of Nevada Reno for all of the training, mentoring and continuous support, also for following and helping me all the way through the college process. Without Missy, I would have never even gotten the opportunity to play for Placer. Thank you Todd DeCarlo for welcoming me as a U-16, for pushing me to be great, not good, and for always being such a big help in the recruiting process. Thank you Katie for really giving me this last push and for preparing us the best you can for the college transition. Also thanks for always finding a way to make us laugh whether its on or off the field. Thank you Ron for being such a big help in the recruiting process and for always pulling me aside to give me some extra pointers. Last but not least, thank you to my parents for always supporting me and pushing me to do what’s best. Thank you for driving me two hours to practice and then two hours home each day. Most of all, thank you for sacrificing so many things in your life to make mine better. I am more than excited to start playing for Coach Erin Reinke at CSUMB in 2016. She is an amazing coach who I know will continually push me to become the best I can be as an athlete and a person.”

Thanks
Ashlee

Placer United U9G 07 Gold Reach Championship at Mustang Stampede

Placer United U9G 07 Gold 2015 Mustang Stampede Finalists

Placer United U9G 07 Gold
2015 Mustang Stampede Finalists

Placer United’s U9 Girls Gold reached the championship game last weekend at the Mustang Stampede in Danville. In the Premier Division, the girls played Alternativo Futbol in game one and came away with a 2-2 draw. In game two, the girls lost a heart breaker to Pleasanton Rage 1-0 in a hard fought battle. That was enough to reach the semi-finals where Placer met up with the #1 seed, Mustang Explosion. The girls pulled off a 1-0 win to put them into the finals. In the championship game, the girls were matched up against San Diego United Navy. The game went back and forth with both teams having multiple scoring chances but came up a bit short, losing 2-0.

We’re so proud of you girls! Great job!

’95 Alum, Abbie Faingold, Selected to Compete in the 2015 Maccabi Games in Germany

Alum_09272015_Abbie Faingold

Abbie Faingold was selected to join the 2015 U.S. Maccabi Women’s Open soccer team as a goalkeeper for the European Games which was held in Berlin, Germany from July 27–Aug 5, 2015.

Abbie received her goalkeeper training at Placer United from Gene DuChateau, Matt Scammacca and Matt Bernard. The aforementioned coaches provided Abbie with a solid foundation to prepare her to play at the collegiate level.

With exposure at several college showcases, Abbie received a scholarship to play at Portland State University where she is playing Division I women’s soccer in the Big Sky Conference. Abbie just concluded her freshmen year with the PSU Vikings under Head Coach, Laura Schott. Abbie continued to grow and advance in her goalkeeping under the training and guidance of Coach Chris Lewis, former standout PSU goalkeeper and Portland Thorns player.

This was a tremendous opportunity and experience for Abbie to represent her country at the international level and she is honored to have been selected.

Read the Full Story

The Sun Shined on Placer United at soccerloco Surf Cup

Placer United U12B 04 Gold 2015 soccerloco Surf Cup Champions

Placer United U12B 04 Gold
2015 San Diego Surf Cup Champions

The Placer United U12B 04 Gold and U13B 03 Gold continued exactly where they left off from the Davis College Showcase two weeks ago as both teams finished in the top of their brackets and advanced to the knock out rounds at the 2015 soccerloco Surf Cup in San Diego this past weekend.

In the quarterfinal rounds Sunday afternoon, our U13 boys beat a fiery Crossfire Academy in a tense affair 1-0 with a big time goal from DJ Handen. The U12 boys were involved in an epic battle with the top ranked Beach FC. The boys were down 2-0 after 20 minutes and battled their way back to win 4-2 with two goals from Rami Zantout and a goal each from Luc Summers and Drew Krawiec to join the U13 boys in the semi finals.

Bright and early Monday morning, the U13 boys played a very big and strong Washington side and won by 2 goals to zero with a goal each from Jackson Borba and Donovan Sessoms to advance to the U13 championship game.

In the U12 boys semi final held an hour later, the boys beat a very touch Real So. Cal side in penalty kicks with Luc Bost coming up with a big time save and Drew Dennis scoring the decisive PK to send the boys through to the U12 championship game.

With two Placer United teams now in Surf Cup finals, the excitement on the faces of Placer United families was everywhere to be seen around the famous polo grounds.

In the U13 final, the Placer boys put up a huge performance as they fought back from 3 goals down to make the score 3-2 with goals from Donovan Sessoms and Evan Schoer to make for a great last five minutes, but the boys couldn’t find the tying goal and eventually lost out to the San Jose Earthquakes Academy 3-2.

Placer United U13B 03 Gold 2015 soccerloco Surf Cup Finalists

Placer United U13B 03 Gold
2015 soccerloco Surf Cup Finalists

In the U12 final, our boys came out flying with Jared Bautista and Chase Tanon scoring two quick goals to send the fans of Placer United into ecstatic joy! The Seattle United team refused to lay down and scored a goal to bring the game back close, but before Seattle could gain any momentum, up stepped Rami Zantout to restore the two goal lead and end the half 3-1 to Placer United.

In the second half, Luc Summers scored a fourth goal and Jared scored again to finish out the game 5-2 to result in the Placer U12 Boys crowned the 2015 U12 Boys soccerloco Surf Cup Champions.

Congratulations on a great weekend by both boys teams!

Go Placer!

Watch The Awards Ceremony

Watch the Game! (courtesy of Vic Tanon)

U12B 04 Black Win Suntan Classic

U12B 04 Black_2015 Sacramento Suntan Classic Champs

Placer United U12B 04 Black 2015 Sacramento United Suntan Classic Champions

Placer United U12B 04 Black team was crowned champions at the Sacramento United Suntan Classic this weekend at Cherry Island. The boys were undefeated in bracket play scoring eight goals and conceding zero. In the semi-final and championship games the boys continued their mean defensive play again conceding zero goals while scoring four in the semi and two in the final to take home the trophy.

Congratulations boys on a great job. Go Placer!

Mackenzie George Selected for Norcal PDP State Team Trip to Portland

PDP_Mackenzie George2_U17G 99 Gold_2015

Norcal Player Development Program has selected a team to represent northern California at a 4-day event in Oregon this week. Mackenzie George, of the Placer United U17G 99 Gold team, and her PDP teammates will train at Southern Oregon University. The team will travel up to Portland to compete against the Washington PDP State team and the ID2 National Selection team.

Congrats Mackenzie!

PDP_Mackenzie George3_U17G 99  Gold_2015 PDP_Mackenzie George1_U17G 99 Gold_2015