The CDA 93-94 team concluded their season at the US Soccer Development Academy Playoffs in Greensboro, North Carolina. The team advanced to the 32 team playoffs as the 17th seed. Development Academy teams competed all year for spots at the prestigious event. The team earned 6 points at the playoffs, one shy of a spot at the National Playoffs in Los Angeles at the Home Depot Center where the final 8 teams will compete for the National Championship. CDA defeated the #6 seed PDA out of New Jersey 4-0, defeated the #32 seed Birmingham 3-1, and were beaten by the #16 seed Internationals from Cleveland 1-3.

CDA finished their first season in the Development Academy as the runner-up in the very competitive Western Conference Pacific Division. The team finished with a league record of 8-3-1 and an overall record of 17-8-5. The attacking oriented team managed to score 61 goals in 30 matches with goals coming from 13 different players.

At the Winter Showcase in Phoenix, Arizona, Seth Casiple was invited to play in the US Soccer Development Academy Select Match. A strong performance including a goal and assist in a 2-2 match landed Seth an invitation to camp with the US U18 National Team. At the Spring Showcase in Sarasota, Florida. Grant Silvester and Connor Hallisey were invited to play in the US Soccer Development Academy Select Match. Grant played well as a center back and Connor impressed with two goals in a 2-0 match. Matt LaGrassa was selected as the US Soccer National U15-16 Player of the Week after he scored 2 goals in a 5-1 win over the Irvine Strikers and then added another goal the next day while playing up on the U18 team in a 2-0 win against LAFC Chelsea.

Prior to entering the Development Academy season, CDA won the prestigious Surf Cup in San Diego with a record of 6-0 against some of the best teams in the country. The team also won the Placer Prestige Cup and finished as a finalist at the San Juan Cal Cup. The team had a summer record of 14-1-1

Placer’s 94’s Paige Crouch, Lauren Gollnick and Madeline Schiffel were selected to participate in the Player Development Program (PDP) through NorCal Premier and US Club Soccer. The girls were picked out of a group of 50 players to train with US Women’s National Team Staff Coach Mike Dickey and the Market Training Center. The training session was held at Trione Fields in Santa Rosa. This program has been developed to identify possible players for the National Team Pool.

Here are a few quotes from the girls and their experience at the session:

Crouch: “The training session made me realize that there is so much more that I need to improve on for the next level. It has made me want to become a better player and reach my goal of playing for the US National Team.”

Gollnick: “I felt very priveleged to have the opportunity to play with the top players in Cal-North and be coached by a few top college coaches and the National Team Staff.”

Schiffel: “This was a very beneficial experience for me to play with the top players and in front of Coach Mike Dickey. He gave me very good advice on what I need to do for the next level.”

Congratulations to the girls for making it to the final training session. All of us at Placer United are happy that you were able to have this great soccer experience.

The U11-U13 Placer Girls Gold teams competed at Cal Cup this past weekend. All of the teams were placed in difficult brackets and played very well. Here are their results:

U11 Girls Gold – 0-2 to Ajax, 12-0 over Santa Rosa, 2-4 to Cal Northstars, 2-1 over Santa Clara Sporting

U12 Girls Gold – 1-2 to Santa Rosa, 2-1 over Walnut Creek, 0-2 to Elk Grove and 0-2 to Mustang

U13 Girls Gold – 5-0 over sac Utd, 4-1 over Heritage, 3-0 over SCA, 0-0 draw with Modesto Ajax in the semi-finals and were defeated in penalty kicks.

Congrats to all of the teams for a job well done!

The California Development Academy (CDA), a collaboration of Placer United Soccer Club (PUSC) and San Juan Soccer Club (SJSC), announced today that the U16 and U18 boys teams had advanced to the US Soccer Academy playoffs in Greensboro, North Carolina, to be held June 25-29th. The CDA teams are the official U.S. Soccer Federation Academy teams for Northern California and are intended to provide the highest level of soccer training, development, and competition to the very best U.S. youth soccer athletes in the region.

Each CDA team joins 31 teams from across the country in their age level, and the 32 teams in each age level are drawn into eight groups. Teams finishing in the top of their group advance to the finals in July at the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles.

Supporters may watch CDA games streaming live online as the CDA U16 take on PDA; June 27 at 4:00pm ET; and June 29 as the CDA U18 play Vardar at 10:00am ET. The games may be viewed at www.ussoccer.org.

CDA co-coaching directors Paul O’Brien of PUSC and Billy Wiskel of SJSC praised the early success of the CDA teams, which have been in existence for only a year. They noted that the high level of soccer talent in the greater Sacramento region warranted the Academy designation, and this had been borne out by both CDA teams making the national playoffs in their first year eligible.

Placer United Soccer Club is pleased to announce we have created a full-time Technical Director position.

As part of Placer United’s ongoing commitment to providing the best youth soccer development program in Northern California, we are pleased to announce that with the support of the Board of Directors, current Placer United Pro Staff Coach Kelcey Chaidez has been promoted to the position of Director of Technical Development for the U9-13 boys and girls age groups. In this position, Kelcey will be responsible for developing and implementing a standardized, rigorous, and age-appropriate technical skills development curriculum for all players in the U9-13 age groups. He will also be responsible for developing an outreach program aimed at generating greater numbers of younger players to the club. This will be done through our Juniors program and other programs to ensure players benefit from this technical training at the earliest possible ages.

Kelcey is a highly accomplished coach who is well known to many of our families already. He joined Placer United in 2008 following a successful stint of coaching in the Santa Rosa area, including seven years as staff coach with the Santa Rosa United Soccer Club. He also served as Assistant Head Coach for the Santa Rosa Junior College when they won State and National Championships.

Kelcey’s teams are always very skilled and he holds his players to a high technical standard. He will be a very valuable resource for the players and the soccer club moving forward. He brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise into this position. His work rate and passion for developing players will be an asset to the entire Placer United community.

Kelcey holds an USSF National “B” license, a National Youth Diploma, and NCSAA Goalkeeping 1 & 2 diplomas. Beyond his credentials, Kelcey is a passionate advocate of the game in general and the Placer United Soccer Club in particular, having performed many outreach and development duties for the Club already on an informal basis. In additional to his current coaching duties, he participates in our Placer Juniors program and constantly strives to encourage more players to take advantage of the training Placer United has to offer.

Kelcey is very excited for this new position and opportunity with Placer United. He will work very hard to develop our younger players to their full potential and promote the soccer club.

Please join your Board of Directors, Co-Coaching Directors, and his fellow coaches in congratulating Kelcey on this new position and promotion.

Sincerely,

Ron Benjamin and Paul O’Brien

Co-Directors of Coaching

A number of Placer United Girls teams were in action this past weekend. These events, for most teams, were the kickoff events for the new season!!

Reno, Nevada

U12 Girls Black 99 – 1 win, 2 losses and 1 draw

U14 Girls Black 97 – 3 wins and 1 loss – Semi-Finals (lost in pk’s)

US Club Regionals in Modesto

U13 Girls Gold 98 – 1 win and 2 losses – Super Group

U14 Girls Gold 97 – 3 wins and 1 loss – Semi-Finals – Super Group

U15 Girls Gold 96 – 1 win and 2 losses – Super Group

U16 Girls Gold 95 – 1 win and 2 losses – Super Group

U16 Girls black 95 – 2 wins and 1 loss – Premier Group

U17 Girls Black 94 – 2 wins and 1 loss – Premier Group

Congrats to all players on a great start to the season!