Placer United U14G Premier had to travel to Morgan Hill this past weekend for NorCal State Cup round of 16. They played West Coast SC of Livermore. After a slow start and some timid defending, the girls found themselves 0-2 at halftime. The team rallied in the second half and goals from Sierra Palmquist and Claire Norris brought the game back level at 2-2. The game went into extra time with the golden goal rule. The first part of extra time went by quickly and Placer was indebted to Goalkeeper Alyssa Leaman for making a fine save to keep it level. In the second half of extra time, Hailey LaCoste’s through ball sent Claire Norris clear to score and put the girls through to the quarter finals with a 3-2 game result!

On Sunday, the U14 played a quarter final game versus Sonoma County Alliance. Placer started very bright and created several good opportunities to score. Claire Norris continued her great goalscoring form all season, bundled in the opener to make it 1-0 Placer. This seemed to inspire the opponents and they replied with 2 quick goals to find Placer trailing 1-2. But just before the break, Hailey LaCoste coolly slotted home a penalty to make it 2-2 at halftime. The second half was even for periods but Norris got her 2nd goal of the game, racing on to Aly Barr’s well weighted pass to make it 3-2 Placer. With time running out, the win was sealed when Megan Williams scored with a few minutes remaining to ensure a 4-2 win.

Placer moves on to play in the semi finals versus North Bay Elite on May 5th at Turlock Sports Complex.

Well done girls!

—Coach Kevin Unsworth

The Norcal Premier League held tryouts for their Player Development Program (PDP) over the past two months. They recently announced the selection of the Regional 6 Player Pools for the 2012-13 season.  These players will participate in training sessions and games with the Region’s best and will also compete against other Norcal Regions during the year.

Congratulations to the following Placer United players for making the pool:

Girls

• 2001 Birthdates:  Madison Ayson, Molly Brannigan, Ashlynn Hernandez
• 1999/2000 Birthdates:  Rachel Gensch, Nicollette Lewis, Isabella Perez

Boys

• 1999/2000 Birthdates: Cameron Douglas, Keegan Ness, Alejandro Perez, Cody Sunquist

The Placer United Elite girls teams finished the Winter Regional Academy League with TWO Champions out of FIVE age groups/divisions.

The U14 98′ Elite won the championship with a 2-0 win over Juventus and a 2-2 draw with DeAnza Force.  Their final record was 4 wins, 2 losses and 4 draws.

The U17 95′ Elite won the championship on Sunday defeating the Sonoma County Alliance 2-1 in penatly kicks.  They finished the league with 7 wins, 0 losses and 1 draw.

The U15 97′ Elite finsihed in 3rd place after a 1-1 draw with the league champion Sonoma County Alliance.  The girls didnt have the shot to jump into second as Sundays game was cancelled due to weather.  Their final record was 3 wins, 0 losses and 6 draws.

The U16 96′ Elite finished in 6th place and they also didn’t get to play the final game on Sunday, with which a win, could have propelled them into 4th place.  Their final season record was  3 wins, 2 losses and 3 draws.

The U18 94′ Elite finished in second place after a grueling 1-0 loss in which they dominated in scoring chances.  The girls finished the season with 4 wins, 2 losses and 4 draws.

Congrats to all the girls teams on a terrific league season!

The Placer United U14 Elite, U15 and U17 Premier and the Blues U15 girls teams travelled down to the Bay Area this past weekend to attend the Juventus College Showcase.

The U14 Placer Elite team started off the weekend with a grueling 3-2 loss to Mustang Explosion in the Premier Division.  In the second game they lost to Juventus and finished up the event with a 1-1 draw with Elk Grove Everton.

The U15 Blues team had a great weekend against some very tough competition in the Premier Division.  They opened up with a 1-0 loss to Bay Oaks and then drew 2-2 with Santa Rosa.  They responded with a 3-0 win over the ACC Mavericks and then won the consolation game 1-0 over the CV Arsenal.  The girls ended up with a 3rd place finish.

The U15 Placer Premier team opened up with a convincing 6-0 win over Legacy FC (NV) in the Gold Division.  They then were upended by  MVLA Blue 2-0.  The girls then bounced back with a 2-0 win over Boise Nationals (ID) who were leading the group at the time.  In the final, the girls had a rematch with MVLA Blue and were downed 3-1.  The girls ended up with a 2nd place finish.

The U17 Placer Premier team opened up with a 2-0 win over Sagebrush (NV).  They then lost a thriller 3-2 to DeAnza Freedom.  The third game was a tightly contested battle against Peninsula and came up short 1-0.  In the final match the girls beat Los Gatos 3-1.  They ended up as a semi-finalist in points in the college showcase format.

Congrats to all teams on a great weekend!

The Placer United U15, U16, U17 and U18 Elite teams travelled to Las Vegas last weekend for the Heat FC College Invitational. The event was held at the Bettye Wilson Soccer Complex and the girls played in front of college coaches who were recruiting from the event. Some of the top colleges were represented, including: University of Portland, USC, University of Oregon, Washington State, Arizona State, UNLV, amongst others.

The U15 girls had four wins on the weekend, defeating THUSC Mercury (OR) 2-0, Northwest Nationals (WA) 2-0, Players SC (NV) 1-0 and Forza SC (UT) 3-0. The girls ended up in second place in points.

The U16 girls started off the tournament with a 1-1 draw with Eugene Metro Magic (OR). They then played the eventual champion THUSC Sodium and lost a very competitive game 0-2. The next game they saw the Tennessee powerhouse, Brentwood. They lost 0-1 in a nail-biting contest which saw Placer miss numerous chances in the closing minutes. The final game was a 2-0 win over a very strong team, FC Portland. The girls had a very difficult bracket and THUSC and Brentwood finished the event in 1st and 2nd place.

The U17 girls had 3 wins and 1 loss at the event. They started off the weekend with a 5-0 win over LV Premier ECNL (NV). They then beat the Boise Nationals 1-0. The girls suffered a 1-3 loss to the Heat FC 94’s. The girls rebounded and beat the Northwest Nationals (NW) 3-0. They won their group in points and won the championship.

The U18 girls took second in the championship by points. 1-0 win over Pride Predators (CO), 1-0 win over Northwest Nationals (WA), 0-0 draw with THUSC Ireland and a 2-0 win over Heat FC.

This was a great weekend of competition for the program. Congrats to all teams and families who made the trip.

Placer United Premier U15 and U17 Girls and Blues U15 Girls travelled to Las Vegas last weekend and had very strong showings.  All three teams made it out of the group stage and competed in the playoffs.  A number of college coaches were also in attendance for this event.

The Blues U15 girls won the Championsip in the Telemundo Division weaving their way through six games to bring home the Cup.  They opened up with a 0-0 draw with Washington Premier (WA) then went on a five game winning streak to claim the championship.  They defeated Oomega Select (KS) 4-1, FC United (IL) 3-2, LV Sports Academy (NV) 4-0, Cook Inlet Velocity (AK) 4-0 and in the final they defeated FC United Select again, 1-0.

The Placer United Premier U15 girls made it all the way to the Championship game in the Adidas Division before falling 1-0 to Dowtown Las Vegas SC (NV).  The girls had a great run including a 1-1 draw with Impact Utd (UT), a 3-0 win over the Alaska Rush, a 3-2 win over Semaihoo from Canada and a 1-0 win over Boca (CA-N).

The Placer United Premier U17 girls made it to the quarter-finals of the Telemundo Division and were up ended in penalty kicks by the NV Wonders out of Nevada.  The shootout went ten grueling rounds.  The girls made it to the playoffs with a 1-0 win over Twin Cities (MN), a 1-1 draw with Omega Select (KS) and a 0-0 draw with Colorado United.

All three of our teams won their groups before advancing to the knockout rounds.  This was a fantastic weekend for the soccer club.  Great job ladies!

Seth Casiple (Placer United and CDA), joins his former teammate  Daniel Cuevas (CDA) in Florida

CHICAGO (Feb. 17, 2012) – U.S. Under-20 Men’s National Team head coach Tab Ramos has named a 26-player roster for a domestic training camp from Feb. 20-March 1 in Clermont, Fla.

As part of the camp, the U.S. U-20 MNT will face the reserve teams from FC Dallas on Sunday, Feb. 26, at 4 p.m. ET and Montreal Impact on Wednesday, Feb. 29, at 10:30 a.m. ET. Both matches will take place at the Disney Wide World of Sports complex.

The squad is composed of six players born in 1994, with the rest born in 1993. The roster features four Development Academy players – Daniel Garcia, Alfred Koroma, Collin Martin and Andrew Oliver. A total of 19 total players having gone through the Development Academy during their career. Ten players are college players, with Seth Casiple and Christian Dean coming from California and Mikey Lopez and Boyd Okwuonu hailing from North Carolina.

Ten are signed to professional teams. Mexican side Santos Laguna was the only club to send more than one player, with Daniel Cuevas, Jesus Guzman and Benji Joya all representing the Guerreros. Juan Pablo Ocegueda comes from fellow Mexican Primera Division club UANL Tigres, and Victor Pineda and Omar Salgado come from MLS teams Chicago Fire and Vancouver Whitecaps, respectively. Villyan Bijev, Sean Cunningham, Matt Dunn and Kamil Kaminski all play in Europe.

Fourteen players are returning from the U-20 MNT’s January camp in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., including Cunningham and Salgado, who were both also on the roster for Ramos’s first camp in Duisberg, Germany. The other 12 players are Bijev, AJ Cochran, Daniel Cuevas, Garcia, Guzman, Koroma, Martin, Eric Miller, Ocegueda, Sean Okoli, Okwuono and Walker Zimmerman.

Ramos is preparing the U-20s for the 2013 CONCACAF U-20 Championship, which will likely take place in early 2013. The tournament will determine the region’s qualifiers for the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup being held in Turkey from June 21-July 13. Every player on the roster is age-eligible for the upcoming U-20 World Cup.

U.S. U-20 Men’s National Team Roster By Position:
GOALKEEPERS (3): Tomas Gomez (Georgetown; Webster Groves, Mo.), Jesus Guzman (Santos Laguna; San Jose, Calif.), Kamil Kaminski (Legia Warszawa; Berlin, Conn.)
DEFENDERS (8): AJ Cochran (Wisconsin; St. Louis, Mo.), Sean Cunningham (Molde FK; Troy, Mich.), Christian Dean (California; East Palo Alto, Calif.), Mobi Fehr (Unattached; Tokyo, Japan), Eric Miller (Creighton; Woodbury, Minn.), Juan Pablo Ocegueda (UANL Tigres; Riverside, Calif.), Boyd Okwuonu (North Carolina; Edmund, Okla.), Walker Zimmerman (Furman; Lawrenceville, Ga.).
MIDFIELDERS (10): Seth Casiple (California; Rocklin, Calif.), Daniel Cuevas (Santos Laguna; Sacramento, Calif.), Matt Dunn (OFK Beograd; Dallas, Texas), Daniel Garcia (FC Dallas Academy; Dallas, Texas), Alejandro Guido (Unattached; Chula Vista, Calif.), Benji Joya (Santos Laguna; San Jose, Calif.), Mikey Lopez (North Carolina; Mission, Texas), Collin Martin (D.C. United Academy; Chevy Chase, Md.), Daniel Metzger (Maryland; Staten Island, N.Y.), Victor Pineda (Chicago Fire; Bollingbrook, Ill.)
FORWARDS (5): Villyan Bijev (Fortuna Düsseldorf; Fresno, Calif.), Alfred Koroma (Solar Chelsea SC; Southlake, Texas), Sean Okoli (Wake Forest; Federal Way, Wash.), Andrew Oliver (Chicago Fire Academy; Indianapolis, Ind.), Omar Salgado (Vancouver Whitecaps; El Paso, Texas)

The Placer United U11-U13 girls teams finished up their seasons recently in the Norcal State Cup Championships.  The Norcal Cup began last September with a number of preliminary games and ALL of our teams listed below placed in the Red (top) division of the Cup.

The U11 Elite won 2-1 in the Quarter-finals of the Red 2 group.  They went into the semi-finals against one of their rivals, CV Magic, and were upended 2-3.

The U12 Elite made it to the Red 2 Quarter-finals and were defeated by Pleasanton Rage 0-2.  The girls had a great tournament overall.

The U12 Premier had a great run in the Cup but took a loss to the FCA Dynamites 0-1 in the Quarter-finals of the Gold 3.

The U13 Elite won their Quarter-final match of the Red 2 group in PK’s vs NBEFC, 2-1.  They then moved on to the semi-finals and lost a heart-breaker to Pleasanton Rage 0-1.

Congrats to all of the teams on a fantastic run in the State Cup!

At 20 years old, Uriel Moreno had earned many awards and accolades in his youth soccer career. He played recreation, competition, and high school soccer in Lincoln and during those years gravitated to higher and tougher challenges. Each level of competition was met with open-eyed determination. But nothing foreseen had prepared him for his current honor and distinguishable invitation.  Read More

Former Placer United and California Development Academy stand out, Seth Casiple, was called up into the U.S. National U20 team camp January 2-9 in Florida. Seth was also awarded the “PAC 12 Freshman of the Year” for his outstanding play for Cal Berkeley during the 2011 college season, in addition to being named as “California Gatorade High School Player of the Year” in 2010.

Seth kept his soccer game at a high standard over the Christmas holiday by competing against other Placer United college players in the 7th Annual “Placer United Alumni Game”.

Everyone at Placer United congratulates Seth. Great job!