Soccer Fans!

A huge weekend of soccer is coming up for CDA teams this weekend. Just as the weather begins to heat up, so does the race for USSF Academy playoffs spots.

Saturday, at Del Oro High School, the CDA teams host Cal Odyssey. The Odyssey have reached the USSF Academy National Finals the last two years and on both occasions lost the Final by a single goal. They will be bringing all that play-off experience to Loomis as they hope to return to the prestigious USSF Academy playoffs for the 3rd straight time.

Sunday sees the MLS San Jose Earthquakes Academy teams travel up to play CDA at Sacramento State’s Hornet field. The Quakes have an abundance of talent in their squads and will be looking to shake up CDA who have put together some impressive results over the last few weeks.

Kick off times for all games are 1:00pm and 3:30pm, so bring some sunscreen, water and plenty of noise to Del Oro on Saturday and Hornet Field on Sunday.

Event Flyer

This past weekend, the Placer United ’94 Girls Gold soccer team took second place at the California Youth Soccer Association (CYSA) State Cup held in Elk Grove. The girls played against the Mustang Rampage out of Danville who have won this event six of the last seven years.

Placer took an early lead scoring a goal in the first three minutes of the match but gave up two goals late in the first half, followed by an additional goal late in second half to lose 3-1. During the course of the State Cup, Placer outscored their opponents 24 and only conceded four goals in route to playing for the Northern California state championship in the under 17 age group.

Placer United beat last years semi-finalist and finalist in making their way through round robin play and later the knock out stages to qualify for the finals. By qualifying for the championship game the girls secured a spot in the US Youth Soccer Far West Regional tournament held in Boise, Idaho in June. The Far West Regional tournament consists of the state champions from the fourteen western states plus two wild card teams (Northern California and Colorado ) and two additional first place teams from the Far West Regional League.

The champion of the Far West Regional’s will qualify for National Championship in July. The girls are high school juniors and seniors and are from Roseville (Kelsey DeCarlo, Kellyn Morning, Rachel Dortch, Marissa Griffin), Rocklin (Jessica Santo, Megan Hansen, Emily Huska), Loomis (Rachel Sloss, Lauren Gollnick, Miranda Bailey), Granite Bay (Kayla Karlsson, Erin Pellerin, Maria Dela Cruz, Christy Cooper), Orangevale (Aliska Berry), Folsom (Caitlyn Kretzschmar), Truckee (Mikael Arnstein), and Novato (Shelby Brown).

The Placer United girls had a tremendous year taking first place in the Pleasanton College Showcase, Placer United Cup, President’s Day Tournament (Phoenix , AZ), and Las Vegas College Showcase (Las Vegas , NV) tournaments. The team is currently ranked #2 in Northern California and #35 in the United States by GotSoccer. Many of the girls on the team will continue playing soccer in college on scholarships.

Kevin Unsworth was named Placer United’s Coach of the Year for the 2010/2011 soccer season by Coaching Directors Ron Benjamin and Paul O’Brien.

Since joining the club in 2008, Kevin has worked his way up the coaching ladder and just recently received his USSF National “B” license. He is also on the Cal North ODP coaching staff.

“Kevin is a very hard-working guy and has done an exceptional job with all the teams he has coached over the last four years,” said Girls DOC Ron Benjamin.

“Kevin is a huge asset to the club. He is the type of coach we like at Placer United — a true Club guy who has earned the respect of all our coaches and board members by going the extra yard for his teams and the Club.” said Boys DOC Paul O’Brien.

Congratulations Kevin!

Roseville graduate Melissa Phillips, 23, takes over women’s soccer program at CSU Bakersfield

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Tyson Rietz, formerly of Placer United Soccer Club, is all conference in volleyball at Emmanual College in Boston. Rietz played U10-U19 with Placer and went on to accept a scholarship his freshman year to UC Irvine as a goalkeeper.

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California Development Academy’s players represent three out of the twenty-four player roster (or, 13% of the roster). No other Development Academy can boast more than one player, the only Development Academy providing multiple players!

CHICAGO (April 11, 2011) — U.S. Under-18 Men’s National Team head coach Mike Matkovich has named 24 players who will train in Portland, Ore., from April 16-24, on the Nike Campus. The training camp will feature friendlies against the Portland Timbers on April 19, and will finish with a pair of friendlies on Saturday, April 23, against the University of Portland and the University of Washington.

Two players on the roster will come from the professional ranks, with Victor Pineda representing the Chicago Fire and Jon Kempin representing Sporting Kansas City. Both players signed Home Grown player contracts with their respective clubs after spending time in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy, while 20 other players are current Academy players representing 17 different clubs. Furman University’s Walker Zimmerman is lone collegian on the roster.

There will be 14 players traveling to Portland who were part of Matkovich’s last training camp in Phoenix in February. The roster is made up entirely of players born in 1993.

U.S. U-18 MNT Roster by Position:

GOALKEEPERS (2): Jeff Gal (Sockers FC; Bartlett, Ill.), Jon Kempin (Sporting Kansas City; Leawood, Kans.)

DEFENDERS (8): Jonathan Campbell (NC Fusion; Greensboro, N.C.), Matt Jeffery (PDA; Freehold, N.J.), Mitchell Lurie (Concorde Fire; Alpharetta, Ga.), Timothy Parker (Albertson SC; Hicksville, N.Y.), Grant Silvester (CDA; Sacramento, Calif.), Scott Thomsen (New York Red Bulls Academy; Brick, N.J.), DeAndre Yedlin (Seattle Sounders Academy; Seattle, Wash.), Walker Zimmerman (Furman University; Lawrenceville, Ga.)

MIDFIELDERS (10): Stefano Bonomo (De Anza Force; Hillsborough, Calif.), Seth Casiple (CDA; Sacramento, Calif.), Daniel Cuevas Granados (CDA; Sacramento, Calif.), Miguel Lopez, Jr. (Classics Elite; Alton, Texas), Victor Pineda (Chicago Fire; Bollingbrook, Ill.), Marcus Salandy-Defour (D.C. United Academy; Kensington, Md.), Christopher Somerville (Baltimore Bays Chelsea; West Chester, Pa.), Gabe Stauber (FC Westchester; Waccabuc, N.Y.), Will Trapp (Crew Soccer Academy; Gahanna, Ohio), Cooper Vandermaas-Peeler (CASL Chelsea SC; Cary, N.C.)

FORWARDS (4): Villyan Bijev (Cal Odyssey; Fresno, Calif.), Isaac Kannah (Minnesota Thunder Academy; Plymouth Minn.), Luis Rendon (FC Richmond Magic; Chesterfield, Va.), Khiry Shelton (Lonestar SC; Leander, Texas)

The Placer United U17 Girls ’94 Gold reached the CYSA State Cup Final and in doing so, will represent CYSA in the USYSA Far West Regional Championship to be held in Boise, Idaho in June 2011.

The U17 Girls ’94 Gold did not get there the easy way, far from it. They played two teams ranked in the top five of Cal North, and the top twenty in the Region. So this is a really big time achievement for the girls, to come out on top against the best teams in the State and advance to the State Cup Final.

The girls beat Santa Clara Sporting (ranked 4th and the 2010 finalists), in the quarter-finals on Saturday 1-0 and then went on to defeat the Santa Rosa Aftershocks (ranked 5th and the 2010 semi-finalists), 2-1 in the semi-finals on Sunday.

Both games were so tight and nerve racking that the Placer United board received an invoice from Cherry Island for the amount of chewed up finger nails that were found on the side of the fields, not to mention the remains of 2 T-Bone steaks close to where Vegan Coach, Ron Benjamin coached.

The Placer United girls play this Sunday at Noon, against the current State Champions Mustang Rampage at Bartholomew Sports Park in Elk Grove.

The Placer United Board require all fans planning to attend to get a manicure and to bring a Caesar Salad for Ron to chew on…

Four of the Placer United girls teams played in elimination games in State Cup action this past weekend at Cherry Island. The Placer United U17 Girls ’94 Gold reached the State Championship game and have also secured a spot in the Far West Regional Championships in Boise, Idaho this June.

The U17 Girls ’94 Gold survived very stiff competition against some of the best teams in the State to advance to the State Cup Final. The girls up-ended Santa Clara Sporting in the quarter-finals on Saturday 1-0 and then went on to defeat the Santa Rosa Aftershocks 2-1 in the semi-finals. The girls will play this Sunday at noon, versus Mustang at Bartholomew Sports Park in Elk Grove. The girls also qualified for the Far West Regional Championships this June in Boise, Idaho. Please come out and support the girls and the Placer United Soccer Club this Sunday.

The U18 Girls ’93 Gold squared off against the MVLA Avalanche on Saturday and lost a heart-breaker 1-0. The clash between these two teams is an old rivalry and the girls came up short in the quarter-finals. Congrats to all of the players and families of the 93’s as they have secured great memories for the Club including the 2008 U.S. Club Soccer National Championship.

The U16 Girls ’95 Gold had a very difficult matchup in their quarter-final. They faced a very talented Lamorinda squad and came up short, losing 1-0. The girls left everything on the field and had a a handful of quality chances to equalize. The girls had a fantastic season highlighted by a semi-final appearance in the Summer Surf Cup in San Diego.

The U14 Girls ’97 Gold made it all the way to the quarter-finals and had a date with the two time State Cup Champion, Mustang. Aside from a 15 minute lapse in the first half, the game was played at a furious pace, going back and forth, with both teams having quality scoring opportunities. The girls were defeated 3-0 but the game was much closer than the score line. This group of girls won the State Cup Championship in 2010.

Congrats to all of the teams on a fantastic run through the State Cup. Special acknowledgment to the U18 ’93 Girls team who have now completed their youth soccer career with Placer United. They will all now go their separate ways to study and play college soccer.

Please join the U17’s on Sunday in Elk Grove for the State Championship game!