Placer United U17 Boys Crowned NPL National Champions
Posted On July 15, 2014 by PUSC
2014 NPL National Champions
Corban Anderson (L) and Zach Vane (R)
A beaming Coach Jason Gantt and proud Assistant Coach Paul O’Brien
On a hot muggy Monday morning in North Carolina, the chorus of The Beatles hit tune, “Yellow Submarine,” could be heard all over Greensboro. The Placer United U17 Boys had finished off their championship run in style by beating Elite SC from Illinois 2-0, and achieving their goal of being crowned 2014 NPL National Champions.
It was clear from the start that the boys in yellow had only one thing on their minds and that was to win the big prize.
The pace and energy the boys opened up with clearly caught the NPL Champions from Illinois by surprise. Five minutes into the game two good opportunities were created that somehow the team from the Windy City scrambled off the goal line.
With the ball now pinging around the field, like a torpedo skimming through the ocean, the submariners took control of the game. It seemed only a matter of time before the unrelenting pressure would yield a goal. When it arrived it was a thing of beauty.
From a rare Elite SC corner, Diego “New Shoes” Buenrostro won the ball and quickly dispatched it to James ” Pretty Boy” Ramos wide on the left. James took a clever first touch inside the defender which opened up enough space for him to switch the play to the right into the feet of full back Zach “The Road Runner” Vane.
The speedy right back, who had sprinted more than 50 yards past two defenders into open space, received the ball with his right foot and before the keeper could get set, Zack ripped a low shot into the bottom left hand corner. 1-0 Placer United and a goal worthy of gracing any final.
When the first half came to a halt the yellow sub was deservedly on top.
The second half was more of the same as the sub was now set to “full steam ahead”. With Captain “Courageous” Anderson and crew mate Matt “New Boy” Carnifex both working hard in the midfield, the opposition was finding it really tough to get anything going.
Half way through the second half, goal number two arrived.
A Placer corner was cleared away but the ball landed at the left foot of Brayden “Silky” Sullivan. Silky then picked out Kristian “Big Bird” Heptner with an inch perfect cross and the “Bird Man” didn’t disappoint as he powerfully headed the ball past the outstretched keepers right hand to make it Placer-2 Elite SC-0.
The second goal of the game for Placer was a huge step towards the boy’s dream now becoming a reality.
As expected, the last ten minutes of the game was quite the battle as a team of Elite SC quality were not going to go down without a fight.
But the boiler room boys of Nico “No Nonsense” Figueroa, Isaul “El Toro” Bautista, “Mad Max” Ferriera, Nate “Big Country” Miller along with goalkeepers Luc “Too Tall” Barbe, and Robert “El Gato” Quintero, all stepped up huge to deny the Illinois team any chance of crashing the party.
In minute 93 the referee blew the final whistle and Placer United now has a new National Champion.
Great job boys and congratulations on your brilliant achievement!
“We all live in a yellow submarine!”