State Cup Champs 2023

IL State Cup Champs 2023 - U16

Three years ago we moved Austen to a different travel club for soccer. His previous club was amazing for all that they taught him, and they made him the player he is today by really fostering learning foot skills at an early age and making all of them practice those especially in games. But it was time to leave. After seven years, their team that once was strong had expanded to include some newer players without the same skills while other players had already left. So off I went to research where I could move him in the area. I asked questions of friends with older boys who played competitive soccer. I checked out a few clubs. I knew he wanted to play high school soccer and continue to play baseball too so that really excluded him trying out for any Academy level teams.

After a few months of checking out other clubs, we decided on Galaxy Soccer Club in Naperville, which was a 40 minute drive from our house. So for almost three years (and during COVID when they practiced outside w/ masks), we drove Austen three times a week out to Naperville for his 1.5 hour practice where we waited for him and then drove back home. That's three hours out of our night three times a week. That is until this past January when he turned 16 and could drive himself! Anyway, it was a lot of time for all of us. 

The Team

However, there were some quality kids on this team from the beginning with a club that had a history of going far in Nationals and training some really good players. Every year, this team acquired more and more talent and grew stronger. Over the years they dealt with a very good player who was an amazing player but a terrible teammate; a coach who carried 28 kids on their roster and would play everyone the same number of minutes (frustrating!); and then finally a coach who left them (to go to coach at a D3 college) at the beginning of their season (this year) right when they were finally showing everyone how good they could be. 

Other coaches in the club stepped in to coach them during practices and games but no one really had the time to focus on this team at a pivotal point in their development and right before many of them were going to start the recruitment process for college. One of the coaches who stepped in (and will be their coach moving forward) was also booked solid with securing his A license for coaching which was a lot of time so he wasn't around much for practices or games. Then during an important game that would automatically qualify us for Nationals, he was so sick that he could barely coach our boys from the bench. And, that was after a week of not having a consistent coach to lead our practices the week before this big game. It's been a challenge for sure. These boys are talented but have not made it easy for themselves to get to Nationals. During one of the National events, they gave up a 2-0 lead with 10 minutes left in the game to tie a team that then secured an automatic bid to Nationals. 

So our only hope was State Cup play. They easily won the first game. The second game they looked so bad I wasn't sure what team I was watching but then again they had to have a "spare" coach come in and coach these boys second half when our "coach" had to leave. We end up losing 1-0 on an own goal that game. The next game we easily win. We advance to quarterfinals then semifinals (in overtime!) and then finally onto the final game where the boys clinched the State Cup in a 2-0 win!

On to Regionals in St. Louis next week where they will need to win their first three games to advance out of the bracket to secure placement in the semifinals. After that they need a "W" in the final game to advance to Nationals in Florida in mid-July.    

It certainly hasn't been an easy road but they did it - the hard way! and, now they're on to capture the next Cup! Good luck to these talented 2007 boys! 

Celebrating a goal! The joy!

Footwork!