The Santa Clara Sporting 94 team returned from Pomona (SoCal) with a victory over SC Sol 95 (Arizona), a draw against Albion (SoCal), and a loss against West Coast (SoCal) to finish the 2011 Far West Regional League in 2nd place overall. Santa Clara was the top ranked team from NorCal in the Fall league and won their bracket over the NW Nationals (Region IV champs), PAC Tigres (past Region IV champs), SC Sol 95 (Arizona State Champs), and Soreno White (Arizona).

The team leaves this Thursday (Thanksgiving Day) to compete at the College Surf Cup Tournament in San Diego. Sporting will compete in the U17 Super Group in what has to be the one of the most competitive tournaments ever assembled.  Santa Clara will face Soreno 95 (Arizona), Surf White (SoCal), and local NorCal rivals the PAC Tigres in bracket play. Last year, Sporting and PAC fought for the championship match and this year Surf placed both NorCal teams in the same bracket.  The other three brackets are just as competitive and the U17 champion will be very deserving when the trophy is awarded on Sunday afternoon. The team is looking forward to the competition and showcasing their skills in front of college coaches.

The Santa Clara Sporting 94 Team travel to Pomona this weekend to compete in the Far West Regional League U17 Boys Group Playoffs. The team play a three game round-robin format against Soreno (Arizona State Champions), NW Nationals (Region IV and Washington Champions), and Albion from San Diego (US National Champion Finalists).

Game Schedule:

• Sat 11/19 – 9am, Field #2  Sporting vs West Coast
• Sat 11/19 -2pm, Field #2, Sporting vs NW Nationals
• Sun 11/20 – 8am, Field #4, Sporting vs Albion

After the team returns from Southern California on Sunday night, they turn-around and travel to San Diego next Thursday to compete in the College Surf Cup tournament in the Super Group.

The Sporting ’94s finished the 2011 Fall Season in second place just four points behind the Sporting 93 Team while playing-up in the U18 Premier Division.  The team finished the season with a record of 7 wins and 3 losses, and scored 36 goals against a mixed field of U18 and U17 teams.

The team has three more weeks of Fall season competition with the Far West Regional League playoffs in Pomona (SoCal) on November 19th-20th, and the College Surf Cup in San Diego on Thanksgiving weekend. After Surf Cup, the team will break for high school soccer season from November through the end of February 2012.

The Santa Clara Sporting ’94 team remain in 1st place in the 2011 Far West Regional League B Bracket after drawing a 1-1 tie against the PAC Tigres team last night at the Santa Clara Youth Soccer Park.  Both teams came-out flying from the start with an incredibly high pace, and each team drew blood trying to score in an exciting game. The game ended the first half without a goal, and both teams huddled-up at halftime trying to adjust tactics and find a winning goal during the second half.

PAC got on the scoreboard about 10 minutes into the second half when a ball squirted to the top of Sporting’s goal box during a corner kick, and a Tigres midfielder nailed a shot into the upper corner of the Sporting goal.  But Sporting answered back about 10 minutes later on a free kick that was tipped into the net by a midfielder Edgardo Cuellar Franco who ran onto the ball and flicked over the PAC goalie.

It was an extremely intense and exciting game filled with quote a few spectators on a Tuesday night.

Santa Clara and the NW Nationals now sit in 1st and 2nd place in the B bracket, and will travel to Pomona (Southern California) to face Albion and the West Coast teams in the U17 playoffs on November 19th-20th. Right after the team returns from SoCal, they travel the following week back to San Diego and compete in the College Surf Cup Tournament held Nov 25th-27th. The team was the U16 Finalist last year.

The Santa Clara Sporting 94 team is closing-out the 2011 fall season sitting in first place in the U17 Boys Far West Regional League in the “north bracket”, and the U18 Premier Division of the CCSL league. The team has some big games coming-up when they face local rivals PAC Tigres on Tuesday night at 7pm in their last Far West Regional League bracket game. The boys will also play the U18 Santa Clara Sporting 93 Team on November 1st and 6th to close-out the CCSL league play.