Turlock FC United dominated the U-13 division of the NorCal State Cup soccer finals held this past weekend in Modesto, after taking down the East Valley FC Earthquakes 1-0 in a golden goal fashion.
Turlock FC was able to dominate the competition again, as they have all season long, by scoring 20 goals in eight contests while the defense allowed only five.
“We had a phenomenal season — the best year of coaching in my career. We have a great rounded team, an entire team and we don’t have just one player that makes the team, the subs are great as well. Everyone had something to do with the wins,” Turlock FC head coach Vicente Mejia said.
When it was all said and done the Turlock squad only lost two games during its entire 2013-2014 soccer season. In addition to finishing out the season by winning the NorCal State cup, the team also won the prestigious Santa Clara Sporting Invitational, NorCal Cross Regionals, Nike Mustang Stampede and the San Diego Surf Thanksgiving Cup.
The NorCal Championship game was played against the East Valley FC Earthquakes. Turlock showed their continued determination and skill by dominating ball control and applied consistent attacks against East Valley, however, it was not until overtime that United was able to score the golden goal and seal the game.
It took 70 minutes and an additional five-minute overtime before a quick striking goal by Turlock’s Benji Aguilar hit the net to bring ultimate victory as Turlock defeated East Valley FC in the State Cup finale.
“I am just extremely happy for the kids and the parents with all the hard work that they have been putting out. We started last year in March and our main goal we had in mind was to win the state cup because the previous year we failed, but we went into the year thinking it’s our year,” Mejia said.
Out of eight tournaments that the Turlock FC entered they won seven of them as they finished the regular season ranked No. 4 in the nation by GotSoccer.com. All hopes of a repeat will be intact as coach Mejia will return his entire squad from this past season and will look to work as hard to compete and win another title.
With the help of a strong defense, midfielders and quite possibly one of the best attackers in the state at this age group, Mejia said, the Turlock FC squad should be in for a treat next year as they will travel to San Diego to compete in the Surf tournament in the first week of August. Only the best teams in the nation get invited to play in this tournament.
“I don’t recruit players, I develop them and I feel we have some awesome players,” Mejia said. “I probably have the best defenders and two best mids and the best striker in California, and all that helped but they worked hard, everybody assisted in putting it together and that’s how we accomplished all these tourney wins. By winning those seven tourneys, that sums it up.”
The kids have two weeks off and then the new season will begin.
