SD Surf Girls Player Development Program Tops the Charts with Success on the Field and for Developing Individual Players
With 2016 now in the books, San Diego Surf Soccer Club solidifies its claim as one of the top competitive youth soccer club in the nation for girls with success in 2016 for its ECNL and younger girls teams and looks to build and improve on that success in 2017. With global recognition for player development, Surf SC is a dominant youth soccer club — always leaving its mark on the landscape of youth soccer.
Youth Soccer News: It has been a very successful fall season for the girls program at San Diego Surf SC, and the new year is off to a strong start.
Recognized as one of the top youth soccer clubs in America, San Diego Surf Soccer club has recently earned top marks, winning Top Drawer Soccer‘s Top Recruiting Title that recognizes the top developer of soccer talent in the nation for the second straight year — The IMG Top 150 Girls Recruiting list.
The Surf SC recorded an unmatched eight players in the 2017 class who finished inside the IMG Top 150 after racking up nine to win the title in 2016. Leading the pack is Surf SC homegrown player Catarina Macario who signed her National Letter of Intent to the Pac-12 powerhouse Stanford last Wednesday. Heralded as the best young female player in America, Macario is as much a delight on the field as she is off.
Class of 2017: 21 Surf SC Girls Received college scholarships.
While enjoying individual success, SD Surf is known for developing superior teams that challenge for supremacy at the highest levels of the sport. Next season, San Diego Surf SC will be the only club in San Diego to field teams in the Elite Clubs National League (ECNL) and the U.S. Soccer’s Girls Development Academy (DA).
This year, SD Surf teams currently rank first in the nation and sit in first place in three of the five age groups within ECNL, with the other two teams projecting to make the playoffs.
Beyond ECNL, the younger program has also excelled on the field with Girls Director of Coaching Mark Spooner attributing to the success to the staff and programing at the club.
“Surf is a fabulous club committed to developing players for our national teams and top colleges. We have a hard working group of top coaches who are committed to development in the correct way and we are seeing the results of their commitment on the field. The staff has developed a very in-depth program which covers all facets of player development, including individual position-specific skills, technical ability, strength and agility training, injury prevention, and building tactical and strategic awareness. These are all skills necessary to compete at the next level, and we train every player to experience success beyond club competition,” said Spooner.
While many clubs take pride in one or two teams accomplishing great achievements on the field, Surf SC has incredible depth and highly talented teams throughout the age brackets. It is atypical for a youth soccer club to have strong teams in all ages, yet Surf SC has consistently attained high level performance across the board. Clearly deserving of international recognition, Surf SC’s dedication to player development — and their success developing homegrown talent — makes them one of the top youth soccer clubs in America.
Here is a look at Surf SC teams and their recent performance on the pitch:
Surf SC U19 (1998/1999)
The U19 team currently sits in first place of the ECNL Southwest Conference with a record of 8-1-1. The team also repeated as Surf Cup Champions for a fourth year in a row in 2016. Juggling the fall part of the season, which has seen the team decimated by U.S. National Team International call-ups, has shown the full depth and quality of the roster. USGNT standout Julie Doyle has only competed in one game this season after being called to numerous national team age groups as well as traveling with the U20’s to their pre-World Cup training camp in Australia.
Brazilian midfielder Bianca Caetano-Ferrera and Mexican forward Vero Avalos were also absent for a large portion of the season as they competed in the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup.
“This team is a real pleasure to coach,” said Spooner. “It’s absolutely loaded with top talent, when you think we have missed five national team players for large portions of the season and we’ve been able to cope it speaks volumes of the roster.”
Surf SC U17 (2000)
Sitting atop of the Southwest ECNL conference is also the U17 team who are coming off Manchester City Cup and Surf Cup titles.
“Building on a strong 2015-16 season, the Surf 00 team has taken the calendar changes exceptionally well for the 2016-17 year,” said Spooner. “With a new coach and new players, the team has embraced change tremendously, continuing to play an attractive successful brand of soccer resulting in excellent team performance and results as well as individual achievements with ODP representation, college commitments at top DI programs and no fewer than four youth national team call-ups.”
Surf SC U16 (2001)
The 2001 ECNL team is currently occupying a wildcard playoff spot in the Southwest Conference. The brand new squad — created due to the U.S. Soccer birth year age mandate — brought players together from up to six different teams to form the group for the 2016-17 season.
The team spirit and bonding off the field has played a key role in the first half of the season as they look to build their on-field playing style and competing for success.
Surf SC U15 (2002)
Also occupying a wildcard playoff spot in the Southwest Conference is the club’s U15 side. After a slow start to the season, the team rallied back to win five of its last six games in the first half of the season. Merging a team of new players due to the calendar year change saw some adversity that many of the players were not used to seeing.
“A portion of our team came from our previous U13 team that won back-to-back National Cups as well as a Far West Regional Championship,” said Spooner. “The girls are facing some adversity that they may not have come across before, but it has been very pleasing to see the 02’s face it head on and finish the fall portion of the year the way we did. I felt that we were playing some good soccer and our results weren’t showing how good we were in the early part of the season. The team showed a great deal of character to continue to stick to playing some good soccer that ended up yielding results.”
Surf SC 2003
The 2003 ECNL team and 2004 EGSL team are both coached by Paul Dolinsky. The U14 squad sits atop the Southwest ECNL conference as well as boasting a Surf Thanksgiving championship.
“Both teams work incredibly hard to improve at the game in all facets during training and play an attractive style on the weekends to show for it,” said Spooner. “I am thrilled with what the girls have done up to this point of the season and look forward to their continued development and growth this spring, carrying over to success at the National level this summer.”
2003 are currently ranked second in nation by Top Drawer.
Surf SC 2004 EGSL
The 2004 squad closed out its California Regional League campaign with a championship title. The team went undefeated during league and recorded 10 shutouts during their total 11 matches and hold the #1 spot on Top Drawer.
“I am so proud of how far along this group of girls have come and am excited to see how far they can go,” said head coach Paul Dolinksy. “They not only played an attractive style, but competed at an entirely different level.”
“The 2004 EGSL team worked hard consistently week in and week out to win CRL emphatically, and hopefully they can carry on their effort to the Far West Regionals and find success at the national level,” said Dolinksy.
Surf SC 2005 EGSL
The 2005 EGSL won CRL with 3 points clear of 2nd place. The team was crowned Surf Thanksgiving Cup Champions, MCFC Americas Cup Champions as well as Crossfire Champions during the 2016 calendar year.
“Although the team have had challenges adapting to the 11 a side game they are determined to work hard and stick to a style of play that is only conducive to developing the best players. It’s a joy to watch their decision-making and work with such an intelligent bunch of players and I guarantee this will be a special team moving forward through Surf,” said head coach Craig Barclay.
Surf SC 2006 EGSL
The 2006 EGSL squad is currently ranked No. 1 in the Nation on GotSoccer. The team is Manchester City FC Champions, Blues Cup Champions, Surf Thanksgiving Cup Champions, Surf Cup Finalists as well as Crossfire Finalists.
“This team is a special group of players who started the year slowly having only four players return from a team, yet they demonstrated their maturity and talent in recent months excelling in all tournaments especially whilst winning Surf Thanksgiving without conceding a single goal,” said Barclay.
Surf SC 2007 Girls EGSL
“The girls in this team continue to play with eye catching style and skill. Their determination to improve and collective team work has already given them many accolades this season. Their individual and team creativity is a pleasure to watch at times but nothing compares to their motivation and desire to be successful. The challenge for them now is to continue their hard work to fulfill their potential as they head into State Cup,” said Tonks.
Silverware earned in 2016:
- EGSL – Winners
- Manchester City Cup – Winners
- Copa Del Mar – Winners
- San Clemente Surf Cup – Winners
- Surf Thanksgiving Cup – Winners
- Anaheim Surf Winter Classic – Winners
- Surf Cup – Semi Finalist
- Blues Cup – Finalis
Surf SC 2008 Girls EGSL
“From a very young and newly formed team the girls have shown a gradual yet exciting development throughout the season so far. They seem to improve every week and tournament they play in. Its great to see such a young group train and play with a great attitude to learn and most importantly with a smile on their faces! Their hard work and dedication to their style of play is starting to really get rewarded,” said head coach Danny Tonks.
Silverware earned in 2016:
- SD Premier Classic – Winners
- San Clemente Surf Cup – Winners
- Anaheim Surf Winter Classic – Winners
- Surf Thanksgiving Cup – Semi Finalist
- Copa Del Rey – Finalist (Playing 07)
“The success of the Surf SC Girls program in the fall has been remarkable however we are not resting on our laurels,” said Spooner.
“We know that the only way to remain at the forefront of youth soccer is to continue to learn and evolve with the game.”
In the past, Surf SC has always been acclaimed for their players securing National Team attention. As one of the youth soccer clubs with the highest number of U.S. Youth Women’s National Team call-ups, Surf SC soars high above other clubs. From Goalkeeper Savannah Madden, Defenders Sierra Dunphy, Julie Doyle, and Kaiya McCullough as well as Midfielders Madison Mercado, Mia Fishel, Kali Trevithick, Arlie Jones, Taylor Kornieck, Marley Canales and Olivia Erlbeck plus Forwards Brooke Wilson, Trinity Watson, and Sunny Dunphy — Surf SC’s players’ record of achievement speaks for itself.
U.S. Soccer National Women’s Team players who wore the Surf jersey include Maddie Mercardo, Mia Fischel, Kali Trevithick, McKenna Carmeichal, Sierra Dunphy and Brooke Wilson. On an international front, Vivian Mikes has represented Hungary and Mia Shamir has worn the Peruvian National team jersey.
“In this upcoming season, we will strive to become a top Girls Development Academy (DA) program as well as continue our tradition of excelling in player development,” said Spooner.
“We are honored to be one of a few clubs nationally to be competing in both. and we will endeavor to do our best — as always. We are here to develop players and help them reach their dreams.”
