Youth Soccer News: San Diego Surf SC GU15’s Win 2014 ECNL Championship
San Diego Surf Soccer Club has been well known across the country for decades as a prestigious youth soccer club attracting elite players from the Southern California area as well as around the world. The Surf SC’s success at the recent 2014 ECNL (Elite Clubs National League) Championship continues to cement its reputation as one of the country’s top youth soccer clubs.
As a preeminent club, Surf SC’s teams have earned a significant number of national championships over the years, 8 in fact with this recent ECNL Championship. Each of these victories has been accomplished with intelligent coaching and talented players working hard to develop their skills.
Surf SC GU15 ECNL Championship team was coached by Mark Spooner with Surf SC’s Director of Coaching, Colin Chesters. Spooner joined Surf SC last year from Birmingham City Football Club, England and is a highly respected and well-liked coach. Paul Dolinsky was Assistant Coach and will coach this team in the upcoming season.
Recap of the ECNL Action: San Diego Surf GU15 started the ECNL competition by defeating last year’s national champion’s De Anza Force 1-0 and then continued their winning streak with a triumphant 5-1 victory against Real Colorado. Surf SC match against Albertson Fury ended in a 3-3 draw and the team went on to shutout PDA in the final with a score of 1-0 ending top of their bracket with an average of 2.5 points per game. PDA has not lost a match since last year’s national final when they fell to De Anza Force.
ECNL provides the highest level of competitive soccer action for girls in the USA. “When you get to Richmond, every match is a tough match as you are competing against the best teams in the country, but I was certainly confident that we could accomplish our goal,” said Spooner who adjusted his game strategy per game. With the goal of brining home the ECNL Championship to Surf SC, Spooner analyze the strengths and weaknesses of his team’s opponents. For example, the match against the highly successful PDA team, Spooner’s team played with a defensive line – holding mid-fielder and it was very successful.
Colin Chesters, Director of Coaching at Surf SC said, “I want to congratulate all the girls on the team as well as their coach. Mark did a fantastic job in his first year at Surf SC. Mark made all the right moves at the business end of the season and had a plan for every training session and each match. His commitment and dedication to the cause was outstanding.”
Exceptionally proud of his team, Spooner said, “The girls worked extremely hard to become ECNL champions and the work want not only on the field. They gave up so much in their personal life to get to where they wanted to be.”
Spooner’s team followed strict nutritional guidelines, endured ice baths after games and replenished themselves by drinking pure electrolytes, which Spooner pointed out does not taste good. All of this was to give themselves the best shot at a championship title.
“I told the players that the victory would be so much sweeter if they sacrificed a few things to get it,” said Spooner.
While some may think this highly successful club cashes in on a few individual’s talent, to perform consistently on such a high level requires a strong team effort.
“The focus leading into ECNL’s event in Seattle was primarily on defensive shape as a team,” said Spooner. “It is very nice for a coach to know that that he has highly talented players such as Cat, Arlie, Chloe who will score goals, but the challenge then becomes if the team can stop conceding goals.”
The team worked tirelessly on defending tactics and even used a defensive belt helping the girls together and forcing them to learn their shape.
Spooner said, “The defensive strategy worked well, as other than the game against Albertson – when we had already qualified for the final – we only conceded 1 goal in playoffs. This record is impressive at any level but when you add into the equation our competition; we played against DeAnza Force, who was ranked the #1 team heading into the tournament and PDA, who had not lost a game since last seasons National Final. It is cliché but very true, defense wins championships.”
Spooner took over as coach for this team just one week before their first regular season ECNL match. “The team has been constantly changing; for example, we lost some key players through long term injuries including Noelle Miller who hasn’t played since before Christmas and we added Bianca from the U14s.”
Team bonding became an important issue. “One of my goals was to develop a true team spirit. At the beginning, it was clear they all liked each other but by the end they were truly sisters. The players were all willing to go the extra yard for each other. We did quite a few things to achieve this including soccer golf and the girls set up a few team sleepovers. This camaraderie was vital in putting together a championship winning team.”
Did Spooner think his team was going win the championship? “There were times throughout the year when I thought it was very realistic and then there was times that I thought we would fall short. I guess I also learned a lot as a coach; never ride to high or low during the season as its peaking at the end which ultimately matters.”
“The first National Championship is always the easiest one,” says Spooner. “Now this team has a target on their back and they need to rise to the challenge of repeating. People always talk about beating the best, and this team is now the best.”
