Alexandria Soccer Association’s Wins US National Futsal Championship Second Year in A Row
U16 Boys Futsal ID Team Win Championship, U13 Boys Advance To Final Four
By Katie Brooks
ALEXANDRIA,VA– Alexandria Soccer Association’s (ASA) U16 Boys Futsal ID Team won the United States Futsal Federation National Championship for the second year in a row on Sunday evening. The competition was held over four days in Santa Clara, California. The U16 boys advanced out of their group stage in first place giving them an automatic bid to the semifinals.
“Last summer, as soon as the national championship excitement had settled one of our players was asked what he wanted to do next,” said head Coach Will Hanna. “His response was, ‘let’s win it again!’ That’s really the attitude we’ve embodied as a team over the past year as we’ve worked towards a second national title. I’m incredibly proud of this group for their perseverance and championship mentality.”
In the semifinal game on Saturday evening, ASA beat Allstar United Earthquakes from San Jose by a score of 6-3 to advance to the finals. The finals took place Sunday afternoon against Futsal 415, the third place finishers in the Northwest Regional tournament, from San Francisco. Both teams played very disciplined with tight defensive shape. At halftime Alexandria led 1-0. Early in the second half a spark by Matthew Castillo set things in motion and the game broke open. From there, ASA was able to score several more goals and the game ended with a score of 6-2.
The team had an incredible amount of support from their community and the boys worked hard to help finance their trip across the country. Alex Temoshok, the team’s goalkeeper said, “There was not only a lot of practicing in preparation for the tournament, but also a lot of time spent fundraising. We did a lot of refereeing to make money. We also fund-raised by selling snacks in concession stands at tournaments. A lot of extra work was put into getting us here!”
The futsal team is coached by Will Hanna, assisted by Peja Radivojevic and managed by Drew Dietrich. ASA’s Futsal program director is Chris Arnold. The players are Alex Temoshok, Andrew Dietrich, Dylan Albarracin Jairo Guevara, Jonathan Vargas, Jose Alvarado, Matthew Castillo, Sam Thompson, and Thanos Androus.
Joining the U16 team in California was the ASA boys U13 Futsal ID team. The U13 boys team made their first appearance at the national tournament, and advanced to the semifinals after three hard fought group stage games. The boys lost a tough semifinal game to a very competitive team, SUSC Halcones from Modesto, CA.
“We had a big goal to bring two teams to the national tournament this year. There was a lot of behind the scenes work by our kids, the coaches and of course their incredible parents to help us get this far. We are so proud of both teams and all that they’ve learned and accomplished over the past year. Now, we celebrate, we pick up the pieces, and we set our sights on next year!”
Futsal ID Tryouts for the ASA futsal program will take place on August 18th, August 19th and Saturday, October 6th. Open to boys and girls ages U9-U19.
About ASA
Alexandria Soccer Association is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that offers soccer programs for children ages two through 19. Programs include Recreation, Academy (formerly Travel), Junior Academy, Tots, Futsal and more. For further information please visit our website: alexandria-soccer.org
