Four New Utah State Cup Champions Crowned
AFC Apex 04 Black, Sparta B03 Premier MD, Utah Storm P02 Bergholm & AFC Apex 01 College Prep are the Boys 16U, 17U, 18U & 19U Champions Respectively; All four teams will advance to regionals held in Boise, ID.
Sandy, UT- 10/26/19
Utah Youth Soccer Association, the leader in promoting, developing and governing youth soccer in Utah, is excited to announce the Champions for the Utah State Cup Presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods. The Utah State Cup is a part of the National Championship Series. Champions advance to Regional Championships hosted in Boise, ID in Summer 2020.
Championship matches were held at Zions Bank Real Academy in Herriman on Saturday, October 27th with the first match kicking off at 4pm and the last at 7:30. All pool play, quarterfinal and semifinal matches were played at Lakeside Sports Complex in Orem (two semifinal matches were held at Zions Bank Real Academy to accommodate a coaching conflict).
About the final match-ups:
The 16U division included the returning State Cup Champs, Sparta B04 Premier JK, who took on AFC Apex 04 Black. While Sparta went undefeated through pool play, quarter finals and semifinals, AFC Apex suffered only one loss, a 6-2 match against Sparta! Their re-match was the first to kick off at 4pm on Field 2. Sparta went up first, but AFC Apex followed with a goal. They finished the match and then two 10-minute overtime halves without another goal netted. In the end, the match was determined by penalty kicks. AFC Apex 04 Black came out victorious.
In the 17U division Sparta B03 Premier MD took on returning State Cup Champions, La Roca – D. Chevez. La Roca came into the Championship match undefeated and Sparta suffered their only loss against La Roca in pool play. Both teams came into the Championship match with five goals against. The 17’s match started at 7 pm on Field 2. In the end, Sparta B03 Premier MD got the W, 1-nil.
Utah Storm P 02 – Bergholm (the number one 18U seed as current league points leader) and VKCOBRAS 2002 P1 were the teams matched up for the 18U Championship match. Both teams came to Championship Saturday undefeated. VKCOBRAS allowed only 2 goals in first pool play matches and Storm allowed 4. Their game began at 4:30 pm on Field 1. Utah Storm goals by Alexander Fritcher, Kamden Beck and Ian Nielson made the difference and gave Utah Storm the 3-0 win.
The 19U division featured AFC Apex 01 College Prep and Fire FC 01B. In their last State Cup game ever, each team entered the match undefeated with one tie against each other. Their game began at 7:35 pm on Field 1 (a later start than anticipated due to overtime and penalty kicks in the 16U match). Unlike their 2-2 tie in pool play, AFC Apex pulled ahead early with a goal from Ellis Spikner and a hattrick from Alex Foulger. Fire FC’s Jorge Osorio netted a goal, but it wasn’t enough, and AFC Apex took home their second State Cup Title of the night.
About State Cup from tournament Director, Josh Magleby:
State Cup in Utah is unique to the structure of the tournament in comparison to other states. We love providing an actual tournament setting with a venue that is dressed to give a professional atmosphere to our elite athletes. Rather than trying to fit 6 games in 6 or 7 days, as you'd normally see, we run Utah State Cup over a 2-week span. The 2-week structure allows as much rest and recovery as possible for the athletes, especially in the knock out rounds.
We begin planning for State Cup as soon as the tournament is over to secure dates and location and continually plan throughout the year: from revising policies, following up with clubs on suggestions for improvement from our post-tournament survey and researching other ways to improve the State Cup experience for all.
In the Spring we moved to live draw for seeding, which was an adjustment from when it was based on the most recent UYSA alignment. We wanted to add more excitement and have the top seeds be more reflective of the results from league. For most age groups this was not the case, as a team could receive the top seed in the league standings in the Fall but by the middle of Spring, they would be near the bottom and vice versa for a team that started outside the top 4 but earned their way up. We want to reward the most current results as best as we can.
This Fall Sate Cup we are grateful for the flexibility of teams and their parents with the location change to Orem and with the Finals change to the RSL Indoor Facility in Herriman. Orem was chosen because the RAC closed its gates on October 20th and we wanted to keep our dates as late and as close to the end of the fall league season as possible. There were constraints with Orem (such as not having lights to play games later in the evening), but we utilized fall break more this year than we have in years past to try and prevent the players from missing school as much as possible. We plan on working with the RAC to see if we can open up negotiations for next year.
This tournament is exciting because you will get to see all the emotion that comes from a victory as a result of the hard work teams have put in. The winners of each age group will advance to the regional tournament to play against the best teams from the West Coast and fight for a spot in the National Championship tournament. Utah celebrated its first club youth National Champion earlier this summer and we look forward to supporting our teams that will advance this year.
About the level of play and the gravity of winning State Cup from Utah State’s Technical Director, Eric Landon:
The talent level gets better and better each year. It’s really tough to pin down who will be a top team let alone win the state championship going into the tournament, because it really could be anybody.
Win any tournament and you are going to feel pretty good about it, but this one is special, winning the state championship is something you will always remember. Representing your club and state at Regional level is very rewarding and challenging. You have chance to prove yourself against the other 13 state associations in the west. To have a chance at being the best in your age group in the west is a tremendous opportunity and then to have a chance at the National Championship (at any level) is a once in a lifetime opportunity.
About National Championship Series:
The US Youth Soccer National Championship Series is the country’s most prestigious national youth soccer tournament, providing approximately 185,000 players on over 10,000 teams from US Youth Soccer State Associations the opportunity to showcase their soccer skills against the best competition in the nation while emphasizing teamwork, discipline and fair play. The US Youth Soccer National Championships cap a yearlong series of competitions for boys and girls teams in multiple age brackets as teams earn their way from the top teams in their state to the regional championship tournaments. US Youth Soccer State Champions and selected wildcard teams through US Youth Soccer Regional Leagues in most age groups are eligible to compete in one of four US Youth Soccer Regional Championships. The champions in the 13U through 19U age brackets from each regional event will converge in July for the US Youth Soccer National Championships.
Fall State Cup Results for Finalist Teams:
U16
Sparta B04 Premier JK
Game 1: W (6-1) vs. Utah Surf 04 ST
Game 2: W (6-2) vs. AFC Apex 04 Black
Quarterfinal: W (4-1) vs. Utah Storm P 04 – Lewis
Semifinal: W (3-1) vs. La Roca -D. Chevez
AFC Apex 04 Black
Game 1: W (4-0) vs. Utah Surf 04 ST
Game 2: L (2-6) vs. Sparta B04 Premier JK
Quarterfinal: W (3-1) vs. Forza FC 04 CP
Semifinal: W (2-1) vs. USA Premier 04B – PR
U17
La Roca – D. Chevez
Game 1: W (7-0) vs. Utah Glory B03 Black LG
Game 2: W (3-1) vs. Sparta B03 Premier MD
Game 3: W (5-2) vs. Sparta B03 Premier DF
Quarterfinal: W (4-0) vs. Utah Surf Davis 03 KH
Semifinal: W (4-2) vs. USA Premier 03B -JP
Sparta B03 Premier MD
Game 1: W (3-0) vs. Sparta B03 Premier DF
Game 2: L (1-3) vs. La Roca – D. Chevez
Game 3: W (5-1) Utah Glory B03 Black LG
Quarterfinal: W (3-1) La Roca – C Santos
Semifinal: W (4-0) Rampage 03 MS
U18
Utah Storm P 02 – Bergholm
Game 1: W (3-0) vs. Murray S.C. Black B02 CS
Game 2: W (2-1) vs. UAFC Premier _TF 02B
Game 3: W (4-2) vs. Strikers DK
Quarterfinal: W (3-1) Impact MK
Semifinal: W (3-0) Copper Mountain 02 JW
VKCOBRAS 2002 P1
Game 1: W (3-1) vs. Park City SC B02 Red
Game 2: W (2-1) vs. La Roca – A. Bravo
Game 3: W (1-0) vs. Impact MK
Quarterfinal: W (2-0) vs. Strikers DK
Semifinal: W (2-0) vs. Blue Knights 02 Premier (NV)
U19
AFC Apex 01 College Prep
Game 1: W (3-2) vs. Xolos 2001 A
Game 2: T (2-2) vs. Fire FC 01B
Quarterfinals: W (3-0) vs. Sparta B01 Premier JK
Semifinals: W (2-1) vs. La Roca – T.Waters/A.Ovalle
Fire FC 01B
Game 1: W (3-1) vs. Xolox 2001 A
Game 2: T (2-2) vs. AFC Apex 01 College Prep
Quarterfinals: W (3-1) vs. UAFC Premier – MC 01B
Semifinals: W (2-1) vs. Utah Rangers FC 01
Sparta B04 Premier JK – Boys 16U Roster
1 Bell, Spencer
3 Brockbank, William
6 Cherkaoui, Amir
14 Fernandez Torres, Jordy
9 Frech, Charles
18 Goodrich, Rixx
16 Gunn, Chandler
21 Hernandez, Dylan
17 Jarvie, Duncan
10 Kim, Paul
99 Knecht, Owen
7 Knubel, Jonah
24 Martinez-Rios, Mark
11   Munoz, Alejandro
5 Nilsson, Kasper
15 Pogue, Noah
19 Staley, Matthaus
8 Turpin, Carson
AFC Apex 04 Black – Boys 16U Roster
10 Batalla Garcia, Juan
19 Berry, Quayden
20 Carrero Galaviz, Jhonder
11 Castillo, Said
26 Crnica, Rasim
00 Dominguez, Christian
21 Larsen, Dyllan
31 Mares Diaz, German
8 Martinez -Hernandez, Fernando
7   Molina, Roberto
2 Orozco, Alexantony
15 Penaloza Hernandez, John
9 Ramirez, Miguel
13 Samayoa Recinos, Brandon
4 Uribe Perez, Brian
18 Vargyas, Forrest
5 Vitek, Jack
La Roca – D. Chevez – Boys 17U Roster
9 Bennett, Braden
21 Brown, Tyson
11 Bybee, Blake
2 Carlson, Bennett
19 Cragun, Porter
12 Garcia, Jose
14 Gladwell, Benjamin
5 Graves, Caleb
25 Green, Ethan
23 Hernandez, Ilan
8 Karras, Carson
7 Langer Kuhne, Clemente
24 Loza, Luis
6 Miller, Paul
15 Paredes Bautista, Eliasib
1 Poll, Hayden
10 Rauda, Alejandro
4 Teeples, Clark
Sparta B03 Premier MD – Boys 17U Roster
6 Batalla Flores, Juan
12 Butler, Joseph
3 Chappell, Jared
23 Donohoe, John
11 Garcia, Adam
21 Harris, Connor
9 Huremovic, Ervin
10 Lopez, Eduardo
16 Orr, Ryan
5 Ortiz, Brian
26 Ortiz, Jair
1 Osmundson, Matthew
15 Short, Kaden
4 Soto, Ryan
7 Summerhays, William
17 Terry, Cole
1 Vidales, Dylan
8 Weisenfeld, Karl
30 Xochipa Mercado, Mahonri
Utah Storm P 02 – Bergholm – Boys 18U Roster
1 Allen, Parker
11 Bangerter, Mason
19 Beck, Kamden
8 Bergholm, Braxton
6 Castro, D'Baggio
5 Coe, Gavin
24 Dahl, Soren
16 Delahunty, Nick
7 Fritcher, Alexander
10 Huebner, Landon
9 Lifferth, Zachary
13 McKendrick, Michael
22 Miranda Medina, Brian
17 Munoz, Christian
23 Nielsen, Ian
21 Vance, Jett
20 Wallace, Austin
18 Zuniga, Bastian
VKCOBRAS 2002 P1 – Boys 18U Roster
3 Arbizu Trabanino, Ismael
19 Bernal Casallas, David
2 Cruz Ramirez, Hilario
25 Cruz-Estrada, Diego
23 Diaz Alvarez, Andros
20 Dominguez Prudente, Carlos
5 Enriquez Navarrete, Antony
13 Flores-Gonzalez, Sergio
17 Gabo, Hassan
14 Galindo, Antony
24 Hernandez Becerra, Bryan
26 Hernandez Cervantes, Julian
75 Jimenez Gonzalez, Daniel
9 Lazareno Villega, Hector
7 Nwibiabu, Kalebabari
18 Okongo, Emmanuel
21 Perez Garcia, Brian
11 Rodriguez Garcia, Jonathan
6 Rodriguez Gutierrez, Juan
16 Torres Estrada, Jose
4 Vargas Peralta, Nathan
10 Vincent, Jacob
AFC Apex 01 College Prep – Boys 19U Roster
10 Ceja, Rogelio
100 Cuevas, Bladimir
33 Curtis, Shawn
8 Foulger, Alec
18 Hassell, Brandon
0 Hyde, Jarom
80 Koblanski, Adam
17 Lewis, Spencer
6 McKeon, Jackson
15 Murray, Austin
14 Nkoy, Jason
22 Pickrell, Ethan
19 Raddon, Austin
4 Richardson, Keegan
21 Schwendiman, Walker
2 Spikner, Ellis
12 Vance, Jaxon
24 White, Tristan
Fire FC 01B – Boys 19U Roster
10 Atkinson, Caleb
2 Baer, Mason
15 Campos Guereschi, Valenttinno
5 Flores, Orrin
6 Gamez, Luis
18 Garcia Fernandez, Alvaro
22 Gomez Ramirez, Jorge
17 Gonzalez, Brett
3 Guerra, Elvis
9 Hunt, Ashton
19 Lagomarsino_Dup, Thomas
24 Lopez, Agustin
23 Molina, Jose
22 Olan, Jose
8 Osorio, Jorge
11 Quintero, Oscar
19 Rich, Andy
13 Rocha, Kamden
4 Rocha, Kian
21 Sanchez, Abraham
1 Solares, Yordi
99 Warner, Cole