Player/Team Spotlight

May 18 2008

The Sparta 98 Gygi U-10 team won the U-10 boys division of District 2's Challenge Cup tournament. The boys won 2 and tied 1 in round-robin play, won their semi-final in overtime, and won the final 1-0. The boys dedicated the tournament to Amanda Lyons, whose son, Nathan, plays on the team.

August 10, 2007
Sparta Boys U14 Regional 3v3 Champions

After going undefeated in the local 3v3 Kickit Tournament, Sparta U14 Boys qualified to play in the Regional Tournament held in Vail, Colorado. The tournament in Vail was very high-paced with teams from the western region. Sparta went into the semi-final match undefeated and were forced to a penalty kick shootout. The Sparta team made all of their penalty kicks allowing them to advance to play the 3v3 reigning champions from Denver who were favored to win. The Sparta boys came out strong and quickly had a 2-0 lead. The Denver “Core” team came back and tied but the Sparta team came back and defeated them 5-4.

The team consists of Sam Erekson, Daniel Baggaley, Skyler Milne, Calvin Escobedo, Anthony Alcox, Eddie Vargas and was coached by Jeff Erekson. Congratulations Sparta Boys U14!

 

August 3, 2007
Sparta 98 Boys Finalist at 2007 Surf Cup

Boys U10 Sparta 98 coached by Justus Koelliker traveled to the San Diego Surf Cup XXVII in July. This tournament is one of the highest ranking tournaments in the United States. Sparta's 1st group match was against Arsenal FC--California South State Cup finalist in 2007. The outcome of the match was a 4-1 win for Sparta. The 2nd match of the tournament Sparta played against Pateadores Blue, another very talented California South team. Pateadores came out on the winning end of this match. The Sparta boys went into their 3rd match knowing they needed maximum points to advance. Sparta rose to the challenge and beat Ballistic United from California North in a shut-out win with 5 goals scored.

Sparta advanced to the semi-final round matched up against West Coach FC--California South's 2007 State Cup Champions. Coach Koelliker said "this was one of the most competitive U10 matches I have ever seen!" The match was tied at 2-2 with three minutes to go when Sparta found the back of the net and won 3 goals to 2 goals. The championship match was a rematch against Arsenal FC. The match was very competitive with both teams creating chances to score, but arsenal came out on top this time around. The final score was 2-0. Congratulations Sparta 98 Boys on a Great Tournament!