Youth Soccer: Local six start for U15 New England champs
Club qualifies for U.S. Nationals July 9-13.
The GPS-MA NPL Elite U15 boys soccer team avenged a 2-1, double-overtime defeat in the state championship game held two weeks ago with a 2-0 victory over the Scorpions for the 2015 New England Premier League (NPL) Championship this past weekend.
The win puts the NPL Regional champions in the U.S. Nationals to be held July 9-13 in Westfield, Indiana.
Among players on the team: midfielder Kendall Pacheco of New Bedford and NBHS, defender John Aguiar of Somerset and Bishop Connolly High School, goalkeeper Jacob Castro of Swansea and Bishop Connolly), cocaptain/midfielder Skylah Dias of Swansea and Joseph Case High School, defender Troy Mattos of Somerset and Somerset/Berkley H.S., and defender/midfielder Aidan DaSilva of Westport and Bishop Connolly.
The six locals who have played soccer from age eight play for GPS Massachusetts, and all six were selected for the GPS-MA NPL Regional Team. The team is comprised of the best GPS Regional Players in the Northeast Region. On a roster of 21 players, these six are on the starting line-up. Last year the same six were on the same team and won the 2014 Massachusetts state championship.
In December of 2014 they played in the country's toughest and top-ranked college showcase tournament at the Wide World of Sports Facility located at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. They went undefeated and captured the 2014 U15 Boys championship in their division, qualifying for a return trip to Disney in December for a title defense. That victory at Disney placed the team 19th out of over 3,500 U15 boys teams in the country and made them a group getting attention from national and college coaches.
The Massachusetts State Playoffs were in held in early spring, and GPS-MA NPL Elite U15 team won all three preliminary playoff games totaling 15 goals while allowing none. They advanced to the state finals on May 30-31 when they fell in double overtime the Scorpions to finish ranked second in Massachusetts.
During the past spring season, the GPS-MA NPL Elite U15 went undefeated, scoring 47 goals and allowing three while competing in the division ranked just under the US Academy Division, “the National Premier League (NPL).”
The NPL was created to elevate and change the competitive youth soccer landscape by extending developmental principles espoused by U.S. Soccer into more age groups and clubs by linking competition with player development and identification platforms and by providing meaningful weekly competition culminating in the NPL Finals.
GPS-MA NPL Elite U15 team won the NPL Conference placing first. They were able to advance to the “Final Four NPL Tournament” held June 13-14.
