Youth Soccer News: Winning Tradition Continues

Paul J. Holohan, Director Carlsbad Elite Boy’s Program and his winning team, the Carlsbad Elite BU14 team.

The Winning Tradition Continues with the Carlbad Lightning Elite BU14s

Over the President's Day weekend, the Carlsbad Lightning's Elite U14s swept through the competition to win the Carlsbad Premier Cup.   The Premier Cup is held annually and is limited to teams that have qualified for National Cup held in April and May.

Carlsbad Lightning's Elite 14s beat Foothill Storm 2:1 in the finals with a quality display.  According to the team's coach. Paul Holohan,Director of Carlsbad Elite, "The team's trademark passing game allowed Carlsbad Elite to hold possession for the majority of the game."

Brandishing their trademark passing game with great finishing, scoring coming from MVP Rey Ortiz and Leo Olmedo.  Issac Arenas and Jonathan Velela also came close.

Coach Holohan also reports solid performances were also turned in by a strong group of midfielders, including Geovel Vargas, Sebastian Gonzales, Roman Martin and Elon Lotzof.

The back line was anchored by Edgar Hernandez, Esai Agula, Captain Arturo Fernandez and Jordy Lozada, with David Loya registering two clean sheets in goal and a save made in an earlier bracket was top class goalkeeping to say the least.

"I was pleased with the effort this weekend," said Holohan, "Soccer is the classic 'team sport' and when we share the ball like we did this weekend, we're a tough draw for anybody. We passed it well, kept it well, and our tempo which is something we've been working on was good."

Coach Holohan said "I was also pleased with the effort from several newcomers to the team.  Nathaniel Bloom gave us some quality minutes and shows huge promise.  We also got great production out of Matt Labounty and Yurielle Jimenez."

Carlsbad Elite have now won 5 out of 6 Class A, Premier tournaments in the last 12 months, and have extended their unbeaten streak since Thanksgiving to 11:0:3.  "Top to bottom, this is a solid team of technically-strong soccer players,that can all play" says Holohan.  "At Carlsbad Elite, we focus on fundamentals and proper player development -- winning is the natural outcome but not the central goal."

Carlsbad Elite U14s are ranked in the Top 10 in the U.S. and are a team attracting a lot of attention regionally and nationally.