Youth Soccer News: Carlsbad Elite's B96 Team Is Turning Heads on the Pitch

The Carlsbad Elite B96 team, coached by Carlsbad Elite boys’ College Placement Director and assistant coach at San Diego State University (SDSU) Paul Holohan, is a team to pay close attention to, with technically strong players throughout the entire group. The team is off to a strong start as they began their 2012/2013 competitive season, with an impressive three wins in the Carlsbad Cup Summer Nights Showcase.

The team compiled a record of 10 goals for with only one against during the tournament this past July. This team plays soccer with great passion and heart – their love of the game is evident as you watch their quick-passing, high-energy, possession style of soccer.

This year’s team includes one U.S. Youth National Team (USYNT) player and several other ODP selections. Many of the players have been playing together since they were nine years old, and over the last two years their ranks of been bolstered by new additions that have added quality to an already technically strong group of soccer players.

Despite the varied backgrounds of all the players, they have formed a close bond. Every family pulls together, united in the quest to help their child better their lot in life and use soccer as the vehicle to get to college. For many of the players, this would be a first in their family.

Carlsbad Elite B96 and USYNT player Rey Ortiz

When asked to describe his coaching philosophy, Coach Holohan sums things up as follows:

“I’ve built teams up in the past with great success, and this one is no different. The reality is that we may not have been ready to win a national championship in the years past, but that process began years ago."

I want to play an attractive, free-flowing style of football, and we do that for sure, but the most important piece for me is developing soccer players – ‘footballers,’ as we would say. You do that and the wins will come as you get older and the football shines through and the physical dominance evens out."

"I want to develop players so when they go on to college they are ready to fit into the best programs.”

When talking to the players there is a positive buzz about the upcoming year and a camaraderie and mutual respect brought about by hard training and pushing from within the team to be the best players and to play the best soccer.

The team, led by captains Rey Ortiz and Arturo Fernandez, come to the field in both training and the games ready to give 150%.This is not new for Paul Holohan, who won a Red Bull NL 17 National Championship in 2007, and he says this team is very similar.

Some of the players then went on to play SDSU, UCONN, North Carolina, Sonoma State, Notre Dame and Tulsa.

 Rey Ortiz (’97) is a USYNT player who is attracting a lot of attention.” To be honest,” says Holohan, “if he was living in England or Spain he would be at a pro club. Other players such as Arturo Fernandez (’97), Nathaniel Bloom (’97), Jordi Lozada (’97) Geovel Vargas (’96), and Matt LaBounty (’96) are also in the same boat,” says  Holohan.

Paul Holohan sums up the team as a whole by telling us, ”College coaches I know very well who have watched our team all say the same thing…they can ALL play, and that is what we want to see.”

The Carlsbad Elite B96 will again be competing in the WCDA, the premier bracket of Coast Soccer League, FWR League, and the SCNPL against all the top teams in the region. They finished the season well last year with some hard fought victories against some of the best teams in Southern California and Nevada.

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