Dominance of Utah girls soccer displayed at regional tournament


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SEATTLE — Utah Youth Soccer teams dominated last week at the Far West Regional Tournament in Seattle, with three girls teams winning the tournament in their respective age groups and earning spots to compete in the national championships.

Teams from Utah competed with elite teams from 12 other Western states to vie for spots at the national tournament in Texas.

“It’s as high as you get on the youth level; it is the best of the best,” Brian Smith, president of Utah Youth Soccer, said concerning the competition at the Far West Regionals. “These are the kids that are getting called up to national teams, they are getting D-1 scholarships all over the country, they are being called up to National Women’s Soccer League teams and to Major League Soccer academies.”

The Beehive State not only made a statement in the tournament with three girls teams advancing to the nationals but three other Utah girls teams competed in the finals as well. With six Utah teams competing, Utah came in second only behind Southern California for the most teams playing in a championship. This comes despite Utah being up against teams that have the advantage of year-long warm weather and thousands of more athletes to build their teams with.

“(Other states) were super impressed. I heard things from Cal-South, from Cal-North and from Washington (complimenting Utah soccer),” Smith said. “Those are the biggest three competitors in the Western region, and Utah is always the tough fourth along with Colorado and Arizona. But this year it was Cal-South and Utah and then everyone else.”

Smith contributes the increasing success of Utah soccer clubs to the coaches. Many club coaches throughout the state played collegiate soccer and then professionally overseas. “There are a lot of people coming from high levels to run soccer clubs the way that they are run internationally, and that means the style of play and the intensity and the girls have stepped up to the challenge and the parents have given all their support and money behind these kids so we are seeing the success of it," Smith said.

With such high-caliber talent coming out of Utah, these soccer players, especially the girls, are being recruited heavily by local colleges. Smith said BYU women’s soccer has been a mainstay in the top 10 rankings in the past five to seven years. He said those BYU teams are made up of about 70 to 80 percent of players born and raised in Utah.

“I think we specifically need to speak to the strength of our girls in Utah. The strength of our girls is incredible,” Smith said. “Because girls at a younger age, and their parents, kind of throw it all in at soccer at about 12 years of age and they focus. So Utah soccer is a girls sport and they are killing it.”

Age groups competing in the tournament span from the under 13 age group up to the under 19/20 age group for boys and girls. The teams competing at regionals qualified after having won the Utah State Cup in their age groups.

The Celtic FC girls team under 17, Celtic FC girls under 16 and the La Roca FC girls under 15 teams are all headed to Frisco, Texas, as winners in Region IV and will be among eight teams in their age groups competing for the national title.

The Sparta under 17 boys will also attend nationals as they clinched a spot by winning the national league. The national championships will take place in Frisco, Texas, on July 24-20. Lindsey Peterson is a Brigham Young University student studying broadcast journalism. Contact her at lindspeterson4@gmail.com or on Twitter @LindsPetey.

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