McLean Youth Soccer Association

Congratulations to the U14 boys McLean MPS Fire Green, who capped an amazing State Cup tournament run with a 3-1 victory in Richmond today against the Richmond Strikers to win the VYSA State Cup Championship and a spot in the Region 1 Championship Tournament.

The Fire, coached by MYS Assistant Technical Director Trevor Parker, made their way through a difficult draw during the months of April and May, facing Prince William Courage, New River Rapids Blue, Colonial League champions Braddock Road Elite, Beach FC and finally, the VCCL champions Richmond Strikers.

Among several highlights of the final four weekend, the Fire won in penalty kicks against the Beach FC squad, with the Fire’s keeper, Cole Stinger, coming up big, making three saves to guarantee the boys another night in Richmond and move them along to meet the Richmond Strikers, who defeated last years’ State Cup Champion in their final four match later the same afternoon.

In the championship final, the Fire came out hot, working relentlessly to win possession and move the ball around in an attempt to frustrate the talented Strikers. While the Fire had several key players sidelined with nagging injuries, under the leadership of Parker, the boys patched together a solid first half heading into the half up 1-0 on a marvelous strike by midfielder Griffin Cyphers. Not pleased with Cyphers’ success, the Strikers turned it up a notch in the second half and were intent on making sure the Cup would stay with them in Richmond. They pressed forward with some great midfield play and several times provided opportunities to their exceptional strikers up top. Guided by a little luck and more hard work, however, the Fire refused to bend. Jumping on an opportunity, the Fire’s Michael Southern cracked a smart shot that popped into the back on the net affording the Fire a 2-0 lead. Nevertheless, Southern’s goal just seemed to make the Strikers more energized. The next several minutes were a flurry, with both teams working up and down the field as the game became a little chippy. Then, the Fire’s Seth Jaffe broke into the box and calmly slotted one in the corner of the net to put the Fire up 3-0. One would have thought the match over, but there were 22 minutes left and the teams battled until the end with the Strikers getting one late on a blistering shot. Stinger, however, was not about to let the Cup out of McLean’s hands and the match ended 3-1.

The Fire players include Bryan Magnuson, Nate Johnson, Logan Legg, Edmund Pendleton, Griffin Cyphers, Seth Jaffe, Daniel Levetown, Andrew Cox, Jason Colliton, Michael Padmanabhan, Michael Southern, Stefano Proietti, Alex Morgan, Griffin Otto, Cole Stinger, Erik Swayne and Antonio Bustamante.

Over the course of the weekend, Clyde Watson, the MYS Technical Director and several MPS and Academy coaches came down to support the boys and give them encouragement, as well as the parents and players from U13 Force who were present Saturday. The tournament weekend was fantastic, and VYSA did a wonderful job. The Richmond Strikers are a talented team who are sure to be back in many State Cup Championship matches in the future. Coach Trevor Parker deserves a huge amount of the credit, having taken in six seasons an NCSL Division 3 team to the top of the State – the boys are immensely grateful to Trevor for seeing that they had the right development to mature as a team into the (current) strongest soccer team in the State of Virginia.