Area contingent basks in national club titles

Don’t let the calendar fool you. Area soccer players and coaches are already in that championship mindset as August begins — and a fortunate few were propelled into that for high school season by a special run of form late last month.

Two club sides with heavy area ties won national championships in respective tournaments, and a third reached the final four.

The Cleveland Cobras 17-and-under girls squad, guided by longtime Mayfield boys coach Sean McNamara, won U.S. Club Soccer’s National Cup XVI in Westfield, Ind., in their division’s Premier Group, capped by a 3-2 win July 24 over Lonestar SC from San Antonio.

Several familiar area names, many of whom earned 2016 News-Herald all-star honors, line the Cobras’ roster, including Gilmour’s Annie Greene and Kacie McPeek, Mayfield’s Cassie Lewis and Tyler Klika, NDCL’s Frankie Forte and Marina Hess and Hawken’s Laura Gorjanc.

“It was phenomenal,” McNamara said. “I’ve been with the Cobras for 30 years. I’ve been in charge for 25 years. We’ve won seven indoor national championships, but we’ve never won an outdoor championship.

“This team was at the national finals three years ago. We made it to the final and got beaten on a penalty shootout. So we desperately wanted to get back.”

Klika, during high school season one of this area’s premier playmaking central midfielders and a returning second-team Division I all-Ohioan, netted the match-winner in the final on a header.

The Cobras advanced to the national final by going 3-1 in pool play and avenged a 2-0 loss to Lonestars on July 23.

“A lot of these girls joined the Cobras when they were 7,” McNamara said. “And they are 16, 17 now, so they’ve been with me for 10 years already. And they’re still children.

“But we’re small in relation to other clubs. We’re really relatively a small club. But we work on personal development, individual and technical skill. By developing the individual collectively, the team becomes extraordinarily strong. So I am really pleased for these children.”

McNamara’s side was also featured July 31 on WKYC-TV’s “Donovan Live” 7 p.m. newscast anchored by legendary Channel 3 sports anchor and Browns radio voice Jim Donovan.

Challenger Crew Juniors Gold 98 captured the U.S. Youth Soccer boys 19/20-and-under national championship in Frisco, Texas, culminated by a 4-0 victory July 30 in the tournament final over West Coast Haney (Calif.).

Challenger Crew had two area high school standouts of recent memory — two-time high school All-American midfielder and Lake Catholic graduate Nick Rieple and Harvey goalkeeper Isaac Soto. Rieple, the 2015 NewsHerald boys soccer player of the year, will be a freshman this fall at Penn State.

Challenger Crew went 1-0-2 in pool play and edged FC United (Ill.), 2-1, in the semifinals before reigning in decisive fashion in the tournament final.

“This team has been together since they were about 9 or 10 and guys come and go, but our core group has always stuck together,” Challenger Crew coach Oliver Condell told usyouthsoccer.org after the final. “This has been years in the making, and it’s hard to put the feeling after that final whistle into words. If you’re in youth soccer, this is what you work for — to be at the pinnacle of youth soccer.”

Cleveland FC’s 18-andunder girls, with Lake’s Kati Druzina and Kennedy Solymosi and Chagrin Falls’ Brooke Weitzel, advanced to the semifinals in their USYS nationals division in Frisco but bowed out to TSC Showcase (Tenn.), 2-1, in extra time. The side went 2-1 in pool play, including a 4-0 win over OFC 99 (Okla.) in which Weitzel had a goal.