Boys squad comprised of 9 and 10 year olds
Windsor has long been known as a hotbed for youth soccer, as local teams compete in high-level regional and state tournaments.
That was certainly the case for the Windsor North Coast Futbol Club 2008 this winter, advancing all the way to the State Cup Premier Boys U-11final in Modesto on Feb. 24 before taking home a finalist trophy.
Led by head coach Rudy Trejo, the squad included mostly 10-year-old boys and one nine-year-old.
The roster featured players; Marcelo Aguirre Carrillo, Gavin Curran, Elian Diaz-Zepeda, Noe Escarcega, Adan Gomez Montoya, Andres Gutierrez, Beckett Little, Mars Mihaly, Noah Rodriguez, Marco-Antonio Soto, Yahiir Trejo, Christian Urincho Trejo, Tyler Velasquez, Gavin Wright and Cooper Kurczeski.
“These are a great bunch of kids,” Trejo said. “After getting to the final at gold level for the past two years and winning the fall league this year we really wanted to see how far these boys could go. So we started to play in premier level tournaments to challenge the boys, with a view towards competing at premier level in this year’s State Cup.”
After compiling a first-place league record of 6-1, the team recorded State Cup playoff wins over Sacramento United (3-2) in the quarterfinals and Azzurri 2008 Cobras from Yuba City in the semifinals (3-2). The Windsor squad met its match in Sunday’s championship game, falling to the LFC IAA Liverpool FC 6-3.
“We never expected to make it all the way to the championship game in our first year at premier,” Trejo noted. “But now that we’re there, we’re going to give it all to bring that cup back to Windsor for the first time at this level.”
