TCU u-15 boys are the Palm Bay Spring Challenge Champions.

4 games. 4 wins. Some played in the smoke from the recent forest fires cant stop the United u-15 boys!

The team is made up of the following players.

Raul Becerra, Curtis Berger, Dalton Everett, Clay Fischer, Cleveland Jamison, Lyle LaCaptain, Daniel Longstreet, Matthew McCarthy, Brent Meinhold, Paul Mino, Danny Steppling, Michael Swann, Bradley Tuggle, and Ian Weber.

The United boys are coached by Graham Whitehouse and Paul Gibbons of Coerver Coaching. www.coerversoutheastusa.com
Steve McCarthy is team manager. www.tcusoccer.com

Below is a game by game summary of the road to the Championship.

Game 1: TCU vs. Wellington Wave.

TCU started with possession at the beginning of the game completing at least twenty or more passes forward, back, diagonal, and across before Wellington had a chance to touch the ball. We totally dominated possession having a number of opportunities to score but just being off target. Our first goal came from a great through ball toward the right corner where Dalton was able to do a slight diagonal pass back to Curtis who finished it with the goal inside the eighteen yard box. This was all the scoring for the first half. The second half Wellington place a lot more pressure on us and had a little more success against us but our defense with Brent, Paul, Ian, Swannie, and Elvis never broke preserving the shutout while Bradley was able to connect with Dalton inside the eighteen for another score on a good through ball. Final Score TCU 2 - Wellington 0.

Game 2: TCU vs. Clay County Rangers.

This was an interesting game for it was hard to get the right warm-up for the players due to delay of start waiting for an official to arrive from another game. So I think the guys were still a little tight from the day's first game. Anyway it did not take long for Clay County to score beginning with their center mid passing to the left side back to the center mid, back to the outside mid who you guessed back to the same center mid who finished with a goal just outside the eighteen off the right post. That is what was that #1 for it was like we where not there and they were doing a passing practice drill. It did not take much longer before Clay County scored two more times from crosses from the left side for two beautiful headers for goals which again we did not unfortunately play our positions or mark up. These were our what was that #'s 2 & 3.This all happened before the water break. After that we finally got back on track and played soccer with steady pressure creating a few breaks of our own with scores from Clay and Cleveland inside the eighteen yard box. This left the half with Clay County up by 1. Second half was total TCU. Graham set the guys up with three forwards each with the responsibility to pressure the Clay County backfield when ever they had possession while Raul and Lyle were to mark up and become Clay County's forward's shadows. The results were very good for we only allowed two shots on goal while getting scores from Dalton, Swannie, and two from Bradley, three of which were inside the eighteen. All these scores coming from assists from Curtis, Lyle, Swannie, Ian, and two from Bradley. Final Score TCU 6 - Clay County Rangers 3. This game showed a new character for this team for in the past they would have been frustrated and let down, now they just remained focused and continued to press forward and played a consistent pressure style of soccer.

Game 3: TCU vs. IUS Fire.

Who can forget this game when we were delayed 45 minutes do to some smog that maybe allowed 20 feet of visibility. But some of the guys had fun making long passes from one side of the field to the other anyways. This game like game one we played more possession style of soccer and forced most of the play at IUS's end of the field throughout the game. The first half scoring was provided by goals inside the eighteen from Ian on a cross from Dalton and Bradley on a overlapping run cross from Clay. Both coming from the right side. The second half was not much different than the first half with more possession style of play. TCU scored again with Dalton receiving another cross from Bradley. IUS was finally able to score on a short pass down the left side where the forward was able to just get around Elvis for the goal. The final goal came from Bradley on another overlapping cross from Brent. Final Score TCU 4 - IUS Fire 1.

Championship Game: TCU vs. KSC Strikers.

KSC is a team made up of players from Southern Soccer and Kendall. KSC began the game with very good possession style soccer at a very fast pace which took our guys about 1/3 of the half to make adjustment and begin applying a little pressure in return. KSC scored first with a good through ball toward the right side post were their forward could finish for the goal just outside the eighteen. It was at this point that TCU began to be able to counter and apply pressure to keep better possession and more midfield toward KSC's end of the field. The tieing score for the half came from Ian on a right side cross from Dalton. The second half again found KSC doing quick possession style passing resulting in What was That #4. KSC's forward & Ian where going for a high 50/50 ball when Ian decided to try and use his knee to gain possession with no luck, then Cleveland went to challenge the forward put suddenly stopped and watched him go by and best of all during the whole process Elvis just stood there and watched the forward's shot role somewhat slowly by for the goal. When asked by Gibbo what happened to the three of them on his way back toward his goal after water break, all Elvis could say with a smile on his face was that it was an ESPN moment. Latter he admitted he lost his mark on the field and misjudged where the goal was behind him. TCU came back and tied the game again with a good diagonal pass from Cleveland to the right corner flag where Dalton scored outside the eighteen about 6 yards off the end line. TCU then scored two more times with goals inside the eighteen from Bradley and Dalton on through ball assists from Cleveland and Swannie. KSC came back with two goals of the own, the first being a good steal from their forward and a strong finishing goal about ten yards out of the eighteen. The tieing goal came off of a direct throw-in header that Elvis just missed by so little. TCU's winning goal came from Dalton on an assist from Raul. During the break Graham had told the guys that all they had to do is not over exert them selves but play at a consistent level of pressure and maintain that level throughout the entire 40 minutes they should be able to win the game and that they did. Final Score TCU 5 - KSC Strikers 4.

Just to recap: TCU scored 17 goals by 7 different players, 13 of which were inside the eighteen yard box, in 4 matches against teams that still are contending for the State Cup. They really worked hard and earned their victory. Finally there is three players whose names I did not have a chance to mention or seldom mention and that is Daniel, Danny and Paul for they are the true spirit and unsung heroes of the game in working hard by making their contributions in setting up their teammates for the big plays in passing, containment and good tackles. All I can say is thank you all for a great weekend!

Steve McCarthy