RSL-AZ Yuma 03 soccer starts Presidents Cup play with win
Local 19U club team from Yuma defeats Blackhawks from Louisiana 5-2 to start pool play
GREENSBORO, N.C. ( KYMA, KECY-TV ) - The 19U club soccer team made of of local players from Gila Ridge, Cibola, Yuma Catholic and San Luis high schools called RSL-AZ Yuma 03, has one goal in mind heading into pool play at the U.S. Youth Soccer National Presidents Cup in Greensboro, North Carolina. That goal is to bring a national title back to Yuma.
"This is somewhat of a once in a lifetime opportunity," Head Coach Jerry Quintana said. "This tournament happens only once a year and there's only one team from the west region that makes it and kind of amazes me is that they're taking this really seriously. Not just here to have fun and enjoy the experience which is one thing that they're doing, but they're there, their mental preparation is really good."
The Yuma squad is one of four remaining in their age bracket in the entire country. The team will play each of the other three teams in a round robin format with the top two teams after pool play meeting for the national championship this coming Sunday.
"In a tournament like this you have to be a lot quicker with decision making and things like that," Quintana said. "I think that leans to our advantage because we do play a lot of small ball, we pass the ball around a lot."
Quintana's club got on the scoreboard first in the opening half on a goal by San Luis' Luis Medina.
"We had many opportunities in the 1st 15-20 mins but just could not score," Quintana said. "We scored first on Luis' shot outside the left side of the 18."
Quintana's club found themselves tied at the half before Louisiana took a 2-1 early to start the second half.
"They went up 2-1 and shortly after we tied it with a header from Angel Navarro," Quintana said. "A few minutes later David Murillo scored one on the lower right side of the goal."
RSL-AZ Yuma 03 took the lead back and never let go scoring four unanswered goals, including the final two from Erick Mejia, for a 5-2 opening round win.
"There was celebrating for maybe about a minute or two after the game and that's it," Quintana said. "Then you know the players started saying, hey, we haven't won anything yet. You know, it's just one game. We got to come back and do it again tomorrow and then rest and repeat and hopefully you'll make the final but they that they have that mentality. You know, one game is nice, but we want to be in that final match."
https://fb.watch/e7p9cGUYWW/RSL-AZ Yuma 03 will next play Team America out of Virginia on Friday morning at 5:00 a.m. Arizona time. Virginia also won their opening round match against Synergy out of Illinois 3-1.
