Ela Soccer Club's U14 Boys Elite take first place at USA Cup

The U14 Boys Ela Elite took 1st place in the u14 boys top flight division at the USA Cup, Blaine, Minnesota, with a 1-0 victory over a team from Haiti, the Haitian Initiative.

Two of the top teams faced off in the final. Ela Elite had won all of their previous games, with an impressive 18 goals scored and 0 against, while Haitian Initiative came to the final having scored 24 goals and only conceding 4.

“I knew it was going to be a tough game, but I had confidence in my team. We had prepared well prior to coming to the tournament and the boys were playing very well in their earlier games. We had a game plan and the boys executed.” said coach Gin Sharma, the Ela Soccer Director of Coaching.

Going into the second half tied at 0-0, but having created more chances and controlling the midfield battle in the first half, the players showed a tremendous amount of self-belief and confidence. The game-winning goal came from a penalty kick earned by forward Kyle Owen, which was converted by Adan Flores. That the team did not concede a single goal in all of their games is a credit to their goalkeeper, Elias Rojas, and the team's overall work ethic and discipline in defending extremely well as a team.

The win truly did cap off a fantastic week for the Ela Elite players, parents and Ela Soccer Club.