Lombard soccer club hosting tourney to showcase DuPage athletes
A Lombard club soccer tournament is doubling in size this year and allowing high school girls a chance to get noticed by college coaches.
The DuPage Preseason Invitational Tournament hosted by the Lombard Firebirds soccer club will bring 73 teams from the suburbs and around the state to compete in 19 age- and gender-based brackets. Games started Friday and continue today and Sunday.
The tournament is an "opportunity to showcase what our club is and the quality of the teams and the club itself," said Carl Goldsmith, tournament coordinator.
Last year, when the Firebirds launched the preseason tourney, the goal was to invite a few teams to play Firebirds clubs as a warmup for the fall season. This year, the club wanted to expand the event into a larger field featuring more teams and stronger competition.
Instead of 37 teams total at all levels last year, this year's 73 teams will compete over three days on 12 fields in Lombard and Villa Park.
High school boys will be the only ones excluded because they are not actively playing with club teams this season. During the fall, boys play soccer with teams established at their high schools - that's when the interscholastic season takes place through the Illinois High School Association - instead of independent clubs like the Firebirds.
High school girls will be featured in brackets for teams with members 16 and younger or 19 and younger.
"This year, what we're trying to add is a little bit of a girls showcase aspect as well," said Adam Hewitt, Firebirds director of coaching.
Coaches from Amherst College, Dominican University, Penn State University and St. Xavier University are expected to attend some of the games to scout players for scholarship offers or slots on their rosters. Hewitt, who is a men's assistant coach at St. Xavier, said he and other Firebirds coaches have used their networks to reach out to invite colleges to the tournament.
"It's certainly convenient for them to come see a whole host of players in one," Hewitt said.
The growth of the DuPage Preseason Invitational follows expansion and improvement of the Firebirds as a whole.
"Our club has grown exponentially over the last five years," Hewitt said. "We used to be kind of an extension of the park district in that it was club soccer, but at a very low level."
Now, he said, many players who make it to the high school levels with the Firebirds go on to play in college, which improves the club's reputation.
Admission to the tournament is free for spectators. Locations include Glenbard East and Willowbrook high schools in Lombard and Villa Park, as well as Four Seasons Park, Sunset Knoll, Southland Park and Westmore Woods in Lombard.
"We'd love to have people at the games to see some good-quality soccer and cheer on the teams," Goldsmith said.