Diablo FC 95 boys lose Surf Cup championship in overtime
Vault to #14 USA ranking after pushing #1 team to the brink

Posted: 7/28/2009 
Updated: 7/31/2009

July 28, 2009

The old ABC-TV Wide World of Sports theme was “the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.” The Diablo FC 95 U14 boys experienced both those emotions in a matter of minutes Monday afternoon in the championship game of Surf Cup XXIX in San Diego.

Playing the #1 team in the United States, West Coast FC, for the second day in a row, coach John Badger’s Diablo FC 95 took all West Coast could dish out for three quarters of a scoreless draw before a dicey call awarded West Coast a penalty kick in the second half. The Southern California team converted to take a 1-0 lead and then continued to play their possession game with an emphasis on defense. With less than a minute left in stoppage time of the championship game Diablo FC 95 scored off a corner kick and pandemonium broke out on the Diablo FC sideline.

This pushed the finale into Golden Goal overtime but before a minute had passed in OT West Coast scored to claim a 2-1 victory and the Surf Cup championship to go along with their 2009 Far West Regional and Cal South State Cup titles. They were also finalists in Dallas Cup this year. Dallas Cup and Surf Cup are the two most prestigious youth soccer tournaments in America. West Coast Futbol Club is also celebrating that their U14 boys (U15 starting Aug. 1) won the USYSA National Championship over the weekend in Massachusetts. Four West Coast FC teams went to Western Regionals and three won titles!

Ironically, it was one year ago this week that coach Badger and his Diablo FC 90 boys were playing for the USYSA National Championship at the U17 Final Four in Arkansas. That team achieved the #1 ranking in the USA last summer.

The Diablo FC 95 boys are coming home with an impressive trophy and the satisfaction knowing they played toe-to-toe with the #1 team in America. A week ago they also played the #2 team, Milan FC of Hilmar, in the championship game of the NorCal Premier Spring League and lost 1-0 at Ygnacio Valley High School despite dominating possession and scoring opportunities. With these impressive results at Surf Cup, Diablo FC has vaulted to #14 in gotSoccer National rankings. Incredibly, they played the #1 (twice), #2, #5, #8 and #29 nationally ranked teams in the past 9 days! In addition, they lost 1-0 to #9 Santa Clara Sporting in the CYSA State Cup finals in May.

Surf Cup is considered such a premier tournament because only the highest ranked teams can participate. DVSC Nightmare girls finished second in Surf Cup three straight years at the beginning of the decade while coach Marquis White’s DVSC Black Pearl 89 (aka Diablo FC 89) was second in U16 boys gold division in 2005 for the best showings by our club teams at Surf Cups past.
 

Here is an edited report from team manager Mark Brauer about the tournament (rankings Mark shows were before Surf Cup):

Wow, what an amazing experience we had at Surf Cup and with such impressive results!

Our first game was against Carlsbad Lightning Red, #4 ranked team in the U.S. We came out firing on all cylinders, playing a great controlled passing game and dominating the time of possession in the first half. Diablo FC took an early 1-0 lead on a shot by midfielder Juan Velazquez<