Christopher Magiera

3rd Place Win Hawaiian Style

Christopher Magiera

3rd Place Awards

Camarillo BU12 AYSO 2008 National Games 3rd Place

The Camarillo, AYSO Region 68, BU12 National Games tournament team finished in 3rd place at the 2008 National Games in Honolulu, Hawaii; the highest finish ever for Region 68 BU12. The games started with opening ceremonies Tuesday July 8 and concluded with the championship finals Sunday afternoon July 13. The National Games included 181 teams from 17 states in four age groups.

Each of the boys played in two Soccerfest games on Wednesday, July 9. The Soccerfest teams were comprised of 12 players from different national games participants who then played two friendly games against other mixed teams.

The boys finished pool play with a 5 - 0 record, having yielded only one goal and scoring nineteen. Pool play results: Sandy/Draper, Utah, 4-0; West Palm Beach, FL 2-0; Rancho Cucamonga, CA, 5-0; Aliso Viejo, CA, 2-1; Leeward, HI, 6-0. Camarillo then defeated Pacific Palisades 5-1 in the quarterfinal match, Saturday afternoon, July 12, with the opponent's lone goal coming off a penalty kick. Camarillo's only National Games loss occurred in the semifinal game against Newbury Park, Sunday morning July 13. This game was tied 1-1 until Newbury Park scored on a penalty kick with only minutes remaining to win the game 2-1. Camarillo then beat West Palm Beach, FL, 2-1 in the 3rd place game Sunday afternoon.

Overall the team scored 27 goals in 8 games and gave up only 5. This was a testament to the outstanding goalkeeping of Andrew Cordova and the solid defense provided by William Huebner, Gregory Ford, Frederick Pond, and Andrew Magiera. The game controlling midfielders included Neil Van Splinter, Kishen Majithia, and Nathaniel Seeba. The prodigious scoring forwards included Alejandro Arechiga, Christian Welsh and Ian Jones. The goals were scored by Van Splinter (7), Welsh (7), Arechiga (5), Huebner (3), Jones (2), Majithia (2), and Cordova.

The team, coached by Gregg Van Splinter and John Huebner, has been together since March 2008 and competed in 8 tournaments including the National Games, finishing in the trophy rounds in 7 of the 8 tournaments, finishing 4th, 3rd twice, 2nd twice, and 1st twice.