Wins West and East Coast Titles 3 Weeks Apart

Photos: Kristi Citron

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Virginia Beach VA— Just three weeks after winning Oceanside’s Beach Soccer Championships, the largest sand soccer tournament on the West Coast, SoCal Legacy headed across the US to compete in the 24^th Annual North American Sand Soccer Championships (NASSC), the largest beach soccer tournament on the East Coast and in the world.

With over 1,100 teams, competing on over 60 fields, spanning over 25 city blocks of prime oceanfront real estate, on over a mile and a half of golden sand beaches, this “World Cup” equivalent of an international beach soccer competition is hard to miss, attracting teams from around the globe, including nearly 20 states and countries from as far away as Africa, Portugal, Germany, Brazil, Norway, the Caribbean, and Canada’s Northwest Territories.  “For those that love this sport, it’s absolute beach soccer nirvana”, said Steve Citron, head coach for SoCal Legacy, arguably one of the best youth beach soccer teams to come out of Oceanside, “We have played in over 20 tournaments and this event is nothing short of incredible, there are beach soccer fields for as far as the eye can see.”

Planning for this event began in December of 2016, after Legacy won their second consecutive Major Beach Soccer (MBS) National Title in Clearwater Beach, Florida.  Playing out of the SoCal Beach Soccer Club, a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to teaching and promoting the sport of beach soccer, the team had already tapped out many funding sources to reach the MBS Nationals in December.  “We had some success with our various fundraisers and GoFundMe campaigns, but we needed to bridge the gap to make it to the NASSC,” said Citron, “and that is when Troy Clifton, the VP of Business Development from All-Pro Tactical, the lead sponsor of the tournament and a provider of high performance sports gear and military equipment bags and backpacks, contacted us and offered to pay our entry fees.”  The generosity of an East Coast, Virginia-based company cleared the way for SoCal Legacy, the only youth team from California, to make it to the Mecca of all beach soccer tournaments, to represent their city, community, and state to see just how far they could go.

“Starting Legacy’s beach soccer season earlier than normal was going to be extremely important to adequately prepare for the NASSC,” said Coach Citron, “and we also trained with Crown Heights, one of the top U18 beach soccer teams in the nation, which really helped to propel us to a higher level,” Citron continued, “but the one thing we could not simulate in our practice sessions was playing in heat and humidity.” With highs in the upper 80’s and lower 90’s the weather would indeed play a factor.  “We had 2 matches scheduled for Saturday and then up to 3 matches on Sunday, so this was going to be a marathon, not a sprint, and the workload would have to be spread equally amongst every player to conserve our energy to ensure we would have enough left for the final,” added Citron.

The participation level at this event is so enormous that there are typically four separate competitive divisions for each age group.  There are divisions for all-star recreational players, below average competitive players, average competitive players, and an elite division set aside for the highest level of competitive players.  In Legacy’s case, 35 teams had enrolled in the U16 age group, but only 5 entered at the highest competitive division (including Legacy), the other thirty teams entered into one of the other three lower level U16 divisions.

Legacy would face each team in their division, and then the top two teams would advance to the final.  Their first match was Saturday morning against a team called Sons of Beaches, hailing out of Williamsburg, VA.  Legacy would get on the scoreboard within the first 60 seconds of the period via a corner kick rebound shot by Israel Ramirez, but the Sons of Beaches reacted quickly by scoring an equalizer just three minutes later.  Legacy responded with a fast-break, go-ahead goal by Justin Ricketts a few minutes later, “It was a quick counter-attack and Justin just blasted out of the gates, past all the defenders and rocketed a powerful shot into the back of the net,” said Citron, “it was a brilliant finish.”  Although the score at the end of the first period was 2-1, Legacy would turn up the heat in a big way by scoring 10 unanswered goals throughout the remaining periods, to decisively win the contest by a score of 12-1, setting the stage for a strong first day performance at the event.  When the dust settled, Ramirez had a hat trick, Ricketts, Connor Gillespie, and Antonio Chavez garnered two goals apiece, and Eiko Rodriguez, Mateo Citron, and Andrew Torres scored one each, to bring the total goal count to 12.
In game two, Legacy squared off against local favorites, Virginia Beach FC.  This team was noticeably stronger than their earlier opponents, but Ricketts again scored a pivotal goal in the 3^rd minute of the first period to take the lead early in the match, “Justin has tremendous speed, which makes him extremely dangerous on our counter-attacks,” added Coach Citron.  Less than 60 seconds later, Gillespie cracked a shot from the left side of the field to the lower near post to increase the lead to 2 goals.  Connor would double down with another goal later in the period, and Rodriguez and Mateo would score a goal apiece later in the match to bring Legacy its second victory of the day by a score of 5-1. “For his age, Connor is one of the best beach soccer defenders in the nation, but his ability to create offensive opportunities and score goals while playing in a defensive capacity is unbelievable,” said Citron.

During the first day of action, WTKR, a local news station in Virginia, hunted down the team between matches and interviewed Justin Ricketts and Coach Citron.  That evening the reporter covered the story of an Oceanside, California youth team coming all the way out to Virginia Beach to compete at the NASSC, and made some comments about the East Coast being the best Coast, helping to create a high-spirited rivalry between the West and East Coast teams, which provided more attention to the overall event and helped draw more locals out on Sunday to cheer on their teams.  To see the television coverage click the following link: http://wtkr.com/2017/06/10/reach-of-the-beach/

Both the temperatures and humidity increased as the competition continued on Sunday and SoCal Legacy found themselves down a goal in the early minutes of Match 3 as the Hammerheads, a team out of North Carolina, scored a beautiful bicycle kick goal to take the lead 1-0.  Gillespie, Chavez, and Rodriguez responded by scoring a goal apiece before the end of the first period to place Legacy back in the lead 3-1.  The 3^rd goal was a brilliant bicycle kick to the back of the Hammerhead’s net by Rodriguez, an answer to the Hammerhead’s bike scored earlier in the period.  “This is not the first time Eiko has scored on a bicycle kick,” said Coach Steve, “he is just so talented and so dangerous in front of the goal with the ball in the air.”  Eiko, Chavez, and Mateo combined for 3 more goals in subsequent periods to ensure a 6-1 victory in game 3, as Legacy maintained their undefeated performance within the Surf Division.

Game 4, against the Beach Boys, was the closest match of the tournament for Legacy as they only had a 40-minute break between their third and fourth matches and the heat and humidity were beginning to take its toll on the players.  “Having won 3 of the preliminary matches, we thought the fourth game was going to be inconsequential and that we were already guaranteed a position in the championship final, so we didn’t have our goalie suited up, and we were going to rest our starting line-up, so we really weren’t properly prepared for a serious match,” said Citron, “but then I double checked the updated scoreboards and found that Virginia Beach FC was tied with Legacy, having won 3 of their matches and there would be a 3-way tie for first place if the Beach Boys could defeat us in our fourth and final preliminary match.”

The Beach Boys came out strong and about 9 minutes into the first period they scored to take the lead 1-0.  They appeared to score a second goal about 40 seconds later, but the referee ruled that Gonzalo Marquez, Legacy’s keeper, had possession of the ball when it was kicked out of his hands.  Legacy was down 1-0 at the beginning of the second period, but scored the equalizer with a quick turn and shot from Rodriguez.  Eiko would score again just a few minutes later to help the team pull ahead 2-1.  The rest of the second and third periods would be defensive, with fantastic saves by Marquez to maintain the Legacy lead.  When the final whistle blew, Legacy would have a clean sheet – being the only undefeated team coming out of the preliminary rounds and headed towards the championship finale, scheduled just a few hours later, against Virginia Beach FC.
Just prior to the championship match kick-off, Coach Citron pulled the team together and said, “Your community believes in you, your parents and friends believe in you, and your coach believes in you – all you need to do now is believe in yourself and your team.”  The local crowds turned up in a big way to support and cheer on Virginia Beach FC.  “There were a lot of VBFC fans up on the boardwalk and surrounding the field and they were making a lot of noise and some negative comments towards the Legacy players and the referee whenever calls were made against their home team, but I had already talked to the team about staying focused and tuning out the noise,” said Citron.  Although Legacy hit the crossbar and the post in the first period, VBFC was emboldened by the crowd and the entire period almost evaporated without a single goal until Justin Ricketts hit a powerful shot into the net with about 30 seconds remaining.

Then, about 7 minutes into the second period, Rodriguez sent a pass around two defenders to Chavez who had a fantastic finish to position Legacy with a 2-0 lead, but that lead slipped to only one goal as VBFC pushed hard to get on the scoreboard and found the net with about 90 seconds remaining in the second period.  The local crowd erupted following the goal and you could feel the momentum begin to swing, the VBFC coach was telling his players to draw on the energy of the crowd as their celebration and cheering continued and they found themselves within striking distance of Legacy going into the third and final period with a tight score line of 2-1.

In the event of a tie, the game would go into a 3-minute golden goal overtime period and then, if necessary, would go directly to penalty kicks to decide the outcome.  The third period commenced with unbelievable action as both teams battled it out, with field players taking amazing shots and both goalies making fantastic saves.  Then, it happened, with about 4 minutes remaining in the third and final period, Rodriguez received a pass from Marquez, then pulled the ball one way and then the other, making an incredibly quick cut back and finding the goal, even though he was being covered by two defenders, bringing Legacy to a 3-1 lead.  VBFC turned it up in the waning minutes of the period with several shots on goal, but could not find the net.  With about 30 seconds left to play, Mateo threw the ball to Lars Ecklund who then volleyed it into the net from close range, bringing Legacy to a 4-1 victory in the final!

As the final whistle blew, the team celebrated on the field and waved to the Virginia Beach fans and the smaller California contingency that came to support them.  Legacy would notch their 17^th championship win at the largest, most competitive and prestigious beach soccer tournament in the world just 3 weeks after their Oceanside victory, blowing through 5 matches and scoring nearly 30 goals along the way.  Their record now stands at 95 total matches played, consisting of 83 wins, 9 losses, and 3 ties.

Having won 17 championship titles from Southern California, to Florida, and Virginia Beach, it appears that the team has won every major beach soccer tournament in North America.  “There are a few smaller tournaments in Northern Oregon and California, as well as a decent sized tourney in the Great Lakes area that we may attend, but we are also looking at a few opportunities outside of the country as well,” said Coach Citron.  Indeed, SoCal Legacy has been contacted by the President of the São Paulo State Beach Soccer Association, the second largest beach soccer club in Brazil, who is interested in hosting them at an international tournament in Brazil and is also interested in setting up an exchange program to promote the sport of beach soccer at the youth level.  Citron has also been in discussions with Ramiro Amarelle, one of the greatest beach soccer players in the world, and is evaluating a trip to Barcelona to play against some local talent in Spain, “For now we are going to take a well-deserved break,” Citron added, “I can’t say enough about how this team has performed this year, and on behalf of the team I really want to thank our friends, families, the City of Oceanside, Crown Heights, SoCal Beach Soccer Club, All-Pro Tactical, and the surrounding communities in North San Diego County, and beyond, for supporting us and helping to make this happen.  This victory is a win for everyone who has been a part of this team and for all of those who have helped us over the years to bring us to this point in time.”
Stay tuned for more information as we see what happens next with our beach soccer team from Oceanside, California!