MVLA Player and Mountain View High’s Lucas Mohageg  was voted MVP.

First-team honorees included MVLA Players: Omri Fried, Harry Rojas, Sean McLoughlin, Aiden Zucker, Kevin Troxell and Pascal Purro. Adam Spencley made the second team.   All attending Los Altos or Mountain View High School.

The team will play it’s third group match against Mexico on Monday May 7th at 3:30pm PT.  You read US Soccer’s preview here and watch an interviews with Coach Albertin Montoya, Sarah Robinson here.  You can follow the game on CONCACAF’s live stream or US Soccer’s Youth National team twitter feed @ussoccer_ynt.

The win against Trinidad & Tobago guaranteed the team a spot in the semi-finals to be played May 10th.  The USW U17’s are seeking one of three qualifying berths for the 2012 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup to be played in Azerbaijan from September 22nd through October 13th.  See our earlier news item for a comprehensive list of web resources on the team and the tournaments.

The CONCACAF Qualifying Tournament will be held in Guatemala from May 2nd through 12th.  The US Women’s U17 team will be vying for one of three berths from the CONCACAF region. 

The U.S. opened Group B play in the qualifying tournament against the Bahamas on Thursday, May 3, winning 10-0.  They will will then face Trinidad & Tobago on Saturday, May 5 at 1pm PT, and finish Group B play against Mexico on Monday, May 7 at 4:30pm PT.  Group A consists of host Guatemala, Canada, Panama and Jamaica. The top two finishers in each group advance to the all-important semifinals.

The semifinals will be played on Thursday, May 10, with the final and third-place match held on Saturday, May 12. The finalists and the winner of the third-place game qualify for Azerbaijan. All matches will be played at Guatemala City’s Estadio Cementos Progreso, site of the 2010 CONCACAF Under-20 Women’s Championship.

Follow the team’s progress and get tournament information at the following web pages

• U.S. U-!7 WNT main page
• U.S. U-17 WNT Schedule and Results
• CONCACAF U-17 Women’s Championship tournament, US team profile page
• Video highlights  from the tournament and live streaming of the games
• FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Finals

Camp #1 June 18 - June 21st (Boys)

Early Bird Registration: (prior to MAy 15th- $200 (after May 15th  price is $250)

Locations: Hillview, Grant Park and Rosita (Los Altos)

Camp #2 June 25th - June 28th (Girls)

Early Bird Registration: (prior to May 15th) - $200 (after May 15th price is $250)

9:00am - 12:00pm.

For more information and registration information: Contact: coach@mvlasc.org

The two-hour event featured questions from MVLA players and parents on all aspects of becoming a student-athlete in college.  This included topics such as how to choose a school/program that is right for you, how to start the process & maximize your exposure, how to get recruited, the benefits of camps, showcases and ODP / ID2 programs, and the importance of grades and test scores.

The panel consistend of men’s and women’s coaches from of from Stanford, St. Mary’s, Cal, Holy Names, De Anza and San Jose State University.  Several MVLA coaches and Board Members were also in attendance.  The program also featured MVLA alumna and current Santa Clara Women’s Team Captain Margueritte Aozasa, who spoke on playing in a college soccer program as well as her experience with MVLA over the years.

MVLA has over 1,400 players on its competitive teams, and also offers a development program for young children as well as an after-school program for elementary school children.   MVLA was recently invited to join the Women’s Elite Clubs National League (ECNL) for the 2012-2013 season, and established  and also designated as one of the San Jose Arthquakes seven U-14 Pre-Academy Regional Development Schools in Northern California.

Jay is the goalkeeper coach at Stanford University.  Since he began his tenure in 2003, he has helped make Stanford goalkeepers’ performance among the best in the country: achieving the nation’s best goals-against average in 2004 (0.43), second-best in 2008 (0.32), and 10^th-best in 2009 (0.57), and third-best in 2010 (0.45).  He also helped develop Nicole Barnhart into a two-time All-America, Olympic gold medalist and national-team veteran.

Jay also coached goalkeepers for 2010 Women’s Professional Soccer champion FC Gold Pride, where he continued to work with Barnhart, the league’s Goalkeeper of the Year and a 2008 Olympic gold medalist. Cooney previously coached the goalkeepers for the San Jose CyberRays, the 2001 Women’s United Soccer Association champion. Under Cooney’s guidance, San Jose goalkeeper LaKeysia Beene was honored as the 2001 WUSA Goalkeeper of the Year.

Before coming to the South Bay, the Wellesley, Mass., native served as an assistant coach at the College of William & Mary and as assistant director of Soccer Plus, a goalkeepers’ school owned by Tony DiCicco, coach of the 1999 U.S. Women’s World Cup team.

In 1999, Cooney was an assistant coach at Providence College and for the Under-18 and U-19 Greater Boston Bolts, and practice goalkeeper for the A-League’s Boston Bulldogs. Previously, he was the head coach of the boys team at his alma mater, Wellesley (Mass.) High School (1993-98) and was the 1998 Bay State Coach of the Year.

Cooney’s mother, Marge, founded Wellesley United, a girls’ soccer club and was a huge influence and inspiration to her son.

Cooney and his wife, Greta, live in Menlo Park. The couple has two sons, Finn and Hayes.

Everyone Plays!!! Everyone is trained by Professional Coaches!! Visit from SJ Earthquakes!!  

This special program is being offered to the children in Los Altos School District to provide them opportunity to learn great soccer (curriculum will be created by Albertin Montoya, US U17 Youth National Coach and Director of Coaching for MVLA Soccer), play with their friends and play against other schools and receive one FREE ticket to a SJ Earthquake Season Game.

Furthermore, with sponsorship from Adidas and SJ Earthquake, all children will have a chance to meet some professional soccer players who are from the  SJ Earthquake Soccer Team.

The Elite Clubs National League (ECNL) was founded in 2009 to change the landscape for elite female soccer players in the United States through innovative, player-centered programming and to enhance the overall experience by creating a better, more enjoyable, more accessible, and more successful player, coach, and club development model. It enhances the developmental experience of female youth soccer players in the United States through:

• Improving the competitive environment through creation of a true national competitive league with multiple flights;
• Improving the process for identifying elite female soccer players for the U.S. Soccer youth national teams through a systematic scouting and identification program based on national competitions; and
• Improving the daily training environment at top female youth soccer clubs through developing best practices and training and organizational guidelines for its member clubs.
  

More information on the ECNL can be found at their website.  The 2012-2013 schedule will be released in a few months time.

Coach Seth Alberico lead the Mercury Blue through a series of victories, defeating teams from Legacy FC and Placer United Premier in bracket play.  Mercury Blue went on to defeat the San Carlous Azzurri 3-0 in the semifinal, and the resurgent Placed United Premier in the final 3-1.  Over the course of the tournament, the Mercury Blue scored 14 goals while only allowing one.  See the full results for the division here.