MVLA 09G Crowned National Champions

A group of teen girls soccer players from the Bay Area has been crowned the nation’s best, winning the national championship title in the ECNL (Elite Clubs National League) National Finals in Virginia.

The 2009 MVLA (Mountain View Los Altos) girls team, comprised of 16 and 15-year-olds, took the top prize on July 21, beating out some of the best teams from around the country.

Eight teams in the '09 age group won a ticket to the championship games.

What we know: In the first round, MVLA beat the Utah Royals, 1-0. 

The Bay Area team advanced to the quarterfinals to face another highly competitive team, Penn Fusion, which they defeated in another 1-0 win. 

MVLA then headed to the final round to face powerhouse Kansas City Athletics, which made it to Virginia last year but lost in the finals. 

The Kansas team would fall short again, as MVLA snatched the title in a 3-1 win. 

Emotional win 

It was an emotional moment for MVLA 09 Coach Esteban Sosa and his team.

"For the girls, they've been working so, so hard, and the fact that I've put them through so much and for better or for worse, you know, they've always come out the other side better." Sosa said. 

The coach said the players worked through a lot to get here. 

"I know there's been a lot of tough moments, a lot of tears, a lot of difficult situations because of ‘X,’ of injuries, whatever it may be," the proud coach shared. "But to see them just, smiles on their faces, and you see it on some of the pictures… it’s just joy. And it's relief." 

Another thing noticed in the photos is the teams' superstitious tradition of wearing their hair in a bun. 

"Every time they put their hair like that, they always win," parent Leslie Guisti said. 

The coach said for him, the whole thing felt surreal, especially since two years ago, he had made it to the finals in Virginia with his 2010 ECNL girls team, but lost the title on penalty kicks. 

"To have gotten there two years later after the massive pain of losing, because you don't just feel for yourself, you feel for the kids and how much work they put in to get all the way to the end, and you lose, and that hurts, and it stayed with me forever," Sosa shared. 

So to be on the other side was a feeling that was overwhelming, joyful and hard to take in. 

"I was kinda like, ‘Did this just really happen, like, did we just win?’" he recalled thinking. "When it ended, I just couldn't believe it, and I'm going up to coaches, and I'm like, ‘We just won a national championship, what?’ And it was awesome to have some coaching friends there and some colleagues that were able to share that moment."

Sosa actually had two of his teams in Virginia this year, as his 2010 girls ECNL team returned to the National Finals, but lost in the first round against Southern California based-Legends Football Club, which won, 3-1.

Coach's third year with the '09s

The proud coach has been working with the champion 2009 team for the past three years. Sosa said the team has made it to the playoffs every year, but always fell short of getting to Virginia, until this year.

"Our team kinda started clicking, you know, both on a tactical piece and also just overall, as a team. We just came together and this really felt like our year to make it to Virginia," Sosa shared.

What made this elite group of athletes so exceptional and literally at the top of their game, the coach said, was their attitude and their belief in themselves and their teammates. 

"When you have a team that believes in everybody else and the coach, I think, it all comes together," Sosa shared. "And with belief, their natural talent was always going to shine."

That belief not only elevated the player, but ultimately elevated the entire team as they played unselfishly and as a cohesive unit. 

"I think that's what set this team apart," Sosa said. "They believed, and not a single one of them thought they were better than anybody else. In fact, they were playing for each other, and they are also a very, very tight team, which helps, and chemistry, right?" 

The coach said, at this level, there are a lot of extremely talented athletes, but getting to that next championship stage takes more than just skill, and the girls' desire to win made him an even better coach. 

"I think the fact that these kids bought in 100% was the difference maker," he said. "They are to blame for their success, meaning they believed and they wanted it, you know, more than anybody. And they believed in anything I asked of them, whether it was a practice before game, after game, halftime and that, as a coach, just makes you even hungrier to wanna teach more. So it was pretty exciting."

Turning point 

Sosa said the team had some evolving and adjustments to make to get to the pinnacle. He recounted a turning point, about a year ago, during a playoff series in Seattle. 

"Our first game, which was our first group game, we lost five-nothing against that year's champions, San Diego Surf. That moment was incredibly tough because not only were we slated to be one of the top teams, we came out and didn't even get out of group. So at the end of that playoff run was a bit of a wake-up call for myself and for the girls," the coach recounted.

So at the start of the next season, Sosa said he sat down with the team and had a tough talk and heart to heart. 

"A lot of it wasn't about the soccer. It was about the belief, it was about the trust, it was about the cohesion, it was about the communication piece with each other. I'll never forget that conversation that we had," he said, "about what it means to be a nationally contending team. It's not just about being good soccer players, 'cause they are that. It's so much more," the coach shared.

He admitted he didn’t sugar coat anything and asked for their full commitment as teammates.

"I did give them some ultimatums," the couch explained. "I said, ‘Look, if you're not bought in, if that's not what you wanna do, be about, you won't be part of this team. That's not what we want here. Doesn't matter how talented you are. We want people who are good people and good teammates.’"

And the team listened and took it both to heart and onto the field.

Sosa said the girls were mature enough to digest the message and turn it into results. 

"That is the toughest moment that jumps out, and also made us, I think, the strongest that we are now," the coach said. 

Last game with the team 

The championship win was extra poignant because it also happened to be the final time Sosa would be coaching the '09s. A new head coach will take over the team next season.

"I will forever have a bond with these guys," the 34-year-old coach said. "I think we'll always remember this with each other. I've received a ton of love from the girls just saying they're gonna miss me. So for me, it's super bitter more than sweet, of course, because this is our last game."

And he and the team couldn't have asked for a better ending to their run together.

"I was glad that we went all the way, and we won it, and we could say, I can say, I left on top and I know they'll continue to kill it, but it was so surreal, just so surreal," Sosa shared. 

He said this group of players was certainly one of the best he’s led during his nearly 14 years coaching, all with MVLA, and he had no doubt that they would continue performing at the top of their game.

And to these champions, he had this message: "My final message to them is continue having that trust in each other and in your coaches and take it on to your everyday life as well, because I say this all the time, 'It's not just about being great soccer players, it is about being good people and good humans,'" he said. 



Sosa said their championship spirit will be evident not only in their future on the field but in their personal lives.

"All of these girls, I can assure you, they are all incredible human beings, and they're gonna go on to do incredible things in life outside of soccer," the winning coach said. "I would just say, continue to have that respect, those values, that believe in each other and that ability to move on from tough moments, because it's what's made them great."