U.S. Soccer announced today that Seattle Sounders midfielder and Arizona native Brad Evans, Mountain Pointe High School, has been added to the men’s national team training camp roster heading into games against Belgium and Germany on May 29 and June 2. Evans has tallied one goal and two assists in seven games this season, with both assists coming in last weekend’s 4-2 Sounders win against FC Dallas.

The U.S. women’s national team roster was also announced today, with Arizona natives Sydney Leroux, Horizon High School, and Julie Johnston, Dobson High School, both making the cut. The Boston Breaker’s forward Leroux is currently tied for the NWSL goalscoring lead with four goals in five games played. Johnston, a defender at Santa Clara, totaled eight goals, five assists and five clean sheets in 15 games last season. The women’s national team will play Canada on June 2.

The press releases for these announcements can be seen here and here.

If your club or team has a fundraiser please let us know and we will publish on the site and promote on the social media end, Please e-mail paul.burrows@aerialphotogroup.com if you would like some publicity for your fundraiser. Sereno fundraiser here.

Banat 98 girls fundraiser on May 28. Details here.

CCV Stars is raising money so they can make the journey to the Regional Championships in Hawaii.  Aloha to the boys and good luck from AZKicksit.  Below is information on how to help as well as information on the team.

97 Boys Black Fundraiser 2013 2014

CCV 97 Boys Black Team Profile May 2013

Saturday May 25 at 11:00 am in Bldg 4000 at CCV Peoria

• Support our STARS teams heading to battle in regional and national tournaments this summer

• Watch the Champions League Final (Super Bowl of Soccer) on huge screens

• Win an IPAD, gift cards and other prizes

• Join X Box tournaments

• Fun and games in and outside

Please register by using this link Soccer Champions

Read more in the attached flyer and follow us on facebook.com/CCVSTARS with updates and information

The guys also bring on Ron Gilmore who is the Director of Marketing and Communications for the Arizona Youth Soccer Association. He talks about the growth the AYSA has had over the past year, #1 in the nation and plans for the organization in the fall.

All that plus more Arizona soccer talk.

Listen and watch the show here. Yes it is a video!

Tucson, AZ (May 21, 2013) — Ask FC Tucson defender Travis Campbell about defending his forward and midfielders teammates and he’ll just shake his head and smile.

“Shoot, in practice it’s hard playing against (them),” Campbell said. “I can’t even imagine how it is in game situations for other center backs and other defenders.”

In short: it’s been hell.

In just three matches prior to tonight’s U.S. Open Cup tilt with the San Antonio Scorpions, FC Tucson has scored five goals (three goals in two PDL matches). Last season the club scored just three goals in its first three matches (all PDL). That increase may not seem like much, but talk to anyone from the team and they’ll tell you FC Tucson is a much more dangerous scoring threat than it was last season thanks to the addition of players like Ricardo Velazco, Saeed Robinson, Dakota Collins and David Clemens. (Velazco isn’t completely new to FC Tucson. He joined the club in the second half of last season, but only appeared in four matches).

“When you have forwards that don’t lose the ball, it allows everybody else to be better,” said FC Tucson Head Coach Rick Schantz.

That confidence on the ball has changed FC Tucson’s mentality on the pitch. Players Ricardo Velazco and Travis Campbell both said they believe the club’s mindset is more attack-oriented than it was last season, when it was a more counter-attacking team.

That resulted in a lot of tightly contested matches. During a nine-match stretch in the PDL season last year, FC Tucson scored just one goal eight times. Remarkably the club went 6-0-3 over that time. But FC Tucson went 3-3-1 the rest of the season, including a first-round playoff lost to Sounders U23.

Playing that many close matches eventually takes its toll on the defense. But Campbell, who helped anchor the back line last season, believes FC Tucson’s new arsenal of attackers will not only help the team in the win column, but also on the field.

“Scoring goals really takes off a lot of pressure,” Campbell said. “You feel a little more relaxed and you’re not stressed the entire time. … As a defender (those close games) really take a toll on your body because your stressed and you have to go full speed. Now if we’re scoring goals we can sit more relaxed, the other team might shut down, and the game slows down a little bit.”

Added Velazco: “It’s wonderful when you have players that you can combine with and you know that they can take on players as well. It makes it easier for me because (the defense) doesn’t have to worry so much about me and they have to worry about all the other players. That opens up more space for me.”

The club doesn’t expect things to be too relaxed when it heads into the brand new Toyota Field to play the San Antonio Scorpions at 7:30 p.m. CST on Tuesday night, but if FC Tucson is to pull off the upset, it will largely be in part because of it’s new dynamic attack. Schantz said that the Scorpions are very big and athletic, but he expects that his forwards will have a few chances during the match to get past the defenders and make runs.

FC Tucson will just have to take advantage of the limited opportunities. But, if confidence is part of the recipe of an upset, then FC Tucson has plenty of it.

“Get a win,” said Velazco when asked about the team’s mindset. “No matter what, just get a win. Pretty or ugly, make sure that we get the ‘W.’ ”

Mason is the player in the yellow penny

Mason had 33 goals and 14 assists this year and will be playing his collegiate career at the University of Washington.

“Mason can score, create assists and when he plays as a center back he will dominate games,” said Brian O’Donnell, Robertson’s club coach with Sereno SC. “He is a player that could move straight into MLS if he chose that path.”

USA Today article can be found at the following link: http://www.usatodayhss.com/article/arizona-boys-soccer-poy-mason-robertson

Here is the full press release from Gatorade

You may also remember Mason from his incredible goal he scored in the Arizona H.S. State Playoffs this past year.

Tucson, AZ (Saturday, May 18, 2013) — It took FC Tucson six PDL matches to score more than one goal in 2012. They did that in just its second match in 2013.

FC Tucson downed Southern California 3-1 on Saturday in front of a crowd of 747. The win gives FC Tucson (1-0-1) four points out of a possible six to begin the season.

“It was unbelievable,” said FC Tucson forward David Clemens “I’m grateful I got the chance to be in the lineup and the fans were unbelievable. It’s an awesome experience to be in front of all the fans. I mean the atmosphere is unbelievable there’s nothing else I could ask for.”

FC Tucson pressed the Seahorses (0-2-0) defense early and often, testing goalkeeper Cody Suppe for the first 20 minutes of the match. But the club finally broke through following a penalty called in the box after Eli Galbraith-Knapp drew a foul. Ricardo Velazco calmly stepped up to the spot of the ball and hit the back of the net on his penalty kick to give FC Tucson a 1-0 lead at the 21st minute.

Twenty minutes later, Clemens had arguably the highlight of the night despite not even scoring a goal. Clemens picked up the ball in the attacking right corner of the field. With two defenders between him and the 18-yard box, Clemens darted past the first defender’s left side with a sliver of space left between him and the endline.

Then he rushed past the second defender’s right side on his way into the 18-yard box.

And finally he took a quick shot that passed the goalkeeper only to slam against the crossbar.

Clemens had another chance moments later when Connor Brandt toe poked a slow-rolling pass to him into the box. The Virginia Tech product had to wait a little bit for the ball to reach him but he calmly shot the ball into the back of the net to give FC Tucson a 2-0 lead at the 44th minute.

“I felt that I could get another one,” Clemens said. “I kept plugging it in, and Connor played a great ball in and I just slipped it past the goalie.”

Southern California opened the second half on the attack, notching a shot on goal less than five minutes into the second frame. Then in the 49th minute, the Seahorses’ Zach Bautista cut the lead to one goal.

The game slowed down a bit after the goal and neither team could create any dangerous chances. Then Southern California’s Geoff Bowman earned a red card in the 83rd minute, which all but killed any chance for the Seahorses to tie the match.

Velazco iced the match with his 86th minute goal, which was his second of the match.

“It feels fantastic to finally score,” Velazco said. “It’s my first goal and I made one the second half (and) it feels great. The fans are great, I love them, everyone here is fantastic. I love everybody. I couldn’t be more happy.”

FC Tucson’s next match will be on Tuesday, May 21 in the second round of the U.S. Open Cup against the San Antonio Scorpions.

Goals

FCT: ’21, 9-Ricardo Velazco (PK), ’44, 23-David Clemens (11-Connor Brandt), ’86, 9-Ricardo Velazco (23-David Clemens)

SCS: ’49, 19-Zach Bautista (23-Dylan Martinez)

Starting Lineups

FCT: 0-Micheal D’Arrigo; 19-Tim Harbison, 21-Greg Carter, 3-Connor Spence (’38, 2-Mitch Garcia; ’68, 22-Kevin Gould), 6-Travis Campbell; 9-Ricardo Velasco, 11-Connor Brandt (’74, Conner Bevans), 17-Edgar Reyna, 13-Eli Galbraith-Knapp, 5-Saeed Robinson (’80, 15-Stephan Posa); 23-David Clemens

Coach: Rick Schantz

SCS: 1-Cody Suppe; 13-Seth Arriaga (’78, 8-Josh Kimball), 15-Brett Croft (’54, 17 Doug Armstrong), 21-Joao Couto, 22-Kelvin Fares (’85, 5-Adam Howard); 7-Josh Ayers (’68, 2-Josh Ault), 9-Marc Hope (‘80, 3-Abraham Santos), 12-Geoff Bowman, 19-Zach Bautista (’74, 18-Tony Montalvo); 11-Alex Anderson, 23-Dylan Martinez

Coach: Todd Elkins

Booked

FCT: ’33, 6-Travis Campbell

SoCal: ’79, 21-Joao Couto, ’90, 23-Dylan Martinez

Ejection

SoCal: ’82, 12-Geoff Bowman

Tucson, AZ (May 17, 2013) — Tuesday night’s 2-1 win over Phoenix FC in the U.S. Open Cup is still fresh in the minds of everyone at Kino Sports Complex North. There’s really no choice. Just a day after the historic win, FC Tucson staff was scrambling to plan its road trip to San Antonio for the second round of the tournament.

But while the second round of the U.S. Open Cup is on the minds of everyone, there is still a league match to be played on Saturday, May 18 against Southern California. And it’s the home opener for the PDL season.

“The confidence is sky high and I’m sure that they feel they can beat anybody,” said FC Tucson Head Coach Rick Schantz. “The difficult part is I hope they’re not overlooking this game and thinking about the U.S. Open Cup match (on May 21).”

Schantz said he’s stressed to his players that the club’s second round match doesn’t mean anything without a positive result on Saturday. A deep run in the U.S. Open Cup would be thrilling but without a top-two finish in league play, FC Tucson wouldn’t make it back to the U.S. Open Cup next season.

FC Tucson forward Ricardo Velasco acknowledged the excitement on the team for the U.S. Open Cup but said the team is still very focused its PDL home opener.

“Everybody’s really focused on the Seahorses,” Velasco said. “Of course everyone is looking forward to San Antonio but we can’t forget about our (PDL home opener) on Saturday.”

Added FC Tucson Captain Travis Campbell: “We have a big game in front of our home crowd. I think the guys are a little bit more focused and ready for this game.”

Last season FC Tucson won both of its matches against Southern California. The last time the Seahorses traveled to Tucson they lost 1-0 in the first PDL home match in FC Tucson’s history. In their second meeting, at Southern California, FC Tucson had its best scoring day ever, winning 4-2 in the last regular season weekend of the season.

Schantz said the staff doesn’t know as much about Southern California as they’d like. Because of a lack of game film and roster turnover, it’s difficult to fully know what FC Tucson will go up against. But Schantz believes the Seahorses will play a more defensive style and that FC Tucson will likely press a little bit more with their attack.

“We’re going to do the things that we do,” Schantz said. “We can only control what we can control and we’ll do the best that we can at it. We were very organized on our set plays; organized defensively (against Phoenix). And just like I told them before Tuesday night, if you leave everything on the field, you won’t be disappointed.”

FC Tucson opens its PDL home season against the Southern California Seahorses on Saturday, May 18 at the Kino Sports Complex North Grandstand. The match will kick off at approximately 7:30 p.m.

FC Tucson will also be hosting the first semifinal match of the Chapman’s Champions League at 5:15 p.m. The champions of the Menlo Park League and the Guanajuato Arizona Soccer League will be squaring off. The winner of the Men’s Chapman Tucson Champions League will play FC Tucson on Saturday, July 6.

To keep everyone updated on their trip, Senior Elinor Priest has been keeping a blog. Check it out below

Day 1
Day 2 – Play Barcelona!

Visit the NAU women’s soccer website for more updates

AZKicksit reached to to Sam for a little Q&A on what’s it like playing in Findland, how did she end up out there and best soccer experiences in the Grand Canyon State.

Follow her on Twitter here.

AZKicksit - What was your youth soccer experience like in Tucson?

Monahan - “My youth soccer experience was really great. I was extremely fortunate to have been surrounded by great coaches who really wanted to see the players succeed. It was always a competitive environment and we were always trying to be the best team in the state and competing at some of the top tournaments in the country. I was also lucky to have grown up on a team with some of my best friends. This made the experience more enjoyable. To this day comradely with players is one of my priorities.”

AZKicksit - You won three State Championships, what is you best memory from that?

Monahan - “Yes, we won three State championships with Catalina Foothills. It was a something that had never been done before in the programs history (of course now that’s changed ). I have to say the first time was the most special and probably my favorite memory. The previous year we were knocked out the first round of play. We wanted nothing more than to prove we were better then we had shown. We worked so hard the following year as a team and knew what we wanted to accomplish to win. The journey as a whole was my best memory that year. It truly was a great time. Of course, we were blessed with an incredible coach, Charlie Kendrick, who knew how to always motivate us to succeed.”

AZKicksit - Did anyone have a big influence on you as a player growing up?

Monahan - “I liked #9, Ronaldo from Brazil as a kid. My mom took me to Europe when I was younger and I remember he was the one everyone was talking about. It was interesting though because I really was not surrounded by much football playing on the television. It wasn’t until high school when I really started to follow the game. I have to mention though that growing up we use to combine training sessions with some of the boys teams. I remember some of the guys on those teams were always so fun to watch. I remember I would try and do things the way they did and wanted to be as good as they were. I think having the influence of the boy’s teams was extremely important to my play. I could see a different, creative side that you didn’t necessarily see on the women’s side.”

AZKickisit - How did you choose NAU?

Monahan - “I choose NAU because they really showed an interest and made it very apparent that they wanted me to play for them. From there, it all just fell into place. They had been watching me in high school, but it was when I attended their summer camp that helped me make my decision. Going to a smaller school was also appealing since it seemed professors could be more personal with you in the classrooms with less students. Flagstaff just seemed like a great little town and a great environment for college students. Also I was able to do another passion of mine, which was snow boarding .

AZKicksit - You had a successful career at NAU, when did you think or realize you could go pro?

Monahan - “I always thought after college I would continue playing. I knew about the league, WPS, at the time was an option for me as long as I could get a try out. I ended up getting a try out with Philadelphia and was invited back to the final combine. Unfortunately, before I could make my return, it was announced that the WPS would no longer be a league. From there, I had to start thinking of alternatives and playing in Europe seemed to be the best option and something that I really wanted to experience.”

AZKicksit - How did you end up in Finland?

Monahan - “I ended up in Finland because my college coach, Andre Luciano, had a friend who was working on the men’s side in aDdivision II club in a small town called Tammisaari. They had a women’s team and even though I had no idea what to expect, I thought I would go and see what it was all about. I think playing for EIF was a great experience and was a good way to learn about the different football divisions and what I was personally looking to play at. After my season with EIF, I was able to get in touch with FC Honka, who I watched play during that summer. I thought playing in the league in Finland would be a great fit for me. After I ended my season with EIF, I came back to states and remained in touch with FC Honka. Waiting to find out if I had a contract with the team and the language barrier was difficult. It was the first time this team was considering an American player.”

AZKIcksit - Over the year Male soccer players have mentioned that people look down on their skill, however with the success of the USWNT was the reception any different for you?

Monahan - “I think its great that American women football players have such a great reputation in the sport. Obviously the USWNT have had much success and with such a large population to choose from in the states we are bound to continue producing great talent. I think being the only American on the team there is a certain expectation because of all the success of the US team. I am not really sure, but at the end of the day wherever you come from, the important thing is that you are doing your best and playing good football. I came here because I wanted to make an impact on this team and to prove to myself I can compete at this level. I think the beauty of it all is when different players come together, you take what each other has learned and you learn from one another. We all bring something different to the game and there is always room for learning and growing as individual athletes.”

AZKicksit - Season is going well for you so far has anything surprised you that is different or unique about the European game?

Monahan - “Yes, it is different then the game in the states. It seems in the states, the game is more focused on your strength, speed and power. I have noticed we do work on these things, but the focus is mostly on the playing itself. Overall it seems the European game is much more possession and tactically oriented. Just being in Europe, you are exposed to more football in general. Finland is still new to football as well. Even though people seem to watch the game, I was surprised that more do not follow the Finnish leagues, both men and women. It seems in Finland the sport of choice is Hockey, but it’s a growing process for football. The same can be said about women’s football in the states. Even with their notoriety they continue to struggle with their exposure, but with the new league starting this should improve for future teams.

AZKicksit - Sam, thank you so much for the time.

Monahan - “Thanks.”

“With our record in the past few years of recruiting young men from ICC and their awesome experiences in our program, it has helped us land both Courage and Victor onto our team,” said Draksin.

Chirandu and Cardoso join five other student-athletes as new additions to the team. Earlier this month they announced the signing on two Phoenix based players and one player from RSL Academy. Two other players signed in February; one local and another from RSL Academy.

Chirandu, a central midfielder, was a 2012 Mid-West Athletic Conference All-Region First Team, M-WAC All-Conference First Team, and Athletic Director’s Honor List selection in his final season with the Cougars. During his freshman campaign, he garnered 2011-12 Men’s Soccer M-WAC Conference All-Academic Team, Dean’s List, and M-WAC All-Region Team accolades, while also serving as part of the Illinois Central College men’s soccer team that was named NJCAA Academic Team of the Year.

Chirandu represented Zimbabwe at the Copa-Coca Cola Schools Tournament in South Africa in 2009 and was a member of the Harare Provincial Soccer Team that same year. Originally from Chitungwiza, Chirandu attended Churchill School.

“Courage is a young student athlete that I have confidence that most people on this campus will be drawn to,” said Draksin. “He is an awesome athlete and student and highly committed to his spiritual life. On the field, his resume speaks for itself. Courage will play in the midfield. His natural position is holding midfield where our captain Alex Connally played for the last two years. So we are looking for Courage to step in and assume that role. He has also had stints with the Zimbabwe National Team, and brings great experience to our program.”

Cardoso, a midfielder/forward, is originally from Sao Paulo, Brazil where he attended Colegio Amorim-Tataupe. During his freshman season with the Cougars, he was named M-WAC All-Conference and All-Region Honorable Mention after scoring eight goals and collecting four assists to finish with 20 total points, second-most on the team.

Cardoso earned M-WAC All-Conference and All-Region First Team honors for his efforts during his sophomore season in 2012. He had 16 goals and five assists to finish with 37 total points, and was ranked in the top-20 nationally for goals and points. Cardoso also helped guide the team to a fifth-place finish at the national championships.

“Victor is another ICC player that we are very fortunate to land,” Draksin added. “He is an incredibly technical player, and has a nose for scoring goals. Victor has the frame of a Division I athlete. He is also highly committed to his studies. I am very excited to land Victor into the future of our program going Division I, and we are looking for Victor to step into a role of playing forward or midfield.”

“Again, we welcome with open arms these two young men continuing the trail of past recruiting from ICC.”