Alexandria Soccer Association’s (ASA) U15 Boys Futsal ID team was crowned US Futsal National Champions Sunday evening. The USFF National tournament, held in San Jose, California began last Thursday with group stage games. ASA’s team won all three of its tightly contested group stage games to advance to the semifinals on Sunday morning.
The team won its semifinal game 3–2 against a challenging Futsal Without Borders team from Silicon Valley, California. The semifinal win advanced the U15 Boys to the National Championship game against Knowens-Pearson. At the end of regulation time the game was tied 5–5, forcing overtime. Alexandria scored early in the extra period to take a 6–5 lead and hold on for the win.
ASA’s journey to the National Championship began last November. The team secured their spot at rp National Tournament after winning the Northeast Regional Finals, held in New Jersey, in February. “This has been an unbelievable journey. Our boys worked so hard leading up to the tournament. They learned new concepts and became a disciplined team,” said head coach Will Hanna.
The support of the Alexandria community throughout this journey was unmatched. The ASA family and the community provided fundraising support to make this trip possible for the boys. The team is sponsored by Onelife Fitness, who provided practice space as well as uniforms for the team.
The futsal team is coached by Will Hanna, assisted by Peja Radivojevic and managed by Drew Dietrich. ASA’s Futsal program director is Chris Arnold. The roster of eight play in ASA’s Academy program as well as the Futsal ID program. The players are Jairo Guevara (TC Williams High School), Andrew Dietrich (Yorktown High School), Sam Thompson (Shady Grove Middle School), Matthew Castillo (TC Williams High School), Thanos Androus (Episcopal High School), Jose Alvarado (TC Williams High School), Dylan Albarracin (Falls Church High School) and Alex Temoshok (Washington-Lee High School).
