Va. State Cup: SOCA Lightning Elite take U-16 Boys championship

By Jimmy LaRoue

Midlothian, Va. – Before Sunday, just one Soccer Organization of Charlottesville-Albemarle team had won a Virginia State Cup title.

After SOCA Lightning Elite’s 1-0 overtime win over Loudoun 95B Red in the Under-16 Boys final at SportsQuest, it’s now two.

“We’ve worked hard all year,” said Lightning Elite assistant coach Rick Natale. “We made it to the semifinals last year and got beat, so we set it as a goal to get to the finals, and then they just took care of business. It was a great match. Loudoun’s a great team.”

Natale and head coach Cory Griener coached the only other SOCA team to win a State Cup title, three years ago.

With the State Cup semifinals and finals being delayed by a week and moved from Virginia Beach to the artificial-turf surfaces of SportsQuest due to weather, Natale said it actually helped SOCA Lightning Elite, as they had practiced on similar turf in Charlottesville for the past three weeks. He said it played to the team’s strengths.

The two teams played a scoreless regulation, and SOCA’s Kevin Salazar scored in the first minute of overtime, with the Charlottesville side holding on for the next 29 minutes to secure the title.

SOCA’s Jake Lee held off a defender and made a “great turn,” Natale said, with Salazar making a run in the box and taking Lee’s pass and putting in the net.

“It was just great combination play by those guys up top,” Natale said. “Their defenders were tough. We had a hard time getting in.”

Loudoun 95B Red’s Collin Ferfurth nearly tied it on the last play in overtime, but his header, coming off a corner kick, smacked off the crossbar. SOCA’s goalkeeper then punched the ball to safety, and the game ended before Loudoun could get off another corner.

Natale said the key was the team’s defending.

“Our defense was outstanding [and] our goalkeeper did a great job when he had to,” he noted. “The first half, they were at us a little bit. In the second half, our defense really settled down. I thought we controlled the second half. To score in the first minute of overtime and then hang on for 29 minutes, it’s your team defense. Everyone was helping out.”

Though he offered praise for the entire team, Natale said goalkeeper Matt Natale, center back Michael Nafzinger and attacking midfielder Forrest White were keys for the team, as well as Musa Mohamed, a speedy striker “who just surprises teams.”

While Natale said SOCA and the Charlottesville area doesn’t have the reputation of more prominent clubs and youth soccer cultures around the state, it’s getting stronger, drawing upon the influence of the top men's and women's NCAA programs at the University of Virginia.

“We’re a club that really believes in player development,” he said. “We play in the Virginia Club Champions League, which in my opinion is one of the top travel leagues in Virginia, so that kind of competition prepares you for something like this.”

Natale said they’re hoping for more chances for State Cup titles with the current group of players.

“We play soccer in Charlottesville,” Natale said. “We play good soccer.”