3rd national title in a row! Note in this article that the guys skip high school ball to play club year-round. That is another way for SC teams to reach that elusive Regional title and maybe go even further.
Local soccer player part of national record-breaking team
Patti Myers
The Desert Sun
August 2, 2006
PALM SPRINGS - For the third year in a row, Palm Springs' Stephen Marshall owns a national soccer title and for the first time in United States Youth Soccer history, his boys' Under-17 team also broke into the record books with back-to-back-to-back national championships.
A member of the Arsenal Football Club soccer team, Marshall's squad won its third consecutive national title last week in Des Moines, Iowa.
The feat has only been accomplished once, by an Under-18 girls team from Northern California in 1998, according to the usyouthsoccer.org Web site.
Marshall, who is entering his senior year at Desert Chapel High School, is part of a 19-member squad that will graduate only four players.
The majority of the team, which plays and practices out of Ontario and Irvine, has been together since entering high school. Most of the players skip their high school seasons to compete at club-level year-round and the result has been nothing short of extraordinary.
"We have a lot of the same players from before and we're getting better and better," said Marshall, a 5-foot-10, 150-pounder who plays center back. "If you're going to get better, you've got to get out of the valley to play. When you do, it's a whole other level."
Marshall's teams have won state cup titles and other regional and national championships in the Northwest and in Florida. This year, they faced their stiffest competition among California teams, but emerged in the end in overtime to advance to regionals. At Boise, Idaho, Arsenal had to contend with missing the four seniors due to graduation ceremonies, then having to face the host team in the final.
"They brought their whole city," Marshall said. "They had it on the TV news and it was a very intense game. We won in overtime."
Following the regional victory, Marshall said the team started clicking with everyone back on the roster.
"We really got into a rhythm then," he said. "But the heat and humidity was an obstacle. We're used to the heat, but not the humidity and the wet fields."
In the championship round, Arsenal tied in its opener against Dallas Solar 89 SC, beat Bethesda, Md., 4-1 in the second game and topped St. Louis, Mo., 3-0 in the third match. They faced Dallas Solar 89 SC in the finals for the third year in a row and took the title again, 3-1.
