USL Feature
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Daytona Beach, Fla. - Upon the conclusion of the Major Beach Soccer’s kickoff event for 2011 this past weekend in Daytona Beach, two teams had secured their place at the MBS National Finals in Clearwater, Florida. The Dirty Sand and Lakeland United qualified for the finals by winning their respective open divisions on Sunday afternoon. The MBS Championship event will be held December 17-18 on scenic Clearwater beach.
The Dirty Sand were crowned the men’s open champions and celebrated their exciting victory on Sunday afternoon at the stadium complex.
“I had a great time, we played on these great facilities… it turned out great and I really enjoyed it,” Stewart McCroy said.
Daytona Beach was McCroy’s first beach soccer experience. Playing goalkeeper for the Dirty Sand, he was surprised at how difficult it was to read bounces and keep the ball out of the net. However, he adjusted to the surface and kept the opposition at bay.
McCroy was also used as an outlet that transitioned defense into attack. The Dirty Sand defenders would pass McCroy the ball once pressure was applied from opposing forwards, and then McCroy would throw the ball to attackers and create scoring opportunities. This transition game utilized the Dirty Sand goalkeeper to the fullest and played a big part in the championship game.
McCroy and the Dirty Sand now move onto the MBS National Championships, where they look to be competitive against other MBS men’s open qualifiers. It’s an exciting opportunity for the goalkeeper, who is thrilled his team is among the best beach soccer teams in the country.
“It’s awesome, to be the champions of beach soccer could be unreal,” McCroy said.
Lakeland United topped the women’s division and claimed their spot in Clearwater. After seven tournament appearances, Lakeland United can now celebrate their qualification to the National Championships.
“It feels awesome, I hope we represent,” Coach Mindy Diamond said.
Coaching Lakeland United all the way to the finals in Clearwater is an incredible achievement. However win or lose, Diamond claims she would have been happy.
“My other team didn’t win a game and we still had a great time,” Diamond said.
After a weekend of beach soccer action that saw over 75 teams battle for two spots in Clearwater, only The Dirty Sand and Lakeland United were left standing. Many highly competitive teams took part in the tournament and others that were content to kick around and soak up the Florida sunshine. There also was an international team on hand.
Team Energie competed in the 18 and Over women’s division and qualified for the knockout rounds before bowing out of the competition. The remarkable run ended came to an end for the team that travelled more than 1,500 miles from Quebec, Canada to compete in this year’s Daytona MBS event.
Andre-Anne Trudel and Team Energie have played club soccer in Canada for several years and decided to try something different. After searching the web for tournaments, Trudel and eight teammates decided on playing at the Daytona MBS event, despite not having any beach soccer experience.
“After searching on the internet for something exotic to play soccer, we found this tournament and decided,” Trudel said.
Due to work and school, the rest of Team Energie’s club team couldn’t make the trip, but Trudel said playing in future MBS tournaments is a possibility, despite the distance from Quebec to Daytona Beach.
“ We expect the Clearwater Beach Qualifying Event to be the biggest of the three tournaments and foresee some great competition in the Men’s and Women’s Open Divisions, where the champion qualifies directly for the USL Major Beach Soccer National Championship 2011 in December,” USL Director of Beach Soccer, Eddie Loewen said.