WATSONVILLE — The United States men’s national soccer team was not able to represent their country in the recent FIFA World Cup, let alone play in Saturday’s championship match.
But a local group of girls did have the opportunity to represent the U.S. in an international tournament, and they had a championship match scheduled on Saturday, too.
The Pajaro Valley United U15 soccer team flew across the world into Barcelona and won its division of the international IberCup on Saturday.
Playing in a group with four high-level teams from Portugal, United won all four of its pool play matches, edged Clube Futebol Benfica in the semifinals and routed GD Estoril Praia in the championship.
Shayna Grace Lebovitz, Jaden Hui-Chun Moore and Maria Guadalupe Ramirez Ayala all scored in United’s 3-0 victory in the championship match.
Gisselle Vasquez, a stud on the Aptos High varsity team as a freshman last winter, made a pair of assists.
Coach Luis Guerrero, who has led the team since the players were 9, said the girls were a bit surprised of how well they did overall. They had a 10-2 goal differential through pool play and had only one elimination match, the 2-1 semifinal win against Benfica, come down to the wire.
To say the team, which is a member of the National Premier League and ranked No. 6 in Northern California, flexed its muscle, would be putting it lightly.
“One of the girls told me, ‘coach, I thought that these teams were going to be much harder,’” Guerrero said. “I said, ‘did you ever think about how well you guys are playing?’…They’ve been working together for a long time, they should have faith in themselves.”
The success was the culmination of a little more than half a decade of work on the field. The trip was the product of roughly two years of fundraising. The total cost to send the team, which was made up of girls from as far north as Milpitas to as far south as Monterey, was close to $50,000.
A steep price tag, team manager Liz Barajas admitted, but an invaluable life experience.
“The best part of the trip was them living that experience of winning and of them being proud of their country,” Barajas said. “I had taken my U.S. flag, but I hadn’t taken it out until the final. They were proud. Seeing their faces, they felt really passionate.”
Being the lone team from the U.S., United received a mix reaction from the other four teams in its division. The majority of teams tested their physical and mental strength with sharp hip checks or some smack talk in Portuguese from time to time. But one team, Gcdan Tabuadelo, made the United players feel like Carli Lloyd, Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe. The Portuguese team asked for photos with the United players and Guerrero also gave Tabuadelo a jersey autographed by every player on the team. They also showed up to Saturday’s final and cheered them on to victory.
“It was a really cool life changing experience,” said defender Chantal Aguirre, an incoming sophomore at Aptos and, like Vasquez, a star for the Mariners last winter. “It was nice meeting the new players and teams, seeing the city and playing soccer. It was a beautiful place.”
United flew out July 8, landed late July 9 and was in action a day later. There wasn’t much down time between matches, but the team still managed to soak in the beauty of the historic Spanish city and the surrounding towns. Along with spending time in Barcelona, they visited Girona, famous for its stunning architecture and one of the most recognizable “Game of Thrones” filming locations, and the quaint beach town of Tossa de Mar.
The team also got a behind-the-scenes tour of FC Barcelona’s stadium, Camp Nou, and got to train with RCD Espanyol.
Several of the girls had never traveled outside of the country aside from an occasional trip to Mexico. Now, they all have plenty of material for their “What I did over the summer” essays when they return to school in a few weeks.
“We got to experience something new — something fun,” Vasquez said. “I usually don’t do anything like this during the summer. I usually do nothing during the summer.”
