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WYSA ‘06 girls earn direct trip back to USYS National Championship Series



WYSA ’06 Explosion players jump for joy Tuesday morning after defeating DKSC Hart FDL from Texas 2-1 in the final game of the National League P.R.O. event at Bryan Park in Browns Summit. The win qualified the Explosion for a return trip to the US Youth Soccer National Championship Series in Florida this summer. Andy McMurray | Special to the Times

BROWNS SUMMIT — The Wilson Youth Soccer Association ‘06 Explosion made club history last summer by winning the U.S. Youth Soccer Region III U16 Girls championship in Tennessee, but that’s an experience nobody on the team was hoping to repeat Tuesday morning.

Thanks to WYSA’s 2-1 win over D’feeters Kicks Soccer Club Hart FDL from the North Texas Youth Soccer Association in the final game of the National League P.R.O. U17 Girls event played at Truist Soccer Complex at Bryan Park, the Explosion won’t have to play in the Southern Regionals this summer. Instead, WYSA clinched a spot in the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championship Series that will be played in July at Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando, Florida. The Explosion, which had already qualified for the Region III championships by winning their National League Piedmont Conference last fall, will finish either first or second in the Bracket E standings, good for a ticket to the National Championship Series.



“They took on a new challenge and the new challenge was, can we finish in the top two?” said Explosion head coach Randol Mendoza. “We didn’t do that last year, so to come in, in year 3 and now say, ‘Hey, we want to be in the top two. We want to be in consideration for a top two spot in the N.L. P.R.O. second year.’

“And we showed it.”

WYSA ’06 Explosion’s Jahniyah Augustus kicks the ball during Tuesday’s match against DKSC Hart FDL in the National League P.R.O series at Bryan Park in Browns Summit. Andy McMurray | Special to the Times

It didn’t come without adding a few premature gray hairs to Mendoza’s head though. Wilson finished the National League P.R.O. series 5-0-2, including three games in Orlando in December, but needed to win Tuesday since DKSC Hart FDL was ahead in the standings with 15 points to 14 for Wilson. RUSA FC Gold, which was in first place with 16 points, had already secured one NCS berth so the only way to avoid going to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in June for the Southern Regionals was to win.

After a scoreless first half, Wilson grabbed the lead in the 60th minute. Kate Conoley’s corner kick was mishandled by the DKSC goalkeeper and Jahniyah Augustus one-touched it off the bounce into the net.

Within a few minutes, however, DKSC answered.

“They scored the way we predicted they were going to score,” Mendoza said.

The North Texas club sent a long ball deep down the middle that got over the heads of center backs Eva Fatzaun and Karys Wheeler and ended up at the feet of a DKSC forward, who sent it into the goal for the equalizer.

But the game was far from over.

WYSA ’06 Explosion’s Maddie Brown watches the ball travel after she kicked it downfield during Tuesday’s match against DKSC Hart FDL in the final round of matches of the National League P.R.O. U17 Girls series at Bryan Park in Browns Summit. Andy McMurray | Special to the Times

Wilson had a goal disallowed in the first half when forward Mariah Polk was called for offsides after finishing a cross from teammate Rebekah Ochoa in the first 15 minutes. In the 70th minute, Polk got it back by beating one defender before dribbling past another and sending a left-footed cross to Maddie Brown, who finished from about 8 yards.

With Mendoza nervously watching the clock work its way down, disaster nearly struck when WYSA was whistled for a foul in the box with nine minutes left, setting up a DKSC penalty kick. That would have tied the score again, which would have been enough to send DKSC to the National Championship Series.

“I remember thinking we’re going to lose because if we tie, we were out of it,” Mendoza said. “I remember my heart dropping because if we tied that game, they would have went through.”

Instead, the PK hit the post and the DKSC fired another shot that went over the goal completely, but it wouldn’t have mattered since WYSA goalkeeper Darby Wallig didn’t touch the ball, the ball went to the Explosion.

Having dodged a bullet heading to Baton Rouge, WYSA held on for the 2-1 win, the same margin of victory the Explosion had over another DKSC team with many of the same players at the 2022 Region III semifinals. Wilson could even end up as the Bracket E champion, depending on the outcome of RUSA FC Gold’s final match against fellow New Jersey team The Football Academy NJ Black on April 16 in Glassboro, New Jersey. RUSA (5-0-1) tied WYSA 1-1 in the first game at Bryan Park on Thursday but defeated the Explosion in the NCS last summer.

A trio of DKSC Hart FDL players surround WYSA ’06 Explosion’s Isabella Daza as she dribbles the ball during Tuesday’s U17 Girls match in the National League P.R.O. series at Bryan Park in Browns Summit. Andy McMurray | Special to the Times

“To come out and play against a nationally ninth-ranked team in RUSA and to come out of there with a tie, when we felt like we could have won that game if things would have just worked in our favor slightly,” Mendoza said. “And now to play DKSC, another nationally ranked, regionally ranked opponent. We just knew that it was going to be a task, but attainable nonetheless.”

Attainable because the Explosion was confident in its defense in front of Wallig, who had five saves Tuesday, that also includes outside backs Augustus and Sidney Schwartz and center backs Wheeler and Fatzaun. But also because Wilson players have become wizards at possessing the ball, moving it quickly around.

Defense, Mendoza explained, has been the cornerstone of the ‘06 Explosion since he and assistant coach Eric O’Brien took over three years ago.

“We’ve always been that way ever since the first Piedmont Conference season that I coached them,” Mendoza said. “We only gave up like four goals in that first conference season for me. So it’s something that’s always been at the heart and the backbone of this team.”

Mendoza explained that with the Explosion’s adept passing and dribbling skills, limiting the opponents’ opportunities to shoot becomes more of a focus.

“So now having that and with our style of play — we’re keeping the ball for longer periods of time than any opponent that we face — it becomes a problem for anybody to play against us because they’re not used to playing against a team that hardly shared the ball with them,” he said. “So now they spend too much time and energy chasing us that, by the time they get the ball, they’re too worn out by that point. They’re making bad decisions. So combining the defensive side of this team now with the style of play that we have here, we’re causing problems for any nationally ranked opponent right now.”