Santee Waldos Bring Home National Games Title

The Santee Waldos are on top of the world. The Boys under-16 AYSO soccer team brought home the title in the AYSO National Games tournament held July 10-14 in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Having done car washes, rummage sales and other fund-raisers to offset expenses, the Waldos were ready for action when the games finally began. The Waldos opened pool play with a 6-0 win over the local Honolulu team. After losing to Salt Lake City, 3-1, in game two, the Waldos were not going to be stopped. They rolled through the rest of their pool games, defeating Ventura, CA, 5-0; West Oahu, 4-0 and Lowville, NY, 3-0.

In the quarter-final match, the Waldos scored twice in the last 5 minutes of play to defeat Palo Alto, CA, 2-1. In the semi-finals, they defeated Hilo, HI, again coming from behind to win 2-1; and in the championship match, the Waldos defeated a tough squad from West Kauai, HI, 2-1. In all, the Waldos outscored their opponents 25-6. They finished the tournament with a record of 7-1-0.

It was a lot of work to get there and a lot more work to win the title. The team worked very hard in each game and had only one goal: the title of National Champions!! The were very focused and very determined. They proved to everyone at the games that they were the team to beat.

The Waldos have been playing together since 1996 and have been very successful over the years. The National Games team consists of: Shane Hanson, Eric Hughes, Anthony Perna, Andrew Budde, Even Wharton, Daniel Krawczak, Bradley Reese, Anthony Fortini, Ryan Bartholomew, Jose Martinez, Daniel Hurley, Justin Erholtz and Adam Richardson. The coaches are Mike Usher and Steve Fortini.

We also want to recognize the U19G Cyclones who finished 4th and the U19B "Santee" team that finished 3rd in pool play. Congratulations and thanks for representing Santee so well.