Sporting Wichita 14U boys soccer team wins Kansas State Cup, ECNL titles
A Wichita youth soccer team is making its mark around the country this summer.
The Sporting Wichita 2011 boys soccer team is in the midst of a championship streak after claiming the Kansas State Cup in the 14-under division earlier this month and then winning an ECNL Regional League title this past weekend.
Those victories qualify the team, which is comprised entirely of Wichita-area players about to enter high school, to two top-tier tournaments: the U.S. Youth Soccer Midwest Regional Championship in the Kansas City area from June 20-25 and the ECNL Regional League Final in Richmond, Virginia from July 11-14.
Sporting Wichita Academy is fundraising for the team to help cover travel expenses to compete in the national tournament.
“A lot of our kids have never played outside of Kansas, so to be able to travel around the country and represent Wichita is really amazing,” coach Tommy Fiszel said. “Wichita is a smaller market than a lot of these teams that they’re beating, so these kids are showing that players from Wichita can compete with everybody else. To be able to compete against teams from all over the country, these are going to be memories that they’re going to remember the rest of their lives.”
This club season has been a redemption tour for the team, which reached the final in multiple tournaments last year but never won a title. The team retained the majority of its players from last season and has changed its fortune in finals in a dramatic way this summer, as Sporting Wichita has won everywhere it has gone — and done it in the same tournaments it played in last season.
No victory was more sweet than a 1-0 victory over Toca FC in the championship game at Kansas State Cup. It came against the same opponent that the team lost to in last year’s final, as Sporting Wichita solidified its spot as the best 14U team in the state.
That was followed up by an even more impressive showing in the ECNL Regional League tournament, as Sporting Wichita completed an unbeaten season and won the tournament championship with a 5-0 victory over a Chicago-area team that was ranked No. 55 nationally in the division.
In 28 ECNL contests, Sporting Wichita finished unbeaten with a 26-0-2 record and a plus-120 goal differential (131-11).
Team members and their high schools are: Michael Anozie (Central Christian Academy), Ian Campbell (Derby), Kellen Christians (Eisenhower), Brody Emes (Maize South), Russ Ferricher (Andover Central), Cruz Garcia (Derby), Bryant Garza (Maize South), Canyon Glanzer (Maize South), Jackson Kendrick (Derby), Alex Kramer (Andover Central), Paxton Marsh (Maize South), Jack Price (Maize), Kobe Raymond (Kapaun Mt. Carmel), Adijah Solomon (East), Abraham Soloria-Rojas (Newton), Ethan Tofteland (Trinity Academy) and Parker Vieyra (Maize South).
“As their coach, the most fun thing is just seeing how passionate they are about soccer and seeing their growth and development in the game,” Fiszel said. “Typically on a competitive, successful boys team, you’re going to have a lot of egos. But even though this group has so many great players, they are very humble and it’s just a great group of kids to coach. The parents are great and it’s like one big family with everybody having that team-first mentality.”
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