Girls U14 Black Reach the Kalamazoo Invitiational Finals

In the first game as a new team, they played against the Jaier elite team and won 5-1.  In the 3 games leading up to the final match, the girls racked up 16 goals and only 2 against.  In the finals they lost to the premier Hoosier team 4-1 and were the only team to score on Hoosiers in the tournament


Neither Rain Nor Snow Nor Gloom of Night...

The Girls U9 Gold team found themselves playing in unusual weather as the fog moved in at the Kingdom Invitational in Kalamazoo over Labor Day Weekend.  (Click on photo for a larger version.)

Boys U8 Knights Win Kalamazoo Invitational

Boys U8 Knights played in the Kingdom Challenge in Kalamazoo over Labor Day week-end, and won all 4 games.  They won their championship game against Ole 5-3. 


Girls U9 Gold Wins Kalamazoo Invitational

The Girls U9 Gold team played in the Kingdom Challenge.  On Saturday, they won their first game 14-0 against Ole SC, and their second game 11-0 against Pennfield SC.  On Sunday, they tied a Kingdom team 1-1 to get into the finals.  The championship game followed their last pool game by 45 minutes, with temperatures close to 90, making for challenging conditions.  Playing another Kingdom team, they were tied at the end of regulation play and through two overtime periods.  At the end of the second overtime, they scored on a free kick just outside the penalty area, to win the final 5-4.

The defense and goalkeepers (Madeline Becker and Emily Ashby) did an outstanding job. They only allowed 1 goal in the three pool games.  Overall it was not a bad effort for the first four games of 7 AYSO players, 1 YMCA player, and 2 rookie coaches!


Boys U9 Gold Wins Two Tournaments

The Boys U9 Gold team won their second tournament in two weeks.  First, they won the Troy Elite Aug. 22-23.  They were undefeated and beat Michigan Elite from Troy in the finals.  This past weekend, they played in the Kingdom Challenge Invitational in Kalamazoo, in the U10 division.  Again they were undefeated and went on to beat Ole U10 in the finals.

Pictured is Coach Kevin Conerty, Nolan Vandegrift, Cayd Vermaat, Eric Conerty, Juan Gonzalez, Coach Remco Bergsma, and in the front row Xaver Bergsma, Austin Wroblewski, Nate Stevens, Jared Ireland, Luke Gauthier and Caden Jackman. Way to go Boys!
 

Boys U12 Gold Wins MEAD Cup

The Boys U12 Gold team won the MEAD Cup on Labor Day Weekend, defeating teams from two other Crew Juniors clubs in Cincinnati along the way.


Girls U14 Gold MRL Team Reaches NSR Cup Finals

The Girls U14 Gold team reached the finals at the NSR Cup in Naperville over Labor Day, by tying Chicago Fire and Eclipse, and beating Team Chicago.  They also beat a highly ranked Chicago team 5-1 in the semis.  Congrats girls to a well deserved success!  


Girls U13 Silver Wins Kalamazoo Invitational

After losing their opening game on Saturday by 6-0 to Flying Kick, the Girls U13 Silver team came back on Sunday to beat two undefeated teams, and then went on to defeat Flying Kick 2-0 in the final game.

Girls U10 Gold Wins Michigan Challenge Cup

On August 15-17, 2008, the Girls U10 Gold team took to the field at the Michigan Challenge Cup and came away with 4 wins, 28 goals for, 2 goals against, and a championship. 


Other Summer Tournament News
Girls U10 Gunners played in the Kingdom Challenge.  They went 2-2, losing twice to the Kingdom U10 team.

Girls U11 Gold team played in a very unusual bracket at the Kingdom Challenge.  First Kingdom A beat Crew Juniors 6-2.  Crew Juniors beat the Hawks 2-0.  Then the Hawks pounded the Kingdom A by 4-0.  And then the Kingdom A beat Crew Juniors again 6-1.  And to end the week-end, Hawks beat Crew Juniors 3-2.

Girls U14 Black played in the Kingdom Challenge.  They easily made it through their backet to the final, where they lost 4-1.

Boys U13 Gold team ended up 2-1-1 on the weekend at the Kingdom Challenge.  They got off to a slow start in their first game, but once they got organized they played well in the following games.

Girls U12 Gold played in the WAZA Frendlies.  They bead Waza A by 4-0, beat Plymouth 2-0, and lost to the Vardar U13 team by 1-0.

In State Cup action, the Girls U14 Gold MRL team beat Bloomfield Force 4-2.  The Girls U17 Gold Premier team beat the Saginaw Impact 1-0.

 
Boys U9 Team Wins Kick It 3v3

The GR Crew Jrs U9 boys participated in the Kick It 3v3 this summer. First they headed to Detroit for the local tournament where they were the undefeated champions! They decided to try the Regional Tournament in Mossville, IL and were undefeated there also! The final game ended in a tie and after overtime, they went to PK's. The Crew Jr. scored all 3 PK's and the opponents (Dabrico 00 Boys) only scored 2 - making the Crew Jr. #1 in the region.  From here they can go to the Finals at Disney's Wide World of Sports which will be held in January 2009.

Pictured - Coaches Remco Bergsma and Kevin Conerty. Jamie Ireland (not pictured) was also one of the coaches.  Players are Caden Jackman, Juan Gonzalez, Eric Conerty, Luke Gauthier, and Jared Ireland.



Grand Rapids Crew Juniors U14 Premier Boys Team Finish West Michigan's First Ever National Champion Series "Final Four" Appearance 1-1-1 In Little Rock, Arkansas.

 
After a sluggish start and one bad half, according to the coaching staff, the team won their final game 3-0 against SCSA (North Carolina) via a hat trick from Jason Stacy. The two previous games were hard fought battles against the State Champs from New Jersey and California. A 1-2 loss in the first game where the Crew Juniors held a 26-10 shot advantage seemed to be the unfortunate outcome in the round robin play. The 0-0 tie vs. Arsenal (California) did not help as the team's destiny now laid in other hands. 

However a great showing from the first team ever from West Michigan to make it to the National Championship Series and a great tribute to local soccer in general and GVSA in particular for their continued support of good soccer development.  We are very proud here at Grand Rapids Crew Juniors to be the first club to present such a team from West Michigan and we congratulate the boys, their parents and the coaching staff for making us all proud of the Gold and Black colors.  

Follow the teams progress by clicking here.
Watch the latest National Championship Series video by clicking here. 



Grand Rapids Crew Juniors Dan Nederhoed Joining Columbus Crew Team at Major League Soccer's (MLS) SUM U17 Cup


GRCJ U17 MRL team defender and East Kentwood stand out Dan Nederhoed is currently in Colorado with Major League Soccer's Columbus Crew U-17 Team competing against 13 other MLS clubs at the Dick's Sporting Goods Park, home of the Colorado Rapids.

The 14 teams will compete in a round robin group phase, with the four group winners advancing to the semifinals. The champion will take home the coveted SUM U-17 Cup and earns the opportunity to participate in the 2009 Trofeo Quixote U-17 tournament in Madrid, Spain. The second place team will gain entry into the prestigious Super Group in the 2009 Dallas Cup youth tournament in Frisco, Texas. The losing semifinalists will participate in the Dallas Cup U-19 group. The tournament is being hosted at no cost to all participants as Soccer United Marketing covers the costs of player travel, accommodations and other tournament-related expenses.

Dan was selected by GRCJ's DOC and Technical Directors at the request of Columbus Crew. He has had an outstanding season for his club and high school team as a tenacious defender who can also be an offensive threat when he moves forward on the pitch. This 4th of July weekend and upcoming week is a chance for him to show of his abilities in front of many Division I and II college coaches and MLS organizations looking for "tomorrows stars". GRCJ is proud to provide opportunities like this to soccer players in West Michigan.

For more information on the MLS SUM U17 Cup please click here.

GRCJ U17 Premier Girls having fun in Grand Haven during the Soccer in the Sand Tournament


Some of the girls from the GRCJ U17 Girls Premier team spent a beautiful Saturday on the beach winning the inaugural Soccer in the Sand tournament in Grand Haven on June 28th. The tournament was the first of its kind in West Michigan and was a big success with more than 50 teams participating from the U8 age to adult.

The ladies are Allie Green, Holly Prouty, Savannah Swanson, Kinsey Bykerk, Amanda VanLaar, Kaitlin Teichman, Sara Hess, Michelle Marcus, and Sara Nagy and were competing in the girls high school age group.



Michigan State Cup Champions


The Grand Rapids Crew Juniors U14 Boys MRL Team wins State Cup by dominating Vardar in the final. They had something to prove after last years loss in the cup final and they most certainly did with a 4-0 win. This team went through the Quarter/Semi and Final games winning 5-0, 4-0 and 4-0 respectively. It is arguably one of the best teams to ever come out of West Michigan and could be a contender for the national title, played later this summer. Congratulations to the boys and the coaching staff!

Fox 17 News coverage of the final and interviews with the team can be viewed by clicking here.

For the full press release, click here.


         
         Jason Stacy                                     Chase Rau

Jason Stacy was selected MVP of the 2008 State Cup, while Chase Rau was the "Outstanding Keeper" of 2008 State Cup.