SANTA CRUZ, CA – The Santa Cruz County Breakers have seen adversity. The Breakers were enjoying a very successful 2005 U13 campaign – they had whittled the rest of North America down to one final opponent. Then the final began.

 

Santa Cruz woke up on the wrong end of a 6-0 loss in the 2005 North American Finals.

 

“I think what happened was we paid too much attention to the semifinal,” said Santa Cruz County Breaker Assistant Coach Kevin McCloskey. “We were so prepared for the number one ranked team in the country at the time – the Chicago Magic. We beat them 1-0 and just overlooked the final.”

 

Twelve months later the Breakers return to the 2006 North American Finals as one of the favorites in the U14 Boys Division. They are one year older, battle-tested, and will not overlook anyone.

 

“It has been our goal to get back to the Super Y-League Finals,” said McCloskey. “It was a much tougher league this season. We actually did not think we were going to make it until we won a crucial game over Santa Rosa United very late in the season.”

 

The Breakers ended their season riding a five game win streak which included the upset over then undefeated Santa Rosa United. The win exploded a logjam at the top of the U14 Northern California Division. They finished: De Anza SC 21 points, Santa Cruz County Breakers 20 points, Cal Odyssey 19 points, and Santa Rosa 18 points.

 

“We were hoping so much to return to the finals,” said McCloskey. “The boys had an incredible time last year. It was a very positive learning experience.”

 

“We have a pretty diverse team,” added McCloskey. “We like to build from the back into our ball procession attack. Our team does not really have any stars – if I had to name one it would be our goalkeeper Cesar Rocha.”

 

Rocha was recently selected for the Super Y-League ODP camps being held at the Cocoa Expo Center in Cocoa, Florida in January and February.

 

“Rocha is a great student,” said McCloskey. “A real coach’s dream. He has great size and an incredible arm spam on top of that. His ability surprises me because he has only been playing soccer at this level for a few years. His punting ability is astounding, it’s Division I college level.”