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As spring play gets underway in our area, indoor play has just wrapped up its busiest season since inception of play at The Summit Athletic Club.
Summit Director of Soccer Mike Alianiello had 122 league teams in its second session, which recently ended. That included play with u-8's to over-30's age groups.
Teams came from a wide area with teams even coming up from State College to take part.
"The cost of our league play is very reasonable", Alianiello said.
With competition being very strong, players came from everywhere -- even Bishop Guilfoyle's indoor squad had several girls on their roster who were part of their its championship basketball team.
Growing numbers
Local Soccer Club FC814 outdoor spring play numbers continue to grow. President Tim Dieter said the club has 331 players playing in the in-house development program from u-5/6 to u-14. It has 650 players taking part in the travel program with 46 total teams playing travel soccer.
There are 15 boys teams in FC814 travel and 13 girls travel teams. It currently has eight girls classic teams and nine boys classic squads. Team Energy is the only team from the area playing in the National League.
The classic season has already started with the club team travel season and in-house seasons starting April 6-7. The club will utilize a number of local fields, including Urban Air Soccer Complex (formerly Hoss's fields), Greenwood Park, Keith Athletic Field, Tiger Stadium, Mansion Park Stadium and PSU Altoona's Spring Run Stadium. The club will hold a "Glory on the Grass'' 5 vs 5 tourney on July 13-19 at the Urban Air Complex.
Fifty-year club veteran Jim Fee will be receiving the Blair County Sports Hall of Fame Community Service Award on April 13.
National teams
The United States Men's National team defeated longtime rival Mexico in the Concacaf Nations League final for its third straight title with a 2-0 shutout on March 24.
It was the insertion of Tyler Adams and Gio Reyna that made the difference in the game. Adams scored on a laser shot in the upper right corner of the net from 35 yards out just before halftime that changed the outcome. Reyna added the insurance goal in the second half. The USA men had just downed Jamaica, 3-1, three days earlier to reach the finals.
The USA Women's National team shut out Brazil, 1-0, on a goal by team captain Lindsay Horan in the ending moments of the first half in the Concacaf Nations League championship. It was the 15th overall Concacaf title for the USA.
Jaedyn Shaw, USA forward, scored four times in the tournament and won the Golden Cup as the best player, and goalkeeper Alyssa Naehrer won the Golden Glove as the best keeper. She registered four shutouts in five starts and had an incredible three save performance in the shootout game earlier with Canada to give U.S. the win and continue to advance. The U.S. women finished with 15 goals with Shaw and Horan accounting for seven of them.
The American women will look to defend their title in the invitational SheBelieves Cup, beginning on April 6. There will be a four-team field with Canada, Brazil, Japan and USA. All four teams are ranked in the world's top 11 teams. America will open play this Saturday against Japan.
This year, there will be four matches instead of the usual six, and the teams will play semifinals, a third-place match and the championship game. The United States currently holds six titles since the Cup was founded and held in different cities throughout the United States.
Tom Schmitt writes a monthly soccer column for the Mirror.