(Posted: July, 23 2008)
Spirits 2000 Win Cal Cup Jr !

The Spirits beat the Tracy Pumas in the championship game that went to penalty kicks. This is a team they lost to 2 weeks earlier.  Lets all congratulate the Spirits of 2000!  Here are the scores from their games. 

The Spirits of '94 Blue are currently in Hawaii representing San Juan in the US Youth Soccer Far West Regionals in Hawaii. Playing in what is being called he bracket of death, which includes 3 of the top 5 nationally ranked teams. 
Below is a summary of each of their games.

        Stay tuned for more.
     G o    S p i r i t s ! ! !

>>> UPDATED with Game #6 on 6/22/2008 @ 7:53pm.   <<<

GAME-6 (6/22/2008):  Washington Cross-Fire vs. San Juan:
Spirits beat the the Cross-Fire team 1-0  ! ! . With this win, the Spirits advance to the NATIONAL FINAL-4 game in Little Rock, Arkansas.  San Juan Spirts 94 Blue prevail over Crossfire of Washington 1-0 in the
U-14 girls championship game at Regionals in Hawaii. It was a rematch of a preliminary round game earlier in the week which finished in a 0-0 tie. Today in the Championship game, the Spirits scored midway through the 1st Half and that was the only goal of the game. While in Hawaii, the Spirits won five games and tied one, with wins over state champs Washington (Crossfire), Arizona (Sereno), Colorado (Rush) and Utah (La Roca), as well as a win over the defending 2007 Regional Champion and this year's So Cal State Cup Finalist (Surf White).

The 94's will now be travleing to the US Youth Soccer National Champinships in Little Rock, Arkansas the week of July 20 representing Regiona IV, Cal North, District VI, and most importantly, the San Juan Soccer Club.     (Article and Picture contributed by Eric Lummis.)



GAME-5 (6/21/2008):  La Rocha of Utah vs. San Juan:
Spirits beat the La Rocha team 1-0 in Penalty Kicks ! ! . With this win, the Spirits advance to the FINALS game in the Western Regionals tournament.  Finals game is Sunday(6/22)  vs. Washington Cross-Fire.  The winner of this game advances to the NATIONAL FINAL-4 game in Little Rock, Arkansas. 

GAME-4 (6/20/2008):  Sereno Golden Eagles of Arizona vs. San Juan:
Spirits prevail 1-0 over Sereno of Arizona. With less than one minute remaining in the second overtime, the Spirits launched a counter attack off an indirect kick. Four passes later, the Spirits found the top right corner of the net for the only goal of the game. 

GAME-3:  Surf White vs. San Juan:
San Juan Spirits '94 beat the Returning regional Champions San Diego Surf White 2-1 to advance first out of their bracket to the Quarterfinals.  Surf is currently ranked the #1 U14 Girls team in the country.  With this win,  the Spirits win the toughest bracked in the Regionals tournament.

GAME-2:  Crossfire Premier vs. San Juan:
This was a day which belonged to the elements:  heavy winds, downpours  and moments of extreme heat. Both defenses showed strongly, and the  conditions added to the challenge. Although pressing hard for the winning goal in the second half, SJ missed two crucial opportunities to seal the victory and had to settle for the a draw and Final Score:  SJ 0, Crossfire 0. 

GAME-1:  San Juan vs. Colorado Rush
Regionals began with an old-fashioned shoot out!  SJ got on the board  first as a penalty kick was awarded in the first five minutes.  The  Rush came roaring back with 2 goals of their own.  With less then a minute to go until half, SJ was able to score the equalizing goal,  making it 2-2 at the half.  The second half belonged solely to San Juan, as two more goals were added and the Rush's best chance to score was thwarted on a good penalty kick save.  Final Score:  SJ 4, Rush 2.

(Posted: June 17, 2008)  The San Juan Lightning ’97 Blue team opened their tournament season with a convincing win in the Rogue Valley Cup in Medford, Oregon, over the Memorial Day weekend.  The team swept all five games by a combined score of 23-5, featuring a balanced attack in which eight players scored goals.  Luis Chavez and Jesse Hopp paced the scoring with seven and six goals respectively.  DJ Villegas scored four, Noah Phillips had two, and Omar Rivera, Dylan Klein, Patrick Moher and Erick Ortiz each had one goal.  Six players had at least one assist, including Hopp (4), Rivera (3), Chavez, Javier Nieves, Justin Long and Emmett Barnes (1 each).

San Juan’s defense was also very strong.  Jared Heffner, Brenton Hack, Owen Brower-Douglas, Barnes, Long and Ortiz anchored a back line that was rarely beaten.  Keeper Nieves was strong throughout, as was backup keeper Klein.  The midfield was dominated Moher, Rivera, Klein, Long, Phillips and Chavez, while Hopp, Villegas, Zachary Dedrick kept constant pressure up front.  With half of its players new to the San Juan Club, the tournament was a great opportunity for the team to work on their passing, positioning and communication.    G o    L i g h t n i n g ! !

(Posted: May 2, 2008) The time has finally arrived…the start of the WPSL Season!!!  We are extremely excited about the season and are looking forward to competing and winning the WPSL Championship!!  The California Storm is coached by Jerry Zanelli (San Juan Board Member).  Many San Juan players have played or do play for the California Storm.  Two San Juan coaches, Maureen Whitney and Kyle Wosnuk are current players with the Storm.  In our 18 years of existence, we have won many National Titles.  Our team is lead by international veterans Sissi (Brazil), Brandi Chastain (U.S.) and Sacramento native, Maureen Whitney.

I have attached a link to our home and away game schedule for the 2008 season.  Please take note, that our home field has changed.  We will be playing all of our home games at Natomas HS, with the exception of one game, which will be at Sacramento State.  Prices will continue to be $10/adult and $5/youth. 
If you are interested in purchasing season tickets ($60/adult or $30/youth) or specific game day tickets, please contact us by email.  Please be sure to include all of your contact information, most importantly, your phone number.  If you are interested in having your team participate as “ball girls”, please feel free to contact us by email with specific dates that best suit you.

We are also going to offer season tickets to teams for $300, which will allow a team to bring 16 players and 1 coach to all of our games.  For all season ticket holders, this includes regular season and post-season play.  This year’s Final Four WPSL Championship will be held at Natomas High School in Sacramento, Saturday, August 2^nd  and Sunday, August 3^rd.

If you are interested in season tickets, please make checks out to: California Storm.  Send to: 4041 American River Drive, Sacramento, CA 95864.

Schedule link:  http://www.wpsl.info/storm/indexs.php

Jerry Zanelli, SJSC Board