The Waza FC East U12 Girls team based in Rochester, traveled to Florida this week for the Super Y National North American Championships and are coming back home winners.
Waza faced Grand Rapids Crew Juniors in the finals on December 9th where they won 2-1 and were crowned National Champions.
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The Super Y League provides an elite competition level for teams to participate in and only the top teams in the country are invited to the Nationals which took place in Bradenton Florida this week.
Waza FC East U12 is coached by Rich Ludwig and in their regular season of Super Y competition, they ended with a standing of 7-0-1 and only conceding one goal in their first game of the season against Alliance where they won 3-1.
The Nationals proved that it was not a fluke as to how these girls were playing and the level of play in which they perform. During the championship tournament, Ludwig's team again only allowed one goal against them, which came in just the final minutes of the final game. The defense, along with goalkeeper Riley Moore, stood strong all year to allow their offense to do their job and score the goals to win the games. It was a true team effort in the season and in the tournament.
"I'm extremely proud of this team and the way they competed," said Coach Ludwig. "Only conceding one goal through five games is impressive when you consider the caliber of competition at this tournament."
In the final championship game, Waza came out blazing as they have done throughout the tournament by scoring quickly and taking command of the game. With just a minute into action, a precise corner kick by Meike Ingles to Faith Webber resulted into a header beautifully directed into the back of the net. Ludwig's team did not let up and would continue the relentless pressure and within 10 minutes into the game, Ingles placed a long ball into the action in front of the Crew net and with the help of the wind, it bounced over the defenders and keeper and settled into the net to extend the lead by two.
Despite a few attempts from Crew, including one by Jenny Dear which raised the hopes of her team for a tally on the scoreboard as it was snagged by Waza GK Moore. Waza FC East continued to hold their lead and control the tempo of the game until just minutes before the end when Crew would finally find a crease to score. That goal would not be enough however and Waza FC East would get the win.
Soccer is a beautiful game where it can just come down to that one goal. In the case of the U12 Waza FC East girls team, in regular season and tournament, that one goal, instead of just being about the one scored, would also be about only letting one in. Their strong dominance of play down the field and sturdy defense of the backline, showed that their entire team worked hard for this opportunity and this win.
Waza F.C. comes from the Japanese name meaning "technique" and this National Champion U12 girls team put on display just how the Waza technique works. Waza provides training and opportunity for developmental training and competitive play on the youth level, Super Y, regional and national leagues and also provide those players with the opportunity to be coached by coaches on the high school level and some that have play/have played on the college and professional levels.
The Scicluna family own and started the club here in Michigan, and are proud and accomplished not only on the youth level but also in the professional level. The family and the organization proudly include the Waza Flo professional indoor soccer team that competes in the Major Arena Soccer League. The youth players even get to participate at the beginning of all of the professional games on the field as they line up to high five the players as they come in to line up.
There are different locations that the club has available throughout Southern Michigan. Waza East is out of Rochester (Oakland/Macomb counties) with indoor practices and games at Ultimate Soccer Arena in Pontiac. They also have Waza F.C. West out of Livonia and at Total Sports in Wixom, Waza F.C. North in Grand Blanc at Genessee Fieldhouse and Waza F.C. South in Taylor (Downriver) and hold their indoor at Taylor Sportsplex.
This win by the Waza F.C. East U12 girls is a great example of the high caliber talent that can be exhibited on every level throughout the Waza league in Michigan.