Who Are These Guys? ... They’re State Cup Champs

The U18/19 Newtown soccer team, which became nicknamed the Who? recently won the U19 State Cup championship before competing in the National Region 1 Soccer Tournament in Wainwright Park, Maine this past weekend. The team finished in second place and narrowly missed advancing out of the Group B U19 regional bracket and onto the semifinals in Portland, Maine. 

The Who? was placed in a bracket of three of the top age group teams in the nation: FC Delco of Eastern Penn., PDA of New Jersey and Nordic of Vermont. Sixteen State Cup winners, representing states from Virginia to Maine, gathered at fields at Bowdoin College and at neighboring fields to compete in the Regional Tournament in age brackets from U12 to U19. The winners of each age bracket advanced to the National Tournament in Arkansas where all of the regional winners from across the nation will compete. 

The Who? formed from a core of U18 premier Samba players, but with not enough commitment and/or interest to produce a complete U18 team, a combination of U18 and U19 players came together to establish a team.

After a 2-1 overtime win over the South Central/Oakwood combination team in the Connecticut State Cup semifinal at Treadwell Park, the Who? showed up at the State Cup finals with T-shirts for jerseys and a miss-match of shorts and socks — hence the team name. The Who? beat the Farmington Soccer Club to win the State Cup championship and advance to the regional tourney.

In the regional tournament’s first game, the Who? defeated the U19 Nordic Soccer Club of Vermont 1-0. A stellar defensive effort and consistent midfield play kept Newtown in the match and Nordic off of the scoreboard. 

The second match was against a nationally-ranked FC Delco U19 team that managed to outlast the Newtown group in a 4-1 win.

The Who? responded with a 2-2 tie against the undefeated Player Development Academy of New Jersey in their third and final preliminary match and settled for a second-place finish among four teams.