RECAP: Two More Ohio Teams Qualify for National Championships (NL P.R.O Florida)

Two more teams from Ohio have qualified to participate in this summer’s US Youth Soccer National Championships after the latest rounds of National League P.R.O. in Orlando, FL. Three teams in total from Ohio have now secured their spot at the 2022 National Championships, also in Orlando (#ROADtoDISNEY).

Ohio Galaxies FC 03B Elite (Dayton) and CUP 04B Gold (Cincinnati) join GTFC Impact G08 Premier (Toledo) as the teams representing Ohio on the biggest stage of them all though qualification via National League.

Adam Jones, coach of CUP 04B Gold, shared his thoughts with OSA on the achievement;

“We’re proud to represent our club and all of Ohio at the national level. Winning a national championship is absolutely our goal. We strive to be the best in the country on the field, while developing young men of character who thrive outside the lines of play. I know the boys are looking forward to returning to Florida in July. We’re very good right now, and we’ve got five months to become great. I have no doubt in my mind we’ll do the work to become just that.”

Undefeated through six matches, the team has a single league match remaining against in-state opponent Team Challenger FC B04 Black, currently in second. TCFC B04 Black will look maintain second place in the group, knowing that it will allow them to also directly qualify for the National Championships. A draw against CUP 04B Gold would secure their spot.

Ohio Galaxies FC 03B Elite also locked in a place in Orlando this summer, remaining undefeated on fifteen (15) points after five group games, with a game in hand and a head-to-head match against group leaders FC Dallas Premier 03B (TX-N) still to come in March. Expect fireworks for that one.

Jason Tackis, coach of OGFC 03B Elite, said, “The team’s success has been based on goals. We set goals as a team and managed how we would reach them, and we did.

Our team has always been “that” team who always knew they were that good, but never quite reached their potential until last season. Even though we fell short in State Cup last year, we were extremely successful in GLC [Great Lakes Conference] and qualified to [USYS Midwest] Regionals through league play. After winning the group stage of basically the “group of death” at Regionals, we knew we had started to reach our full potential and the relief of finally reaching a regional semi-final was complete. Although falling short in the semi’s, the team felt extremely accomplished to finally reach a huge goal they set for themselves.  

As the new season began, we lost some key players to college. We knew we still wanted to reach the National Championships by any possible means. To say we are extremely blessed to reach the National Championships so early in the season this year is an understatement. The club is extremely proud of this accomplishment, as we are the first team in club history to reach the National Championships. This hopefully shows the quality of the program, players, and coaches who continually strive for excellence.”

Several other teams were in action in Florida as well and either maintained or gained ground in the group. After losing their opener, CUP 06B Gold have gone undefeated for five straight matches. They move into second place in the group with the added bonus of having the head-to-head tiebreaker over Dix Hills (NY-E), coming away with a 1-0 win over the now third place team on the final day of play this round. CUP 06B Gold and Dix Hills are tied on thirteen (13) points each. Although sitting in a good position, CUP 06B Gold will face cross town rivals Kings Hammer B06 Red in the final National League P.R.O. group match on March 26th at Wyoming High School to likely determine if they advance to the National Championships.

Ohio Galaxies FC 05B Elite picked up their first win during this round, but remain at the bottom of the group with one game left. CUP 07B Gold also encountered some difficulties after a promising start late last year, dropping two of three matches this window and securing a 2-2 draw in the final game, with one still to play. CUP 03B Gold repeat their earnings of the last time out, going 1-1-1 to bring their record to 2-2-2 overall.

Below is a look at where each team currently stands in their age group after the most recent event (Florida). All teams play a total of seven (7) matches: