WSR rules NEA Cup anew

William S. Reyes Elementary School, left, and Koblerville Elementary School players chase the ball during their pool play game in the National Elite Academy Cup Spring 2017 last Saturday at the Koblerville Elementary School Field. (Contributed Photo)

William S. Reyes Elementary School shut down Garapan Elementary School, 2-0, in the finals of the National Elite Academy Cup Spring 2017 last Saturday at the Koblerville Elementary School Field.

The title win was the Kingfishers’ second in a row as they also topped the 2016 fall season of the NEA after edging Private Schools, 3-2. Last weekend’s championship game was WSR’s fourth straight finals appearance, too as it teamed up with Oleai Elementary School in beating Garapan in the 2015 finals, 4-1, and then challenged and lost to Private Schools in the 2016 spring title game, 1-2.

Irish Pagarao and Northern Mariana Islands Football Association technical director Michiteru Mita coached the winning team this season and WSR received a championship trophy at the conclusion of the tournament.

The Kingfishers marched into the finals after dominating Gregorio T. Camacho Elementary School in the semifinals, 5-0. In the other Final Four pairing, Garapan also blanked Koblerville, 3-0, for its second finals appearance since joining the inaugural competition two years ago.

Garapan, WSR, GTC, and Koblerville moved into the semis after placing in the Top 2 in the round-robin competition in their respective pools. Kagman Elementary School, Private Schools, San Vicente Elementary School, and Oleai Elementary School also joined the NEA Cup.

NEA is NMIFA’s grassroots program, with the association’s pool of coaches and visiting Japanese players going to both private and public schools to select 12 students per school and train them for 10 weeks. The program per season culminates with the NEA Cup and NMIFA recognizes the champion team and awards medals to MVPs from each school.

Mary Joy Aniana was named MVP for WSR, while the Ben Poon and Jacky Lee-coached GTC chose Carvin Cruzat as the MVP. Other MVP awardees were Khristian David of Garapan (coached by Jersh Angeles); Teddy Brobesong of Koblerville (Rodwealth Espana); Tarvin Blas of San Vicente (Angie Ito and Marielle Gariguez); Heaven Murphy of Kagman (Yohei Kamikawa, Daiki Monzen, and Yuya Kunimune); Javen Montenegro of Oleai (Jon Takano); and Kaito Rechucher of Private Schools (Jeralyn Castillo and Mikky Vargas). The most valuable players from each school were picked based on their performance, teamwork and fair play during the NEA Cup.

This season’s NEA Cup drew 128 young players and NMIFA would like to thank each school and their principals and teachers for allowing the students to train and enjoy and play soccer.