Merced soccer team wins national tournament in Colorado

The CV Leon/Merced United’s 03 boys soccer team went 5-0 at the US Club Soccer’s National Cup XVII in the 15U Super Group in Aurora, Colo.

The Merced squad came back from a 2-0 deficit in the championship game on Tuesday against the top-ranked team in the nation STA-MUSC of New Jersey. Julian Lomeli scored three goals for Merced to lead the comeback. Ronaldo Hernandez added the other goal in a 4-3 victory.

“I’m extremely proud of these guys,” said coach Steve Lomeli. “These are not selected kids. These are guys who were all cut from other organizations. We took them in and developed them.”

Julian Lomeli, who will be a sophomore at Merced High, scored nine goals in five games during the National Cup tournament.

The CV Leon/Merced United 03 team qualified for the national tournament after winning the state cup in Elk Grove, going 8-0 in the tournament.

The Merced team came back from an 0-2 deficit in their tournament opener in Colorado, defeating Minneapolis United 3-2. Julian Lomeli scored two goals and Gabriel Aguilar added another score.

They followed that up with a 2-1 win over Wake FC of North Carolina and a 3-2 win over Massapequa from New York.

In the semifinals against Columbus Crew FC of Ohio, Julian Lomeli scored all three goals in a 3-1 win that vaulted the CV Leon/Merced United 03 team to the finals.

They didn’t flinch after falling behind early against the New Jersey team.

“We just took possession of the ball and kept it,” Steve Lomeli said. “The movement we created opened up space and we were able to get the ball to our top player in that space.”

Steve Lomeli said the team was excited after winning the championship, but didn’t have much time to celebrate.

“We had to hurry to catch a flight because we flew out that same day,” he said. “Our game was delayed because of thunderstorms so after we won, we had to get to the airport.”

This story was originally published July 26, 2018 at 4:17 PM.