this the first legit tourney for 14u.
CCU/NEWPORT/CIU/DEL MAR/MISSION
I’m west coast and don’t know what Greenwich or Pegasus has to offer this year.
Good early season competition. Any predictions?
Prediction: On the boys side, the very first game of the tournament, at 9 AM on Friday morning, will determine the winner of the tournament. Group A is brutal. In that game, I’m calling for an upset and think defending champion Del Mar pulls it out.
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Group A is loaded, especially with Newport likely bringing 2-3 8th graders who are actually 16u. So, whether it is really the first “legit” 14u tournament is debatable since teams can and will bring 16u athletes who are still in 8th grade to compete.
Two teams will emerge from group A and those two teams may likely face off in a rematch in the final… although CCU (also rumored to be bringing older kids) could cause problems for teams who are only playing with true 14u kids.
Here’s the schedule link: 2024 Kap7 Champions Cup Schedule - Google Sheets
Yup. Group A is a head scratcher. Would love to hear the seeding discussions on that one. The 8th grade/16u is nothing new and it’s mostly an issue in the fall, and with a limited number of tournaments. If we are focused on development, then let them play.
And I’ve always wondered why USAWP goes with August 1. I’d love to see a discussion on the alternatives. Birth year? Calendar year? Grade?
I’ve only seen Del Mar, Mission and Newport this season. Del Mar and Mission looked good and have size. Except for a couple kids, Newport appeared to be average size and young.
Good luck to all in Chicago!
The seeding is set by the zone finishing order of the previous year. This was 2023 Champion’s Cup:
PSW only got to send one this year so everyone 4 through 12 moved up one to fill the omitted PSW-SD Shores slot. The result is a crazy group A in this year’s bracket.
Del Mar boys 13-7 over CIU
Mission 11-8 over Pegasus
2 blowouts after that.
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Wolf and Channing there? If so, surprised by that result a bit.
Del Mar was thought to be coming back to pack after last year and CIU seemed to be the class of the age group.
Channing is there – from live-stream, they appear to be at full strength. Wolf is not at the tournament. According to 6-8 scores, Channing dropped 7 vs. Newport and 0 on Del Mar.
Del Mar returns 5 of 6 starters from team who took 3rd in 12U 2 years ago and lost to CIU by 1 goal at JO’s that year. Added some new talent from nearby clubs, as well. I wouldn’t necessarily call it a “rebuild” year despite all of their talented athletes who moved up to 16U this year.
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Does anybody have a link to the livestream
It is on GOLS.
6-8 is also doing play-by-play.
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Looks like both CIU and Del Mar disposed of Newport with ease. They’ll both take on Lamo and Greenwich tomorrow.
On the other side of the bracket, Mission, Pegasus, CCU and Oahu are all still in contention.
Mission v CCU is the game to watch Saturday. Mission looks solid all around while CCU is big.
Del Mar was more polished than CIU in the very first game Friday morning. Don’t know if that’s indicative of both teams right now or just an early morning game.
Pegasus played mission close. Hope to see them play more cali teams sat/sun to get a better idea of what they are.
It could also be the coaching. Wolf Wigo is not there for CIU but Cyrus Kahangi is there for Del Mar.
Does Wolf Wigo coach the CIU team during the men’s college season?
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I don’t think so, but he’s often at the game and is very present. I wasn’t at the game but some parents told me of an early season game a couple years ago where Wolf got red carded as a ‘not coach’, refused to leave, was thrown out, and snuck back in. If not for UCSB hosting USC on Sunday, I would have been surprised for Wolf to have not been there for the final day of Champion’s Cup.
Team photo of CIU 14u at CCA Champion’s Cup Quals a few weeks ago with Wolf standing on the left.
LAMO destroyed Del Mar today. 8 goal differential but it easily could have been 10-12. Something wasn’t right. Now lamo/del Mar/ciu all 1-1 on that side of bracket.
Conspiracy theory on deck that Del Mar threw the LAMO game to prevent CIU from advancing based on goal differentials. (This is pending advancement rules for champions cup).
Looks like Del Mar v CC United in the first semi and Lamo v Mission in the second semi on the boys’ side.
On the girls’ side, Newport v. Diablo in the first semi and then Patriot v. 805 in the second semi. Likely a battle for 2nd place as Patriot seems head and shoulders above the rest.
@Willis any idea how many of lamo’s players are 8th graders who are actually 16u. two of them looked exceptionally big….
They are all 2025 JO 14u kids as far as I can tell. One (#6 Henry Deal) will be eligible to play as 14u in the 2026 JOs.
There are 3 direct data points to look at
Del Mar 13 CIU 7
CIU 13 LAMO 8
LAMO 13 Del Mar 5
Which game is the outlier? None were close.
Mission v CCU was super exciting. Hope to watch a rematch in the finals