The Ceres Earthquakes White under-13 boys competitive soccer team finished first overall in a field of five while competing at the Endless Summer Classic, staged June 25-26, at the River Islands Sports Complex in Lathrop.
“Nobody expected us to play that strong,” said Earthquakes’ co-head coach Nick Narayan, whose club opened the season with a fifth-place showing at the Tall Trees Tournament in Palo Alto. “We surprised a lot of teams. We’re a brand-new team. The first tournament, we didn’t know what we were walking into. We figured out what we needed to work on and got better as a team. We played lights-out soccer and brought the championship trophy home. I told the boys to remember that feeling.”
Ceres won all three of its games at the Endless Summer Classic.
The Earthquakes outscored their opponents, 10-1.
“The boys worked hard during practice leading up to the tournament,” Narayan said. “It really showed during their play. They executed everything we talked about. They meshed well. They had fun.”
Ceres cruised to a 3-1 win over Santa Rosa Athletico in the championship game on June 26.
The Earthquakes led 3-0 at halftime.
“It completely deflated them once we scored the third goal,” Narayan said.
Ceres shut out the Manteca Rangers 5-0 in the semifinals on June 25.
The Earthquakes topped the Ceres Earthquakes Red 2-0 in the opening round on June 25.
“We only gave up one goal the entire tournament,” Narayan said.
Ceres improved its overall record to 5-1.
The Earthquakes went 2-1 at the Tall Trees Tournament.
Ceres’ roster features 16 players, including Adrian Aguilar, Robert Delgado, Nicholas Dellamar, Deangelo Gamboa-Terra, Josiah Gonzalez, Bryan Gutierrez, Armando Gutierrez, Diego Gutierrez, Kyle Mitts, Nikhiel Narayan, Levi Rodriguez, Mahvon Smith, Izaiah Valdez, Aayden Vang, Elijah Wasiewicz and Evon Castillo.
The Earthquakes are coached by Nick Narayan and Matthew Terra.
Ceres will travel to Sacramento this weekend to compete in the Silver Cup.
The eight-team tournament will be held at the Cherry Island Sports Complex.
“We’re going to go out there, have fun and see what happens,” coach Narayan said.
