Ela Soccer Club

The 2008 USASA National Soccer Cup Finals were held recently in Seattle. The best men’s and women’s U23, Over 30, Amateur and Open teams from around the country met at Starfire Stadium for National playoffs.

Representing U23 men for Illinois was Lake Zurich’s Ela Elite. To qualify Ela Elite won the Illinois State Cup and the Region 2 State Cup finals this summer. Ela Elite also won the Schwaben, Green & White, and Lake Forest FC23 tournaments held in June and July.

In Seattle, Ela Elite beat the Philadelphia Junior Lone Stars 3-0 in the semifinals and then won 3-0 against the Arizona Sahuaros to become the 2008 U23 National Champions.  Congratulations to the team and its coaches Robert Meschbach and Eric Kuehl.

Team members are Mike Armour (Warren), Brian Byrne (Buffalo Grove), Matt Carlson (CT), Jeff Degroot (Prospect), Nick Gauna (Evanston),  Andrew Graham (Glenbrook North), Jordan Gyuricza (St Viator), Kevin Harrigan (Downers Grove South), Steve Hosch (Danville), Erik Johnson (Libertyville), Steffen Jovcic (Niles West), Thomas J King (St Viator), John Kornfeld (St Louis Univ. HS), Erik Lundgren (Stevenson), Tom Lynn (Libertyville), Justin McCord (Prairie Ridge), Cosimo Patano (Leyden), Frank Patano (Leyden), Paul Pedtke (Evanston) , Mike Richter (Carmel), Jeremy Rielly (Evanston), Nick Rizzo (Weaton St Francis), Karl Ruter (Glenbrook South),  Andrew Stewart (Stevenson), Steffen Vroom (Libertyville), Matt Zelensek (Oswego), Elie Zenner (Evanston).