There’s a new team in town backed by the San Jose Earthquakes professional soccer team.

In the spring of 2015, the Earthquakes selected local Ethos Soccer Club in El Dorado Hills as their partner to host the Regional Development School (RDS) and Training Center for the Sacramento region. Quarterly tryouts and training sessions were held in the spring, summer and Thanksgiving last year for both boys and girls between the U13-U16 age groups as top talent was drawn from competitive soccer clubs in the greater Sacramento area.

Under the direction of coach Danny Cruz, the boys’ 02/03 team competed last February at the Juventus Il Torneo Dei Presidenti in Redwood City, claiming the championship in four games with no goals allowed the entire weekend.

Based on that success, the Earthquakes greenlighted a year-round Earthquakes RDS Sacramento program for Cruz and 16 of 26 players that continued with the RDS program to form the foundation of an 18-man squad beginning in May 2016.

In June, they competed in the Premier flight of National Cup XV West Regional tournament, accumulating a total score of 20-0 over four games, winning the championship and thereby qualifying to represent the Western Region at the National Cup in Colorado in July. Since then, the Earthquakes RDS Sacramento 02B team has competed in five more tournaments, placing no lower than Top 4 and winning three more championships.

Their climb in Northern California rankings has been meteoric, starting at 149th in June and attaining the No. 1 rank in mid-September following their first place victory over Labor Day weekend in the annual North Huntington Beach Cup.

The team was a large contributor to Hands for Hope, a charity that provided socks and backpacks to needy families in El Dorado County. The team represents players from Davis, Elk Grove, South Sac, Folsom, El Dorado Hills up to Shingle Springs.

As the tournament season winds down, the team head into league play to defend their ranking against teams in both the CRL and Premier League. Also, they will be looking to tournaments outside the state to improve their rankings in the region 4 (No. 9) and nationally (No. 30).

Related