Here’s something worth checking out this weekend:
Cate’s boys soccer team, which returns most of its star players from last year’s CIF Division 7 championship team, plays host to JSerra, the top-ranked team in Division 1, in a 3:15 match on Saturday.
Cate returns division player of the year Ema Boateng in the midfield, all-CIF defender Joshua Yaro and all-CIF forward Avery Schwartz. The Rams also have skillful freshman Jeffrey Acheampong, who, like Yaro and Boateng, is from Ghana and is here through the Right to Dream Foundation.
The Rams opened their season with a 3-0 win at Santa Maria, a perennial power on the Central Coast. They’ll play Oxnard’s Pacifica on Friday at home before taking on JSerra.
JSerra, which is in San Juan Capistrano, is led by senior midfielder Christian Canales, considered one of the top players in Orange County.
Presidio Sports will be posting live in-game updates for those who cannot make the game. Visit PresidioSports.com starting at 3 p.m. on Saturday to follow the action.
—UCSB seniors Luis Silva and James Kiffe have been invited to the 2012 adidas MLS Player Combine in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Jan. 6-10. The combine is where MLS coaches evaluate players before the league’s SuperDraft on Jan. 12.
Silva and Kiffe are on the initial list of 52 college seniors, determined by a panel of Division 1 coaches with support from MLS coaches. These players will be joined by Generation adidas players, international invitees, additional collegiate players from NCAA Division II and III schools, NAIA schools, and Division I alternates.
Silva, who was just named a MAC Hermann Trophy semifinalist, was named the Big West Midfielder of the Year and is a four-time All-Big West selection. He scored 17 goals and had 10 assists.
Kiffe was named the Big West Defender of the Year. The Santa Barbara native contributed 10 points this season (2 goals, 6 assists) and was third on the squad in assists.
—Santa Barbara High graduate Sanford Spivey has received two honors from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.
Spivey, who started as a defender in his freshman season at Boston University this fall, was recognized as the 2011 NSCAA California State Player of the Year and was named to the High School All-American team. He is one of only five players selected to the elite squad for the second year in a row.
Spivey and the other prep honorees will be recognized at the annual All-America Luncheon, to be held in the Kansas City Convention Center’s Grand Ballroom on Saturday, Jan. 14, in conjunction with the 2012 NSCAA Convention in Kansas City, Mo.
—Carpinteria’s Johnny Requejo contributed to the third goal in the U.S. Under-17 team’s 3-1 victory over Brazil in the final game of the Nike International Friendlies in Lakewood Ranch. Fla. last weekend.
Requejo, starting at left fullback, fed playmaker Junior Flores down the left wing, and Flores crossed the ball to forward Wesley Wade, who tapped it past the Brazilian goalkeeper.
Requejo played all 90 minutes in wins over Turkey (2-1) and Brazil.
—Eight players from Santa Barbara Soccer Club have been selected to participate in the U.S. Olympic Development Program. These eight local youths follow in the foot steps of Requejo, who came up in the Santa Barbara SC program.
—Chivas USA has signed former UCSB star Dan Kennedy to a new contract.
“Dan was our MVP this year, there was never a doubt that we wanted him back,” Chivas USA general manager Jose Domene said in a team statement.
Kennedy stayed healthy all season and had a great season in goal for the MLS club.
—Former Gaucho Michael Tetteh is part of an 18-player team of MLS Generation adidas players touring the Netherlands.
The group opens against the Ajax Reserve team on Dec. 8 and will also play matches against Dutch second-division clubs FC Volendam and Almere City FC.
Tetteh, drafted by the Seattle Sounders, played most of the season with the club’s reserve team.
