Nine Local Soccer Players Showcase Their Talents In Disney World

Nine soccer players from our local Southcoast area recently took their talents to the southeastern portion of the United States.

According to The Herald News, locals “Antonio Luna (Swansea), Max Horowitz (Swansea), Reuben Faria (Fall River), Kendall Pacheco (New Bedford), Aidan DaSilva (Westport), Troy Mattos (Somerset), John Aguiar (Somerset), Skylah Dias (Swansea) and Poom Mera (Swansea), were spread out over three teams that all experienced success on the trip.”

Rated as the best soccer tournament in the United States through a survey by Soccer America, the Disney Soccer Showcase in Orlando, Florida, featured 700 teams with 30,000 players, and hundreds of coaches.

Luna, Horowitz and Faria were all part of the U-15 team that went undefeated in round-robin play and finished in second place.

The U-16 team, which consisted of Pacheco, DaSilva, Mattos, Aguiar and Dias, opened with a 1-0 loss to the Alpharetta Ambush Red (Georgia), a team ranked eighth in their region. The locals bounced back with a 2-1 win over third ranked Ohio Premier Green before falling 2-1 to seventh ranked Loudoun Red (Virginia).

Mera from Swansea was the lone local representative on the U-17 team that went on to win the title.

With additional reporting by Sal Lopez