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National Premier League

NPL National Finals Preview: U-16 San Jose Earthquakes

Making quick work of a tough NPL Champions League group, the San Jose Earthquakes were only denied an unbeaten season by a loss that came after they had already clinched the title.

While they couldn’t match their Champions League form in the State Cup, the Earthquakes were nearly unstoppable in the former competition, averaging three goals scored a game and just one against.

Now the Earthquakes head to Indiana in search of more silverware, where they will compete in the NPL National Finals.

” We’re looking forward to representing NorCal,” said head coach Jeff Jenkins. “For us it’s a cool thing to be able to represent, but this it the first time any Quakes team has won the Champions League. We take it really seriously, enough to bring in one of our Development Academy players to try and compete on the field.”

That player is Mario Anaya, who joins a powerful core that includes dynamic players like Owen Wiebe, Aaron Edwards and Rayshawn Greer, who led the NPL with 15 goals despite playing an age group up.

“For myself and for the team, I feel like we’re looking forward to having great competition and looking forward to winning, that’s one of our main objectives,” Anaya said. “It’s just the mentality we have, to always win and to always get better.”

The Earthquakes play their first game at 1:00 p.m. local time on Thursday against Scottsdale Soccer. Their full schedule can be viewed here.