Lawton-Fort Sill area soccer team excels at Disney tournament

FORT SILL, Okla. (Feb. 26, 2015) -- While most Oklahoma kids were enjoying a summer of swimming, fishing and relaxing, under-age-9 boys from Elgin, Cache and Lawton joined forces to form a soccer team that ultimately traveled to Walt Disney World.

They came home with something much better than the standard theme park souvenirs. The boys won trophies for placing second at the Disney 3v3 Soccer World Championships held at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., in January.

The E.C.L Arrows competed against 68 other United States and international teams.

Coached by Daniel Myers, the team consisted of Pasqual Arredondo, Samuel Aycock, Andrew Freeman, Troy Myers and Joshua Torkelson.

The boys competed against teams from Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Florida and Pennsylvania.

Three versus three, or 3v3, is soccer played on a small field, generally 20 to 30 yards wide and 30 to 40 yards long. There are no goalies and the goals are 4-feet tall by 8-feet wide.

Teams generally field four to six players and the games consist of two 10- to 12-minute halves. A typical local tournament will last one day and teams may play up to six games to include playoffs.

Carl Torkelson, team manager and assistant coach, explained the benefits of 3v3 compared to regular soccer:

"3v3 is designed to get players more touches on the ball and forces them to use specific individual ball skills rather than just out-sprinting or out-muscling an opponent. It also increases one-on-one confrontations in a smaller confined area where a player is constantly transitioning between attacking and defending," said Torkelson, a sergeant major stationed here.

Arrows players started their journey in June as a way to further develop their soccer skills while having fun. They started playing in local qualifying tournaments in Tulsa and Mustang, finishing as runner-up and champions, respectively. Their high placement in these tourneys qualified them to compete in the Heartland Regional Championships in Oklahoma City where they placed as runner-up competing against teams from Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska.

That placing earned them an invitation to play in the Elite Invitational Division at Disney World consisting of mostly professionally affiliated clubs and academies.

At Disney World, Day 1 was pool play, where four to six teams competed in a round robin format. Day 2 was bracket play where the top teams to emerge from the round robin squared off in the gold bracket.

The rest fell to the silver bracket and again played a round robin format.

The four best teams to emerge competed in semi-final matches on Day 3, with the losers playing to determine the third place finisher.

The Arrows completed bracket play with two wins and a draw, winning their bracket and placing them into the semis against the opposing bracket's No. 2 seed RIO-2 from Florida. The Arrows won in a bruising, defensive contest 2-1 in overtime vaulting them into the championship match against perennial finalist Heber Springs, Ark.

Being a head taller and 20 lbs. heavier on average, Heber Springs quickly took a 3-0 lead into the half. The Arrows clawed back in the second to make it 3-2 and missed several chances to tie before Heber Springs scored the decisive goal in the last minute to seal a 4-2 victory.

Despite the heartbreaking loss in the finals, Myers was satisfied with the team's performance.

"It was a great experience, and I am so proud of this group for giving it their all and having the hearts of champions," he said. "They played phenomenal as a team, and with the experience we gained, the kids are psyched to return to Disney World next year."

Joshua Torkelson summed up the experience.

"It was so cool to play at Disney World against all those teams from all over the U.S. We had a lot of fun, but, we want to go back next year and take that trophy, like a boss!"