Ormond Beach girls' competitive soccer team make waves

First in the EDP League and fifth in the state, the Ormond Beach Soccer Club's girls' U18 team attribute their success to practice, confidence and great teamwork.

  • By Michele Meyers
  • | 12:00 p.m. October 27, 2021
  • Ormond Beach Observer
  • Sports
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Ormond Beach Soccer Club’s U18 girls’ team proved they were undaunted playing in the EDP Florida League U19 age bracket by coming home champions with five wins and one tie. The Waves finished first after playing Florida Prime in their final game and winning 5-0 at the Rivertown Fields in Saint Johns, Saturday, Oct. 16.

Their players range in age from 15 to 17 years old, two of which just turned 15 this year. Facing players that will be turning 19 next year did not seem to phase goalie Avery Dellinger who had a clean slate all season. Three goals were scored on the team the entire season after Dellinger was hit in the eye and required stitches.

“My keeper keeps us all together,” team captain Patricia Perez said. “Even though a lot of us get negative in the middle of the game, she does a glove clap and everyone knows to pick it up.”

Perez is the daughter of team coach Alejandro Perez and has been playing since she was 3 years old. Being yelled at in Spanish by her mother and English by her father from the sidelines has been standard procedure during her 13 years of playing.

“I think he pushes me to the point where I don’t want to have him as a coach because he knows when I get in that head space, I’ll play better,” she said. “I think it’s made me a better player but don’t tell him that.”

Coach Perez was born in Uruguay and played professional soccer for the Uruguay National Football Team from 1991-1998, Penarol Club from 1994-1998 and Club Atlético Progreso from 1998-2000. He followed his passion for soccer when he moved to the United States where he tried out for the Jacksonville Lyons and played for the team until he retired in 2018. The Ormond Beach Soccer Club gave him his first chance at coaching in the USA in 2006. He has been coaching the Waves since 2013 and will continue as he coaches the Seabreeze High School girls’ soccer team in the upcoming season.

“It takes time,” he said. “It’s a long process. When I decide to coach, I know that whatever team I’m coaching, I’m going to be coaching a long time. You can’t win every game and you can’t have a great team in a year.”

On Sept. 25, the team travelled to Auburndale to participate in a State Cup Tournament prior to wrapping up their season. Team Boca Blast, ranked first in the state, shut out the Waves but the referees and coaches picked Dellinger as the Player of the Game. The following day, they faced off against the number two ranked team — the Indialantic Force — in 92 degree heat, with injured players and a changed formation. Dellinger had five saves and the game went scoreless for a tie. The Waves are currently ranked fifth in Florida.

“Playing the number one and two ranked teams gave us a lot of experience to take into the next season,” Perez said. “95% of the players are Seabreeze players so this year will be completely different. Before it was like, 'We play Seabreeze, no big deal.' Now it will be, 'We want to beat Seabreeze.'”

 

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