Associated Student Body hosts futsal tournament

Tommy Waller

Staff Writer

With the end of soccer season nearing, Mira Costa’s Associated Student Body hosted a futsal tournament to alleviate school spirit at Costa.

Fifteen teams competed in the tournament, which began on February 23rd and ended on March 1st, with team “Fifalosophy” winning the tournament. “Fifalosophy” consisted of juniors Josh Gregson-Williams, Alex Desousa, Tanner Hong, Nick Keenan, and Keyan Terobi.

“I know that it is just a school sponsored tournament, but I still think that it was really cool to win,” Keenan said. “Everyone was out there competing, and so the environment was great to play in. We are glad that we came out on top.”

Futsal is a modified form of soccer, and is usually played on small indoor or outdoor courts. While a normal soccer game consists of eleven players on each side, futsal has five players on each team to account for the smaller courts.

Link: Futsal

“Usually when ASB has a tournament we like to keep the teams small so that we can have a lot of different teams sign up,” Hartley said. “Futsal was a great choice for a tournament as we did not need a large court and a lot of people like soccer at our school.”

Team “Fifalosophy” had to go through three rounds before reaching the final, which was played against “Lactose Intolerant”. After going down 1-0 early in the final, the team was able to score 2 goals to turn the game around, winning 2-1.

Link: Photos

“It was tough to go down 1-0 but we were able to tough it out and score the 2 goals we needed to win the game,” Keenan said. “It was one of our lowest scoring games and that just shows what a tough matchup we had.”

All five players on fifalosophy are members of the Mira Costa boys soccer team. De Sousa believes this gave them an advantage as the players have played futsal in the past as an offseason workout.

Link: Alex De Sousa player profile

“We were glad there was a futsal tournament because we have played it so much times before,” De Sousa said. “Not only have we played futsal in Costa soccer, but when we were younger we also played in some futsal leagues.”

Although the date of the next futsal tournament is undetermined, Fifalosophy players are ready to defend their title. According to De Sousa, they expect to face even more competition next tournament.

“I don’t think everyone knew how fun the tournament was going to be,” De Sousa said. “I feel like more people will sign up next time, making it more competitive and fun for everyone.”