GLSA FC 1974 Libertyville Summer Quarterly Newsletter

Welcome to the Greater Libertyville Soccer Association Quarterly Newsletter. The Administrative Staff, Groundskeeping Staff and Coaches have all been working hard this summer, both on and off the field, to continue to develop our players, our facilities and propel our little club to new heights.   

Summer Camps

• Expanded the method of our summer camps to allow more continuity for families as well as offering more options to the summer camp lineup.
• Added a week of recreational camp in August and extended our competitive camp to five weeks to allow more families to take advantage of these opportunities.
• In addition to the Ken Snow Shooting Camp, we added the Soccer Skills Factory Camp to round out our specialty camp offerings.

Libertyville Township Soccer Complex

• Continue to utilize summer to make significant improvements on the complex.
• Improved lightning detection system with the front gate light flashing when we are under a lightning delay.
• Field 9 has undergone extensive trenching to alleviate the drainage problems under heavy rain as well as all fields being aerated, seeded, and fertilized throughout the summer periods.
• Field 8 moving to high-level game only field to host high level natural surface games. The field has undergone an extensive leveling process, and cutting the grass to a much shorter height.

Recreational Program

• Our Recreational soccer program continues to hold steady around 800 players each season and we are gearing up for a great fall season.
• Unfortunately, we continue to see a dop off in enrollment at the middle school ages.  We tried to create a program for this demographic, called the Classic Program, however we did not get enough players to facilitate this program. We will continue to look for ways to keep these children involved in the program and playing the sport.
• We have procured indoor space at the Canlan (Libertyville) Sports Complex for a winter recreational season that will be moved to Sunday afternoon in hopes to boost participation.
• Our Recreational Adult League continues to go strong with 8 adult teams participating in the summer season.

FC 1974 Competitive Program

• Our Competitive Program had a fantastic end to the summer as you may already know and may have watched.
• The beginning of the summer offered good news for the development of the girl’s program as we were accepted into the Regional Division of the Elite Clubs National League. This coming on the heels of both boy’s and girl’s programs accepted into the prestigious Elite 64 National League of USYS. Additionally, our boys continue to participate in the Elite Academy League, another National Platform. The programs offer significant opportunities for our Select and Elite players to participate in national platforms, compete against high level competition and be seen by college coaches. The task of registering teams and players on several different platforms with different operating systems has been difficult for our Administration, however, we are working through the process and getting all players eligible.
• The club has grown in size, as well as stature, as we now have 55 competitive teams with players coming from as far south as Chicago and as far north as Racine!

Nationals!!

• The end the of the summer saw one team qualify for the Elite Academy National Finals and three of our teams qualify for the USYS National Finals.
• The 2006 Elite Boys won their first game at the EAL National Finals, but then lost in the quarterfinal round to Chicago Fire Premier, who eventually won the event.
• The 2007 and 2005 Elite Boys joined the 2006 Elite Girls for the USYS National Finals. The 2007 Boys won their first game, but then dropped the next two games and were eliminated from the tournament in the group stage.
• The 2005 Boys, returning to the National Finals for the 3rd time, having won the title in 2019 as u14s. The boys won all 3 group games, scoring 8 goals and beating a very talented BVB Academy team from Pittsburgh as the highlight win of the group. Both semifinal and final game the boys needed to go to overtime to win after being down in regulation. In the final, against state foe, Galaxy from Naperville, the boys were down 2 goals until the 85th minute, where we scored 2 goals in 2 minutes to send the game to overtime. We scored 2 goals in overtime for our boys to win the 2nd National Championship for this team.
• Not to be outdone, the 2006 Girls Elite also had a very strong showing in group play, winning 2 games, and drawing one and giving up 3 goals in the group, which would turn into 3 goals allowed for the entire 5 game tournament. In the semifinal, we completely outclassed our opponent in route to a 2-0 victory. The final saw us matched with a very strong FC Copa Academy from New Jersey. The game was tight throughout with few chances and not much separating the teams. Through regulation and overtime, the game stayed 0-0. Our girls prevailed in the penalty kick round with our first 4 shooters all making their shots and our goalkeeper making 2 big saves. This is very special as it marks the first National Championship for a girls’ team in the club. Well done to the players, families, coaches, and all involved in this special day for the club!

We are preparing and looking forward to a very strong beginning to the 2023 season the fall. Thank you all for being a part of the club.

Executive Director, Michael Zovistoski