Crossfire Premier wins ECNL Boys U18/19 National Championship

The final day of ECNL Boys Playoffs in San Diego meant the main event of the week took center stage, as Crossfire Premier and Florida Kraze Krush took the field for the U18/19 National Championship Game, after both teams advanced through four rounds of games against the top teams from around the country.

Just a minute into the game, Crossfire opened the scoring on a volley from Kevin Hernandez from just outside the top of the box to give Crossfire the early 1-0 lead.

In the 12th minute, Crossfire doubled their lead from a corner kick as the ball fell in the box to Alex Polyukh who fired it into the top corner to extend the Crossfire lead to 2-0.

Florida Kraze tried to answer back with a goal of their own, but despite a few chances, the Crossfire defense was able to hold onto the 2-0 lead going into the halftime break.

Crossfire Premier had themselves a week in San Diego, taking home the U18/19 ECNL National Championship. #ECNLplayoffs pic.twitter.com/O8ypYXmwhT

— ECNL Boys (@ECNLboys) July 2, 2024

In the second half, Crossfire continued their impressive performance, again scoring off a corner kick, as Sean Aoun put in Crossfire’s third goal of the game. Later on in the half, Carter Gay added on Crossfire’s fourth of the game to seal the 4-0 victory and secure the U18/19 National Championship for Crossfire Premier.

“It feels great to win a National Championship,” said goalkeeper Kenny Pierpoint. “It means the world to me.”

Pierpoint credited his defense for helping Crossfire keep a clean sheet in the match, including Man of the Match Alex Polyukh, who he described as “super dominant” in the air. He also emphasized the amount of time this team has spent together and said their ability to connect with each other on the field is what has helped make them such an incredible side, leading to their National Championship victory.

“We have a lot of star players, some incredible strikers, our center backs are able to get the ball up to them, connect with them, and our midfielders are able to come get the ball and connect with everyone else,” Pierpoint said. “It’s just a really dominant team. We’ve all been playing with each other a long time.”

U18/19 North American Cup Final

The U18/19 National Championship wasn’t the only trophy handed out on the final day of ECNL Boys Playoffs, as Louisville City Academy and Pateadores also battled it out for the North American Cup.

Pateadores found themselves ahead early on in the match, but Louisville City Academy rallied and the two sides went to extra time knotted up at 2-2. In the first period of the extra time, Louisville City Academy grabbed the 3-2 lead, which they were able to hold onto to claim the U18/19 North American Cup.

Headed to Richmond

The final day of ECNL Boys Playoffs also meant 16 more teams punched their tickets to Richmond for the ECNL Boys Finals. Eight teams from the U13 age group and eight teams from the U14 age group are now just three wins away from claiming an ECNL National Championship. Below are the 16 teams that claimed their spots in Richmond on Monday.

U13 Champions League