United States Power Soccer Association

While the wind whistled through the giant redwoods that stood on the San José State University campus, things heated up inside the SJSU gymnasium. The intense competition and action of power soccer invaded the collegiate home of the Spartans for the Silicon Valley Power Charge Soccer Tournament.

Held this past March 6-8, 10 teams from Division 1 and 2 made their way to the tourney to compete with the best squads in the Western region. The D1 teams who attended were veteran squads such as the San Jose Steamrollers, Hollister Free Wheelers, BORP Earthquakes, and Arizona Heat 3rd Degree, and the up-and-coming teams Glendale Rough Riders and Santa Barbara Rollin’ Gauchos.

The Division 2 teams that made their way to San Jose were the Arizona Heat 2nd Degree, San Jose Steamrollers Express, BORP Crushers and Newark Hot Rodders. With the quality of teams playing in the tournament, both fans and athletes alike were in for quite a weekend.

Even though all the teams who participated in the tournament were looking to win the first place trophy, there is an added incentive in this year’s competition. For both divisions, the teams that placed first and second would be guaranteed a spot in this year’s National Tournament in Fishers, Indiana. The third-place teams will also be given a chance to become a wild-card team for the National Tournament as well.

So after three days of intense competition, D1 San Jose and BORP played for first place, while Arizona and Santa Barbara played for third. In D2, Newark and BORP played for first, while Arizona and San Jose played for third.

It was a hard-fought, defensive battle between San Jose and BORP, but BORP managed to squeeze by an early goal and came away with a 1-0 victory and first place. And the third-place game between Arizona and San Jose was just as exciting.

After being knotted at zero at the end of regulation, Santa Barbara scored a goal two minutes into the first overtime. But just as the first overtime was about to end, Arizona managed to kick in the game-tying goal and the game headed into a second overtime. The game stayed tied 1-1 until three minutes into the second overtime when Arizona hit in the game-winning goal. The Heat held on for the final few minutes and came away with third-place in Division 1.

In the Division 2 games, Newark beat BORP and came away with first place, while the Arizona Heat topped San Jose and came out with third.

All of the teams played very well during the three-day tournament and provided some exciting and exhilarating action for all those in attendance. From exhilarating overtime moments, to high-scoring offensive battles, power soccer definitely left its mark at San José State University.