Soccer America Writes About Discoveries Soccer Club National Championship

You can read the full article on Soccer America by clicking here.

A SMALL CLUB FROM SOUTH Carolina, Discoveries SC, stole the show at the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships, winning the U-18 title with a scintillating performance. A small club from South Carolina, Discoveries SC, stole the show at the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships, winning the U-18 title with a scintillating performance.

The 2009 U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships certainly had its share of memorable moments:

• The Baltimore Casa Mia Bays won the U-19 and U-15 titles to become only the fourth team to win two boys titles at the National Championships in the same year.

• The Colorado Rush Nike captured its ninth girls national title - one more than the Dallas Texans - and third back-to-back championship with a 4-2 overtime win in the U-19 division.

• The Dallas Texans won a sixth boys title and the Eclipse Select of Illinois captured its fifth girls championship.

But nothing beat the amazing run of the Discoveries Soccer Club, which became the first team from South Carolina to win a national championship, completing a dominating run through the state tournament, regionals and nationals with a 2-1 win over Kentucky's Javanon in the final.

Coached by Dom Wren (Northwestern High School), DSC was comprised of players from York County - a growing suburb of Charlotte, N.C. - including seven players from his Rock Hill Northwestern High School team, ranked No. 1 in the NSCAA/adidas high school spring national rankings.

DSC finished with 28 goals in six games at the Region III Championships and 17 goals in the four games at the National Championships.

Its star is Enzo Martinez, who was born in Uruguay - yes, he was named after the great Enzo Francescoli - and moved to Rock Hill when he was 10.

Martinez and his younger brother Alex, a teammate on the U-18 championship team, shared a pair of cleats - baseball cleats - for the first month of the American youth soccer experience until it became apparent to their coach that they both needed to be on the field at the same time.

Enzo Martinez followed up on his national high school title with Northwestern High - he scored 182 goals in four years, sixth all-time in U.S. prep history - by scoring twice in both the semifinals and final at the regionals and four goals at the nationals, including the first goal in the final.

Martinez, who is headed to the University of North Carolina, wasn't the only DSC standout.

Sebastian Velasquez finished as DSC's top scorer with five goals and won the Golden Boot as the top player in the U-18 division. He received a GED and hoped to get a look from a team in Europe.

Ralph Lundy, son of the longtime College of Charleston coach of the same name, scored four goals in an 8-1 win over East Fishkill Thunder in pool play.

Defender Robbie Benson, who assisted on both goals in the final, and Lundy are among six DSC players who have joined Lundy's father at College of Charleston.