Pike Indy Burn Eagles become first Indiana boys team to advance to
US Youth Soccer National Championships in 21 years.
On June 24th, Pike Soccer Club Indy Burn ’90 Boys Premier Eagles team won its first US Youth Soccer Region II title with a 1-0 victory over Missouri Scott
Gallagher. The win marks the first time in 21 years that an Indiana boys team advanced to the national finals. The Indy Burn team will join the winning team from each of four regions at the US Youth Soccer National Tournament in Lancaster, MA, July 21-26.
Joey Peglow of Geist is a member of this U19 Pike soccer team that is headed to the Nationals. He is a 2008 Lawrence Central grad and a member of the University of Kentucky Soccer team.
Despite reaching the regional tournament the previous seven years, the Eagles had yet to make it out of their bracket’s pool play. “We needed to get a win,” said Sean McGrath, a former Pike High School player and a player at the University of Notre Dame. “We had been to the regional’s seven straight times and each year we come back without advancing out of bracket play. We had unfinished business and wanted to prove to ourselves that we have what it takes to compete with
the best teams in the 14 state Midwest region.”
The team is comprised of primarily of players that have played together for the past 6 or 7 years and some of them since the first State Cup Championship in 2002. The majority of the team played high school soccer in the Indianapolis area and all are currently playing soccer collegiately at institutions like the University of Notre Dame, Cornell University, Brown University, Harvard University, University of West Virginia, IUPUI and others.
The Eagles are coached by Isang Jacob since 2002. "I've been with this group since they were 11 and have retained 75 percent of them. I sit back and see these kids going to Harvard, Cornell, Butler, IUPUI, West Virginia. . . . I'm truly honored and humbled,” said Jacob, who was recently named the US Youth National 2008 Boys Competitive Coach of the Year.
About Pike Youth Soccer Club – Pike Soccer Club and its Indy Burn competitive division serves 3000 Indianapolis area youth each year with a variety of soccer related programs in two Indianapolis Parks: Northwestway Park and Mary & John Geisse Soccer Complex, Eagle Creek Park.
