Mt. Olive Cup: Day One U15 Roundup

After day one in the 2025 rendition of the Mt. Olive Cup, Fair Play Soccer Select 2010/11 were runaway favorites in the U15 bracket after scoring 18 goals between their two matches. Fox Soccer Academy Premier FSA U15, Fair Play's eventual opponents in the final, came away with a win and a draw. Despite a loss and a draw on their way to the consolation game, Steel United NJ 2010/11B had a couple of players stand out, too.    Trent Shostchuk is short with a lean frame and a confident carrier in midfield. His technique on ball helps him to glide past 1v1s on those carries. He showed excellent balance to retain possession despite contact and was able to spread play well from central midfield with either foot. He is an ambitious midfield creator, with lots of passes played through up the middle, switching it top between ground and chipped distribution. Shostchuk must work on his distance finishing and being less passive into midfield duels in the defensive phase.     A pure competitor that demands the ball into his feet to dictate play cutting inside, Isaac Riley Dalida displayed bags of stamina to keep working hard up the flanks in possession. Able to attack from either wing, he has flexibility to drop deep to link play and still spread play with range, displaying that his vision and creativity is not just limited to the wing. His off ball runs were impressive with elite pace to get in behind, though overeager at times, getting caught offside. Once on ball, he has tight dribbling control and an explosive first step that made him nearly unplayable for the opposition. From there, Dalida creates for others with solid weight on through balls or for himself as a classy ball-striker on his right foot, earning him a near post goal on the counter, finishing with power. To improve, he must trust his teammates more, as his preference to dictate play, although exuding confidence, leads to over dribbling too often.     A right footed right winger, Distephano Ortiz was a pacy presence attacking from wide. He used his pace well off ball to get open at the back post. His best trait is creating as an incisive passer, either quickly after receiving or on the move after cutting inside. Ortiz's vision to precisely pick out underlapping runs supporting with consistency displayed a commitment to being an unselfish creative threat, especially on the counter, even picking out a key pass through up his flank into the final third. The accuracy of his passing is quite impressive for his age and he has the athleticism to pair with it. Ortiz must improve his finishing and timing of runs, though, as he had a first time finish opportunity that he lacked composure on and was from an offside position anyway.     In a big win versus Steel United NJ, Sebastian Mesa finished with composure on his right foot, placing the strike perfectly into the far post to catch my eye. In addition, he got a bit grabby in midfield duels. A box-to-box player stylistically, he was able to be an option linking play, though his distribution was limited to mostly ball-retaining actions. With his ability to crash the box and remain composed on the finish, maybe a move to forward is in the cards for Mesa.     Primarily a left winger that is seemingly two footed, Devin Hughes is a diminutive attacking threat cutting inside from wide. His stature may deceive, but he has an elite first step and overall pace that takes him past markers with ease nearly every time he faces a 1v1, aided by his terrific on ball technique. He particularly likes to glide past markers on the outside to curl in behind them and create from the box. Hughes made a ton of danger especially at the near post able to play cutbacks, picking up assists on tap ins, usually distributing with his left. He also strikes the ball with precision and decent power behind it for his size, picking up multiple goals on the weekend, his first coming on his left foot slotting it into the far post cutting into the box from the left. Once Hughes plays older competition, his dribbling technique will need to be a bit tighter as he will not be able to rely on sheer pace and agility. On the contrary, his overall end product is exciting. His dynamic ability and outrageous potential make it easy to overlook his size.

After day one in the 2025 rendition of the Mt. Olive Cup, Fair Play Soccer Select 2010/11 were runaway favorites in the U15 bracket after scoring 18 goals between their two matches. Fox Soccer Academy Premier FSA U15, Fair Play's eventual opponents in the final, came away with a win and a draw. Despite a loss and a draw on their way to the consolation game, Steel United NJ 2010/11B had a couple of players stand out, too.