By Adolphus Ames –
The Eastern Shore Soccer League is midway through its 2021 season. Last Saturday, Oct. 16, the league hosted a series of soccer games at Randy Custis Memorial Park in Nassawadox from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Four U18 matches were held, two girls matches and two boys matches. For the girls, Team Fraley defeated Team Wayne 2-1 and Team Locklear tied Team Angelica 4-4. For the boys, Team Aaron defeated Team Baxa 7-3 and Team Andhy defeated Team Bryan 5-3.
The soccer season began in early September and concludes in mid-November. The league has a total of 368 players across six different age groups: U7 (5-6 years-old), U9 (7-8 years-old), U11 (9-10 years-old), U14 Boys (11-13 years-old), U18 Girls (12-18 years-old), and U18 boys (14-18 years-old). Over 30 Northampton, Nandua, and Arcadia students volunteer with the league, performing duties ranging from coaching to refereeing.
The league was founded in 2007 by Tabi Webb and John Gorman. Since then, it has grown tremendously thanks to fundraisers and local and state grants. “If you were to ask any of our board members why we do this I can almost guarantee that each board member would say we do it for the community,” said Liz Jones, league president. “We just love seeing so many of our Eastern Shore youth together, smiling outside, and playing a game they love.”
Shore Soccer is affiliated with the Virginia Youth Soccer Association. This connections gives the league the ability to build a year-round soccer presence and create travel teams.
“We’re excited at the thought of giving our players the opportunity to compete in state-wide tournaments and play at a higher level,” said Jones. “We have so much soccer talent on the Eastern Shore.”
