Real Md. Super-20s go deep in tourney

Fourteen MCPS products form backbone in inaugural campaign

Real Maryland's "minor league" team, which included 14 current or former Montgomery County Public School products on a 20-player roster, lost just three times in 13 matches this season. As newcomers to the Mid-Atlantic Division, featuring teams from up and down the East Coast (including Major League Soccer's D.C. United Academy Team), they went 4-1-3 during the regular season, tying for third place in a nine-team group.

This past weekend, the Monarchs one-upped themselves, advancing to the Super-20 semifinals in the North American Finals this past weekend at Virginia Beach.

In what was essentially the league's national championships, featuring 20 of the top teams in the United States, the Monarchs won their four-team preliminary group with a 1-0 win over PDA Soccer Club Thursday and a 2-0 ouster of the Florida Soccer Alliance. They were eliminated Saturday, losing to the Carolina Dynamo, 3-1.

The Monarchs featured local products with mostly Latin American flavor. Recently graduated Magruder striker Draymond Washington was the only county product with strictly American roots. He was one of the team's stars up top all season, as was 2006 Gazette Player of the Year Lucas Szabo, a Walter Johnson graduate.

Other starters on the Super-20 roster included Watkins Mill 2007 All-Gazette first-team striker Ben Hanson, former Kennedy defender Rozlin Nzokou, who also started at Towson University as a freshman last fall, and Seneca Valley goalkeeper and Monarchs captain Oscar Alvarenga.