The Jefferson Cup is one of, if not the most premiere soccer tournament on the east coast and in the country. Teams from all over the country will meet up in and around Richmond on March 7-9. This invitation-only tournament is hosted by the Richmond Strikers, one of the largest clubs in Virginia. Five Harrisonburg High students will have the opportunity to play for either the first or second time. Juan Cardoso, Cameron Neary, Roberto Gonzalez, Parker Strickland and Danny Dombrowski will compete with the U-15 team composed of the best soccer players from around the district.

The Shenandoah Valley United U-15 Premier team has been playing with each other for over 6 years. In those years the team has dropped and gained players. They will play in the lowest out of six brackets due to a poor tournament and state cup performances in the last couple of months. All the teams in the bracket are ranked 3 all the way to 20 in their respective states according to GotSoccer rankings, except for the SVU team which is ranked 89. The 89 ranking in the state is because the team took a year off, a year ago and lost their 6th rank in the state. Juan Cardoso has been on the team since the beginning. He is honored to play in the prestige tournament for the second time

“I think it’s a great opportunity to go play in front of tons of college coaches,” Cardoso said.

The tournament features many college coaches in attendance. The team will play two games on saturday in their group of three teams, depending on the point system the 1st and 2nd team from the two groups will play in the semifinals.