17 KC-area soccer clubs qualify for US Youth Soccer regional tournament

Seventeen Kansas City-area youth soccer teams have qualified for the Region II Midwest tournament of the US Youth Soccer National Championship Series after winning State Cups in their age groups.

Four teams from Missouri and 13 from Kansas will head to Fox Cities, Wis., to compete for a regional title and the chance to play for a national championship.

Futura FC, based in Kansas City, will send its U-13 Academy Vardar, the U-14 Academy and the U-16 Pink Panthers girls teams to the USA Youth Sports Complex and Southwest Park in Fox Cities. On the boys side, the Kansas City Blaze Strikeforce will vie for the U-16 Region II crown.

From Kansas, 10 teams from Overland Park will compete for age group titles in Fox Cities: the Sporting BV SKC Academy U-13 and U-15 boys, Sporting Blue Valley U-14 boys and girls and U-17 and U-19 boys, Sporting BV Juventus U-13 girls, Sporting BV Rowdies 98/99 U-16 girls, Kansas City United Rangers 97/98 U-17 girls and the KC Metro Dynamos U-18 girls.

There are two qualifiers from Olathe, the Kansas Rush Academy 98/99 U-16 boys and 96/97 U-18 boys, and one from Lenexa, the MUSC KC Fusion Academy Cleary 99/00 U-15 girls.

Age groups from U-13 to U-19 on both the girls and boys side will compete for regional crowns. The round-robin tournament begins June 20, with the finals on June 24.

The age-group winners in each of the four regions will advance to Tulsa, Okla., for the National Championships, with round-robin play starting on July 21.

This story was originally published June 10, 2015 at 2:50 PM with the headline "17 KC-area soccer clubs qualify for US Youth Soccer regional tournament."