37th Annual Mockingbird Valley Indoor Soccer Tournament Recap

Presented by Beemer Autosales

Louisville, Kentucky

January 7th-9th, 2022

Men’s Open Champions: LSA

Women’s Open Champions: Beemer Auto Sales

men’s Over-30 Champions: Former Footballers

TOURNAMENT RECAP

Another annual adult indoor soccer tournament at Mockingbird Valley Soccer Club has quickly come, and quickly passed. This year was the 37th running of our prestigious tournament, proudly sponsored by Beemer Auto Sales.

In such uncertain times, we were forced to postpone the tournament in 2021. But we bounced back strongly, bringing in teams from all over the tri-state to compete over the first weekend in 2022. It was phenomenal seeing all of the familiar faces, excitement from players and fans, and the extremely high level of talent showcasing their skills within the walls of our facility.

When planning this year’s tournament, we knew we wanted to do one thing: come back with a bang! We wanted to show the region that the Mockingbird Valley Adult Indoor Soccer Tournament was THE tournament to play in year after year. From substantially larger prize money payouts to the minute details of dedicated warm-up areas and locker rooms, on-site athletic trainers, parking attendants and more. We wanted people to look back on this tournament and be impressed with the attention to detail, prompt schedule, and professionalism.

This was also the first year we live streamed every single match for friends and family back home to watch and share in the excitement! There were over 3,000 unique people to tune in to the various games throughout the tournament. Each of the championship matches had over 100 concurrent viewers, too!

All of this footage created some amazing highlights filled with impressive goals, acrobatic saves, of course the inevitable blooper. There was also great conversation created on social media. Auston Bruder, captain and goalkeeper for Men’s Open team Midwest Hooligans shared a highlight of him making a world-class save simply commenting, “Sometimes it still shows up!” 

I truly feel we nailed the ethos of our tournament this year: gather teams from around the region to play in a safe, fun and competitive tournament. We are proud to have each and every one of the teams a part of our Mockingbird Valley Soccer Club community.

2022 Mockingbird Valley Soccer Club Hall of Fame Inductees

This was the 2nd year inducting members into our hall of fame at MVSC. Joining our first ever recipient, Kenny Reutlinger, were three new inductees. These members have been a part of our Mockingbird community, growing up and competing with us for decades.

The first inductee to the 2022 class was the captain of men’s team, America, Alex Munoz. Alex has been a part of MVSC since 2001 when he first moved to Louisville from Columbia. The first team he created and has had since the start has been named America. The team was created around a mixture of hispanic players from all different nations coming together to play in America - hence the name. It was a team name that embodies the true meaning of the word, community. To this day, many of the players who have been with Alex from the beginning are still around playing and competing.  

Our second inductee to the 2022 class was captain of this year’s championship winning Men’s Open team LSA, Adam Boyer. For 15 years since his days playing at Centre College, Adam had always been a leader bringing players together to compete at the highest levels at MVSC. Dozens of championships later, Adam is still there with the best of what Louisville has to offer. 

The final inductee to the 2022 Hall of Fame class is a family name that is synonymous with the name Mockingbird. The Whitfield’s have been with us since the beginning. After being inducted to the hall of fame, father Glenn Whitfield mentioned having played in the 1st Mockingbird Valley Adult Indoor Soccer Tournament. Over 3 decades later, he and his wife Mary Lou have raised 4 children to adulthood, all having had MVSC play a major part of their upbringing. Daughters Casey, Maddie, Allison and Tess have all spent many days, hours, weeks playing and practicing in our facility on youth recreational and competitive teams. Later, Casey, Maddie and Allison would go on to take integral roles in the soccer community by coaching and mentoring young girls in our competitive programs, as well as working and playing in the adult leagues.

Congratulations to the three, well-deserving inductees of our 2022 Mockingbird Valley Soccer Club Hall of Fame!

Men’s Over-30 Division Recap

Our Over-30 division saw 5 teams enter for their chance to win $1,250 and crown themselves champions of the 37th Annual tournament. Last year’s champions, Former Footballers, would be joined by rival America, Beemer Auto Sales, FC Camaron, and Louisville Kickers. 

The group of 5 would play a round robin of 4 games a piece with the top 2 in the final standings would play in a championship match. Former Footballers would start the tournament off hot, having won each of their first three games by a max goal difference of 6. However, during Friday’s Match of the Night, America blanked the Former Footballers 3-0 to take sole spot at the top of the table. 

America would go on to play their final round robin game on Sunday morning where Beemer Auto Sales looked to give them a run for their money. Beemer Auto Sales had to win by 5 goals in order to make the championship. The game started out 1-0 to Beemer, only to go back and forth on the scoreboard, eventually ending 4-3 in America’s favor.

Later that Sunday, we would see a fierce rematch of America vs Former Footballers. Former Footballers would start out on the front foot with very high pressure to give them an early goal in the game by Richard Hinton (17’). America would rebound to finish the half up 2-1 by capitalizing on Former Footballers back-to-back-to-back blue cards with goals by Justin Robbins’ (9’) brilliant free kick and a Javier Rodriguez (7’) side volley perfectly tucked under the reach of goalie Nick Karaffa. 

At the start of the half would see America continuing on the front foot with an early goal by Jarrett Robbins (19’) who was standing on the back post to head in a perfectly floated ball to make it 3-1. America’s strategy would turn to defense first but that did not deter a quick answer by Former Footballer’s Miles Harrison (18’) who would slot home a returned shot off the wall.

In the 16th minute, America would go on to commit a foul in the box giving sharpshooter Alex Oeswein (16’) the penalty kick to make things even at 3. Soon after, another America foul in the corner of the field gave Former Footballer captain, Steven Blanchard (10’) the opportunity to put his team ahead. With growing confidence, the captain Steven Blanchard (9’) would score mere seconds later to put the team up 5-3 with the clock ticking away. The game would be put to bed with two minutes remaining on the clock on another Alex Oeswein (2’) goal finishing the game 6-3 in favor of Former Footballers, granting them back-to-back championships in Mockingbird Valley Adult Indoor Soccer Tournament.

Women’s Open Division Recap

The Women’s Open division saw 8 teams split into two groups of 4. Defending, and perennial champions, Cincinnati Sirens would be in attendance with two different teams (Blue and Gold) competing for their chance at $1,250. Also in attendance were annual competitors LSC with other local teams Beemer Auto Sales, Bellarmine University (BU Retirees) and Spalding University (Pink Eagles and Ragers). The other visiting team were the Lady Hooligans from Evansville, Indiana.

The group stages would see Cincinnati Sirens Gold (3-0) and Beemer Auto Sales (3-0) going undefeated in round robin play and finish at the top of their groups. These two teams performed nearly perfect in each of their groups setting the stage for a dramatic championship match on Sunday.

But first, each of the divisional runner-ups had a nearly identical run of games. After getting blanked 6-0 by the Beemer ladies, Lady Hooligans would rebound strongly and upset Cincinnati Sirens Blue by a score of 3-2, giving them the nod for a semi finals appearance. All the while, the BU Retirees rebounded from their opening tournament loss to Cincinnati Sirens Gold by beating LSC and Pink Eagles to solidify their semi final qualification and place on Sunday’s fixture list.

On Sunday, we would have Beemer Auto Sales start the day off against BU Retirees. BU Retirees would go up 1-0 early in the game which would give insight to a possible upset brewing. However, Beemer Auto Sales’ roster was made up of seasoned professionals who are accustomed to not crumbling under pressure. The game would end 5-1 putting Beemer in the championship.

BU Retirees’ captain, Alex Harber had this to say about the game, “It was just a great experience playing against NWSL players. Players that people pay money to watch, that you see on TV or hear about, just getting to be on the field and playing against them was memorable.”

In the second semi final match of the game, visiting teams Lady Hooligans looked to make magic happen by upsetting another Cincinnati Sirens team. However it wasn’t in the cards for them this time as the Gold team would cruise to a 9-3 victory.

So the stage is set for the championship game. 

Visiting Cincinnati Sirens Gold versus home town Beemer Auto Sales.

Pro indoor versus pro outdoor.

The arena was packed with fans in attendance cheering and blowing horns. It was quite an eventful crowd! The game would start out fairly even. Each team would share possession without too much pressure high up the field granting many opportunities to move the ball around and establish a rhythm. 

However, after 15 minutes of play, the Beemer Auto Sales team, sitting in and patiently defending, finally cracked the code. A pinpoint pass up the middle of the field by Sirens Gold goalkeeper that was not controlled precisely led to Beemer captain Emina Ekic committing full pressure on the Cinci Gold left fullback. Taylor Otto (4’) would quickly capitalize on this turnover racing towards the goal in a 2 v1 situation. 

The second half was a completely different story. Cincinnati Sirens Gold grew impatient and started to put the pressure on the Beemer ladies with shot after shot after shot. With under 8 minutes to go, Kate Drummond railed one off the corner of the goal.  All of that pressure led to a few chances for Beemer to capitalize on, however Sirens goalkeeper Trina Johnston kept their team in the game.

With 4 minutes left to go, Sirens Gold called for a timeout and a goalie change. Kate Drummond would take over the sweeper-keeper role in order to capitalize on the extra attacking number. 

This was 4 minutes of pure Sirens Gold high pressure offense. 

The Beemer ladies had to defend as a team, and Nealy Martin came up big with a block right in front of goal with less than a minute on the clock. A last ditch effort for the Sirens Gold team led to Allison Whitfield tracking and shutting down the final pass of the game solidifying their 2022 championship run and the start of their celebrations.

Men’s Open Division Recap

This year's Men’s Open Division was rounded out by 10 teams split into 3 groups. Teams from Cincinnati, Evansville, Elizabethtown, Indianapolis, and Louisville competed for the $2,500 grand prize. Teams were filled with stars from the MLS, USL, 2022 MLS Draftees, World Minifootball champions, local D1 standouts, and of course, amateur indoor allstars.

We saw quite the kick off for the tournament on Friday with the Match of The Night that would go on to set the stage for the championship match. LSA men’s team, captained by 2022 Mockingbird Valley Soccer Club Hall of Fame inductee Adam Boyer, faced off against cross group rival La Villita in their first match of the tournament. The game would end 2-1 in favor of LSA. Despite the low scoring game, there were a pair of high quality goals from each team. Darren Yeagle of LSA provided the first goal of the match when La Vallita’s Vihanney Ruiz’ fancy footwork leveled them at one a piece.  The majority of the game was fairly even, and tied right up until the few minutes of the game when LSA capitalized on a backpass mistake by La Villita goalkeeper.  

LSA would go on to finish their group undefeated winning matches against UFC/TAG (IN) and Elizabethtown Ignite (KY).

La Villita would finish at the top of their group by rebounding from their opening tournament loss by beating NKY Saints (KY) and Beemer Auto Sales (KY) by a goal differential of +12.

In the third group, we saw four teams compete for the top spot. Local team Outlaws (KY) took the honors by beating visitors Indy FC (IN), Midwest Hooligans (IN) and Louisville FC (KY).

By 8pm on Saturday night, 3 of the 4 semi finalists were set and it was determined that the wildcard team would come from the winner of the Indy FC vs Louisville FC match later that night. It was a back and forth match with Indy FC narrowly taking a 5-4 lead with 14 minutes left to play in the game. However, Indy FC having played 2 full matches already couldn’t hold on to the lead as Louisville FC’s Emir Selimovic and Saladi Husseini pulled the team back level and then out of reach. The match finished 8-5 putting Louisville FC into the semifinals.

The first semifinal match of Championship Sunday kicked off at noon with group B winners La Villita taking on group C winners Outlaws. It would take the first 8 minutes of back and forth action before La Villita’s Vihanney Ruiz and Buck Tufty unraveled the Outlaws defense with multiple back-to-back goals (Goal 1) (Goal 2) (Goal 3) (Goal 4) putting the game seemingly out of reach. Outlaws would pull a few goals back in the second half, but La Villita would cruise to the 8-3 victory.

In our second semifinal match, group  A winner LSA would take on wildcard team, Louisville FC. LSA got started early in the first minute of the game with a beautiful team goal that was put away by Kornell Hilliard. For the next 15 minutes LSA would sit conservatively waiting for the opportunity to pounce when finally put in a 2nd goal by Cory Thomas from a 3 vs 1 counter attack. Moments later, LSA would begin to put the game out of reach with a quick restart the lead to a half volley smash by Abdul Abdullahi. LSA would cruise to a 7-2 victory giving them the opportunity for back-to-back championships.

The finals were set. 

The pros versus the amateurs.

The mercenaries versus the defending champions.

It was to be a rematch of Friday’s Match of The Night which ended as a 2-1 low scoring affair in favor of LSA. Could they not only run it with back-to-back championships, but also by beating a team the second time in the tournament?

The Men’s Open championship would be the 3rd championship match of the day. We had already seen a highly eventful Over-30 championship as well as a star-studded Women’s Open championship. And oh boy were the fans in for a treat.

LSA started the scoring off with Robbe Tarver capitalizing on a missed backpass off the wall in the 17th minute of the first half. But unlike the first game between the two where goals were scarce, this finals proved to be a goal frenzy with back and forth action. Edgar Gonzalez brought La Vilitta level with 7 minutes to go in the first half, only for LSA’s free kick specialist Darren Yeagle to curl in a free kick to seize back the lead moments later. The half would end 2-1.

In what was a fairly balanced first half between the two teams, La Villita took it upon themselves to actively try to take back control of the game with a high press offense. With 14 remaining in the 2nd half, Alex Lara would start a quick counter-attack before assisting Edgar Gonzalez with a first time shot blasted over LSA goalkeeper, James Kusak’s shoulder. 

With the game tied at 2 goals, La Villita committed a foul that earned them a blue card with less than 8 minutes to go in the game. LSA took advantage of their opponent having one less player on the field, working the ball around before finally finding Kornell Hilliard in the box for a spin around toe poke in the back of the net. To complete the hat trick, La Villita’s Edgar Gonzalez would take it upon himself to level it up once more with very nice wall play. 

The clock would tick down with La Villita on the frontfoot trying anyway possible to end the game in regulation but coming up short after some late game heroics by LSA goalie James Kusak.

The championship would end in a tie in regulation and begin a 5 minute golden goal period. La Villita once again looked in control with G-Diego Reynoso playing far up the field as a sweeper keeper. Sitting in strongly, LSA waited for their time, even allowing Reynoso to walk up the field to take an absolute laser beam shot from way beyond the red line. LSA goalie James Kusak caught the ball and went for a quick outlet to Kornell Hilliard who was charging up the field. Kornell shot the ball wide left only for Kaelon Fox to follow up the field, trapping the ball from high in the air and half volleying it into the roof of the goal. Horns blew loud. Celebrations ensued. And a dog pile emerged.

LSA would win back-to-back Mockingbird Valley Adult Indoor Soccer Tournament championships!

Thank you and Acknowledgments

On behalf of Mockingbird Valley Soccer Club, we would like to thank all of the captains and their teams for returning for the 37th Annual tournament. Even when each team’s rosters seemed absolutely uncertain in the week leading up to the tournament, you were able to pull it off and compete in one of the most memorable events we’ve ever produced.

Thank you to our title sponsor, Denis Merzehic from Beemer Auto Sales for being a part of the Louisville soccer community, sponsoring the tournament and continually putting teams in our adult leagues.

Thank you to our great referees, Aaron Hernandez, Abdul Abdullahi, Bryan Blinn, Dean Morgan, Ethan Eckert, Josh Brooks, Seth Mattingly, Tona Sanchez, Tristan Thielmeier, and Tyler Joy-Brandon, as well as our referee assignor, George Huffman.

Thank you to our phenomenal staff, Allison Whitfield, Ally Furnish, Faith Boles, Landon Miller, Maddie Whitfield, and Noah Hickerson for helping keep everything running smoothly.

Thank you to Julie Snowden from Advanced Orthopaedic Physical Therapy PSC for providing a great service and guidance to the players throughout the tournament.

Thank you to our parking and floater volunteers from Mockingbird Valley Premier.

We look forward to next year for the 38th Annual Mockingbird Valley Adult Indoor Soccer Tournament held on January 6th-8th, 2023.

Onward and upward,

Mike Miescke Corey Johnson Tessa Dunteman

General Manager Executive Director Director of Operations

Parking Information | Field Map

Since 1985, teams from all over the Midwest travel to Louisville, Kentucky each year to compete in the longest running and one of the most competitive adult indoor soccer tournaments in the world!

For the 37th running of our tournament, we have increased the prize pool and payouts to tournament champions!

• Men’s Open Champion: $2,500

• Men’s Over-30 Champion: $1,250

• Women’s Open Champion: $1,250

• Runner-up in each division: $500

Men’s Open | Men’s Over-30 | Women’s Open

Location:

Mockingbird Valley Soccer Club

3000 Mellwood Avenue

Louisville, Kentucky 40207

Tournament Details:

• Games will consist of two (20) minute halves. Each team is guaranteed a minimum of three (3) group stage games, with the top teams advancing to the playoff round.

• Games are played on our two M.I.S.L. regulation size fields (195’ x 85’) with real ASTROTURF surface, quality dasher boards and plexiglass, and LED stadium quality lighting!

• For after the game we have a full service concession area with lots of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage options.
  
  
  

2020 Tournament Recap

Men's Open Champions - LSA

Men's Open Schedule

Women's Division Champions - Sirens blue

Women's Open Schedule

Over 30 Division Champions- mollys

Men's Over 30 Schedule