For years, the kids who make up the current roster of the 14U Evanston Express soccer team were considered an easy out — a team that traveled to Utah every tournament weekend during the spring and summer full of hope and optimism, only to return home the recipients of lopsided beatdowns that would make any other kid take up golf.

“It was tough there, for a while,” said Express head coach Brandon Lamb, whose son Kanon is a forward on the team. “Losing is never fun, and we were losing by a lot, just getting crushed. Which in soccer, when you’re losing by double-digits, stings even more.”

By last fall, however, things began to click for the Express, who had made the commitment to stick it out for a couple of more seasons, more so for each other than anything else. And suddenly, the game began to make sense. Wins were coming more frequently, and losses — while still losses — were much more competitive. Gone were the lopsided, double-digit defeats, replaced by one and two-goal thrillers that had opposing coaches scratching their heads, wondering if these were the same kids they had beat 16-0 just the year before.

“We had a coach [of a team the Express beat in a recent tournament] come over to us and tell us, ‘You shouldn’t be in this bracket,’” Lamb said, chuckling. “I told him, ‘Well, it’s the same bracket we played you in last year when you beat us in the semifinals, and you didn’t seem too concerned then.’”

After taking second during the 2024 spring season, the Express recently capped off their summer by winning back-to-back 15U tournaments in Utah: The West Jordan Glory Cup at the end of July and the Strikers Cup in Layton, Utah, August 8-10, marking the first tournament titles for this group of kids.

“All of us parents, we all had a little barbecue that Saturday night [after the Layton tourney], and we kept saying, ‘This is kind of unheard of,’” Lamb said, laughing. “From where these kids came from back in the day, to where they’re at now — it’s fun. And now they turn over a new leaf and head to the high school, see how things go. It’s pretty exciting.”

“Honestly, it’s just a testament to all the time and hard work the kids have put in, and the parents, as well,” Lamb added. “We practice year-round — in the winter, we go indoors, the schools let us in so we make sure all the kids are touching the ball. For the most part, this whole group is involved. A lot of them do other school sports, so they break off. But they always make the time to practice, and now that they’re starting to have success — getting some wins, and not getting crushed when they lose — I think that’s fueling them a little bit to keep going into the fall, as well.”

Strikers Cup champs!

The Express’ most recent tournament win came the weekend of August 8-10, at the Strikers Cup in Layton, Utah. After opening the tournament Thursday, Aug. 8 with a decisive win against the Rampage, Evanston squared off Friday morning against the host team for a spot in Saturday’s championship game.

Looking for a little payback for a loss the Strikers saddled them with the year before, the Express trounced their hosts 6-0, earning a spot in the title game.

“Friday morning’s game was another early one for us, and the Strikers team we played, we knew if we beat them we were guaranteed a spot in the championship game,” Lamb explained. “We beat them 6-0 — that game really couldn’t have gone any better. The kids gave 110% in that game, then we had a long break during the day. We watched the younger kids play, and I think we may have been in the sun a little too much.”

The Express had one more game to play Friday evening, this time against the Northern Utah United, the team they would eventually meet for the championship. Going into the game overconfident and underprepared, Evanston lost a heartbreaker, 2-1.

“We went into that evening game Friday, and we talked beforehand about how in the grand scheme of things, this game didn’t matter,” Lamb said. “That may have been the wrong approach. We found out they only beat the Strikers 2-1, so I think our kids had it in their heads that it was going to be an easy game. I won’t say it was one of our worst games, but we were definitely sluggish, tired. It didn’t show well for us. It was a humbling game for them, which might have been good for them.”

With the championship game scheduled for first thing Saturday morning, the Express had little time to hang their heads — not that they would have, anyway. For a team that had spent years learning how to overcome adversity at every level, they weren’t about to make the same mistake twice.

“After they beat us, I think we all realized what we needed to do to win the championship,” said forward Kanon Lamb. “When Saturday came, we wanted it more than them.”

As the team warmed up prior to the start of the game, coach Lamb and assistant coach Tyler Brimhall spoke to each player about the keys to the game.

“The Saturday game, everybody showed up in the morning, and we put it in their heads that, ‘Hey, last night you guys were gassed, and that was their first game of the day, so they were fresh,” Lamb said. “‘You guys are coming back fresh today. Let’s go out and show them how we know how to play.’”

The Express controlled the pace of the game from the start, and created multiple scoring opportunities in the first half. A pair of first-half goals by Orlando Reyes proved to be all Evanston needed; defense took over in the second half as United began to press, especially in the final 15 minutes of regulation.

“One main thing Brandon and Tyler wanted us to remember going into the game is that this team is going to think they can beat us, and it will be easy because they had already done it once,” said defender Jackson Williams. “Defensively, our main goal was to get the ball out of the backfield quickly, and not to play around with it.”

Keeper Emmy Hoff turned away multiple shots in the match’s final minutes, as did Ryker Liechty, who cleared out what would have been a sure goal when Hoff was caught out of position.

“Emmy played lights out — she was nervous playing with the boys, and we had a couple of other kids we could have put in goal if we needed to,” Lamb said. “But there was no reason. That last 15 minutes of the game, they were definitely putting the pressure on her — they moved a couple of their backs up into the attack, but that’s how soccer goes. The kids did a really nice job of all being in the right place when they needed to be.”

For her part, Hoff gave the credit to her defense, and praised her offense for keeping United on their heels.

“We have crazy defense that can carry the ball, but then we also have incredible offense that can dribble around other players and score,” she said. “It meant so much to the team [to win] because it showed that one bad game doesn’t mean anything, and as long as we can come together in the end, we can do anything.”

After the game, the team was awarded their 1st-place medals, and then were tasked with awarding an MVP ball to the player on the United team they felt was most deserving.

“The kids were having fun, they were stoked,” Lamb said of his team. “This tournament is kinda cool — they give you an MVP ball, and our players pick a player on their team, and vice-versa. We picked the younger girls on their team, and they gave Orlando their MVP ball. The kids got their medals, and everyone was pretty upbeat. Two tournaments and two championships for these kids — this is crazy.”

Taking a moment as the kids made their way through the handshake line, Lamb said it still amazes him how far this team has come.

“We used to come to these things and just get crushed,” he said, shaking his head. “Now we’ve won two tournaments. These kids really are special.”

Williams agreed.

“It feels really good to win two tournaments,” he said. “This summer has been the first time we have ever even gone to a championship game, so winning two in a row is a great feeling.”