PRESS RELEASE – Close to 200 youth soccer players competed with their respective teams in this weekend’s Youth Invitational Gobblefest Soccer Tournament, a tournament featuring visiting teams from the Philippines and Northern Mariana Islands, at the Guam Football Association National Training Center.

“Coming to Guam and playing in a tournament like this one is a great experience for me and my club teammates,” said Tan Holdings FC’s Taka Borja, a student at Garapan Elementary School in the Northern Mariana Islands. “We get to play against other club teams with different playing styles that we don’t usually play.

“Also, it is my first time playing on artificial turf,” Borja added.

Borja, who had just turned 12 a week before the tournament, will move up to the U15 division of the NMI Football Association Youth Soccer League next season and is also using the tournament to gain playing experience against older players, he said.

Tan Holdings FC fell to the Guam Shipyard Wolverines 4-2 in the team’s lone fixture of opening day in the U14 division. Shaun-Paul Martinez and Michael Lee each scored twice for the Wolverines in the win. Borja and teammate Joshua Waldo scored for Tan Holdings FC.

In other U14 division matches, the ASC Trust Islanders defeated visiting Don Bosco from the Philippines 5-1 with three goals from Shawn Sablan and two from Kein Artero. Fred Aragones scored for Don Bosco.

The Wings also defeated Don Bosco in opening day play with goals from Taiga Simon, Kyle Halehale, Kainoa Ferguson, Mark Iseke, and Leon Morimoto. Aragones and Janshien Calilung scored for Don Bosco.

The Tigers defeated the Wolverines 6-2 with three goals from Seung Min Kim and one each from James Lee, Kris Fernandez, and Yu Chan Lee. Martinez scored both goals for the Wolverines. The Tigers also defeated the Islanders in Day 1 action.

In the U18 division, the Wings defeated visiting team Matanza, of the Northern Mariana Islands, 3-1. Jordan Jasmin scored twice for the Wings and Daniel Kim scored the team’s other goal. Jether Yobech scored Matanza’s lone goal of the contest.

The tournament continues through Sunday, with playoffs in the U14 division to determine champions. U14 division playoffs begin at 11:40 a.m. Sunday. In the U18 division, champions will be determined by bracket standings. The final matches of the U18 division will be played 9 a.m. Sunday.

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The Wings’ Derek Okuhama rushes toward the goal ahead of a visiting Matanza defender from the Northern Mariana Islands in an opening day U18 division match of the Youth Invitational Gobblefest soccer tournament at the Guam Football Association National Training Center Friday. The Wings won 3-1.

The Guam Shipyard Wolverines’ John Topasna slides in to try to clear the ball away from Tan Holdings FC’s Taka Borja of the Northern Mariana Islands in an opening day U14 division match of the Youth Invitational Gobblefest soccer tournament at the Guam Football Association National Training Center Friday. The Wolverines won 4-2.

The Guam Shipyard Wolverines’ Michael Lee stays in possession of the ball facing defensive pressure from visiting Tan Holdings FC defenders from the Northern Mariana Islands in an opening day U14 division match of the Youth Invitational Gobblefest soccer tournament at the Guam Football Association National Training Center Friday. The Wolverines won 4-2.

The ASC Trust Islanders’ Javian Cruz prepares to strike the ball against visiting team Don Bosco of the Philippines in an opening day U14 division match of the Youth Invitational Gobblefest soccer tournament at the Guam Football Association National Training Center Friday. The Islanders won 5-1.

Don Bosco’s Fred Aragones, from the Philippines, sends the ball forward against the ASC Trust Islanders in an opening day U14 division match of the Youth Invitational Gobblefest soccer tournament at the Guam Football Association National Training Center Friday. The Islanders won 5-1.