Pilot Cup will feature record field

The chase for the Daily Pilot Cup continues to become a bigger and bigger venture.

This year’s Daily Pilot Cup will have 164 teams, the most in the soccer tournament’s nine-year history, Pilot Cup Director Kirk McIntosh said.

“It’s such an established event now,” McIntosh said of the tournament, which begins May 27 at Costa Mesa High and the adjacent Farm Sports Complex. “I don’t really need to publicize it. So many kids have played, and people know it’s coming every year. I think the turnout shows how popular soccer is in this area. We’ll have 2,500 kids out there and there will be like 10,000 people involved in this.”

Thirty Newport-Mesa elementary schools will be represented at the six-day tournament. The only two that didn’t register any teams are Davis and TeWinkle.

For the second year in a row, Rea Elementary has the most teams entered, with 14. The only school not in the Newport-Mesa area in the tournament is the Pegasus School of Huntington Beach.

“The majority of their student body is Newport Beach and Costa Mesa kids,” McIntosh said. “The school’s just west of the border between Huntington Beach and Costa Mesa.”

This year, McIntosh said he is also expanding the divisions. The fifth-and-sixth grade boys and girls will join the third-and fourth-grade divisions in having a Bronze Division, to go along with the Silver and Gold Division. The Bronze Division was originally introduced last year at the lower age level, after the Silver Division was introduced in 2004.

“Teams can play and not get wiped out,” McIntosh said. “When we first started this tournament, I had games that were 12-0.”

Now, teams are penalized for winning a game by more than five goals.

Because of the increased numbers, McIntosh said planning the tournament becomes more difficult. He said this year will be the first year when the championship games on Sunday, June 1, will have to be played at the Costa Mesa High fields as well as the Farm.

McIntosh said there are 54 teams registered in the boys’ third-and-fourth grade divisions, 41 in girls’ third-and-fourth grade, 37 in boys’ fifth-and-sixth grade and 32 in girls’ fifth-and-sixth grade.

Rea boys’ are the defending fifth- and sixth-grade boys’ Gold Division champions.

Andersen Elementary won the girls’ fifth- and sixth-grade Gold Division title last year, while the school also swept the boys’ and girls’ third- and fourth-grade Gold Division crowns.

Andersen has won six straight titles in the girls’ third- and fourth-grade division.

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or by e-mail at [email protected].