Two years in the making, the Cocalico Eagles spent 10 days in Spain ahead of the 2025 season, creating memories of a lifetime both on and off the field.<\/p>\n
COCALICO, Pa. \u2014 The Cocalico Varsity Boys Soccer Team are set to kick off its 2025 season after a once-in-a-lifetime preseason trip to Spain.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In a first for the program, the Lancaster County high school team headed overseas in late July to spend ten days between Barcelona and Madrid.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In what was also a first for many of the players on the team, the trip to one of the top soccer countries in the world was one they will never forget.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“It was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime trip,” said Anthony Cruz-Amaro, a Cocalico Eagles senior outside back. “It was like a fairytale. It was amazing.”<\/p>\n
On the pitch, it was a rare opportunity to play against some of the best.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“It improved my level of play astronomically. It was something I’ve never felt or seen before,” said Cruz-Amaro.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Players gained experience they hope to use to beat the best here in central Pennsylvania.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I think we left there feeling that we can play with just about anybody,” said Head Coach Derek Sipe. “When you can play those high-level matches before your season starts, it really puts you [a] step ahead of some of your competition.”<\/p>\n
“Playing against the players [in Spain] shows you the level we can be at,” said Ty Wealand, a senior midfielder. “I definitely have [more] confidence from Spain, just from playing those four games.”<\/p>\n
Beyond those four games (which includes an impressive Eagles win), from soaking in the culture to trying new foods, a lifetime of memories are now shared by the Eagles.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“The soccer side of things that we enjoyed there was fantastic, but the rest of the moments, I think, is what I sat back and really appreciated \u2014 seeing them have fun and experience a new culture and try new foods and spend time on the beach and in Barcelona playing with one another,” said Sipe. “Those are the moments that really sunk into me and made it as meaningful as I thought it could be.”<\/p>\n
It was an unforgettable trip that they hope leads to an unforgettable season.<\/p>\n
“We’ll definitely attribute [success to the trip], because we really did grow as a unit,” said Wealand. “We’re ready to take it to the next level, ready to get another second championship.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two years in the making, the Cocalico Eagles spent 10 days in Spain ahead of the 2025 season,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":82626,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-82625","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-soccer","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82625\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}