Cashion’s Maloy part of 3v3 team that takes 3rd at nationals

A Cashion first grader was part of a group that brought home a bronze medal from a national soccer event.

Bentley Maloy and his four teammates placed third in the U8 division at the 3V3 Live National Soccer Tour’s national tournament.

Bentley is the son of Brandon and Kelley Maloy.

He is a part of the RB7 Academy out of Edmond and joined four teammates to tackle 3-on-3 soccer for the first time late last year.

Joining him were Aiden Rodriguez of Oklahoma City; Beckham Verzwyuelt of Thibodaux, La.; Callum Ketchum of Thomasville, Ga.; and Luka Ortega of Edmond.

The team was coached by Raphael Bonelle and Stephen Tower.

To qualify for nationals, the team (RB7 2018B) first had to advance past the regional tournament, which was held in Enid.

The team, all first graders and most just 6 years old playing the U8 division, did that and headed to Foley, Ala., for the national tournament to be held Saturday, Nov. 30 and Sunday, Dec. 1.

The first day consisted of five pool play games.

“It was a little rough,” said Brandon. “It was all about points.”

RB7 18B went 3-2 in those contests with 28 goals scored and 12 goals against.

On Sunday, elimination games started.

RB7 18B defeated the Arkansas Hulks 5-0 in the quarterfinals.

That pitted the group against Wolfpack 18, a team from New Mexico that beat them 5-1 the previous day.

Wolfpack 18 advanced to the championship with a 6-4 win.

“Our kids were so close to making the final, but lost it in the last four minutes,” said Brandon.

Sting WTX 2018B, the only other team to defeat the group from Oklahoma, won the title 2-1 over Wolfpack.

The two finalists had played more than 30 games during the season, far more from the group from Oklahoma who just picked up the 3-on-3 action prior to the regional.

“It was pretty cool to see a little Oklahoma team that had never played 3v3 not just make nationals, but go out and place third,” Brandon said.