While most of us are caught up in the hoopla of the World Cup, there is reason to celebrate a local soccer team that just conquered a tournament of its own.
South Sioux City’s Unified Special Olympics soccer team, called Team Nebraska, won an exciting shootout over Team Florida in the finals to claim the team’s sixth national championship during the recent 2026 Special Olympics Summer Games in Minneapolis, Minn.
The South Sioux City team, coached by Marla Grier and assistant Edgar Gonzales, qualified for the national tournament by winning a state competition recently.
Playing — and winning — the game has become old hat for this 12-player lineup, which has pretty much been together since they were kids. Team members are Devon Conley, Sam Kerkaert, Eryc Bravo, Nicholas Flores, Adrian Montes, Anthony Cardona, Carlos Magana, David Montes, Diego Montes, Cesar Luesbrink, Seth Luesbrink and Jazmin Oviedo Laurel.
“They’ve been playing together since they were 8 or 9 years old, so they’ve played together a long time,” Grier told the Dakota County Star. “They’re also partners in unified bowling and unified volleyball and other sports, so it’s a close-knit group of players who are good friends. They are a very close, cohesive group.”
A “unified” team consists of a mix of able-bodied and special-needs athletes. Each team is limited to five able-bodied athletes, and these players do a great job of getting everybody involved in the action.
“You don’t want the unified partners doing all the scoring, and our team only had one goal (scored by an able-bodied player) in the tournament,” Grier said. “They work hard to get all the athletes to do the scoring.”
The team team made it to the four-team knockout round by going 3-0 in their pool with wins over Massachusetts (2-1), District of Columbia (3-1) and North California (2-1).
In the first game, Eryc Bravio scored both goals on assists from Nicholas Flores and Anthony Cardona. Bravo, Carlos Magana and Devon Conley scored goals in the DC win with assists from Adrian Montes, Diego Montes and Cardona. Cesar Lopez Cabrera made seven saves in the win.
The win over North California was a fast, physical game that ended up going into overtime. Bravo scored both goals, including the game-winner, on assists from Conley and Montes, while Cabrera made five saves.
The two teams met again in the semifinals and the South Sioux City team came away with another 2-1 win. Bravio scored both goals on assists from Montes and Flores to send them to the finals against an undefeated team from Florida.
The championship game proved to be a show-stopper, Grier said.
“Other teams stopped their matches to watch us play the championship game, and it was really exciting,” she said.
Conley fed Montes for the Nebraska’s team’s first scored in the opening half before Florida answered with a score in the second half. The game would ultimately go to a penalty-kick shootout, where Nebraska prevailed 5-4 to take the national title.
The team also participated in opening and closing ceremonies during the tournament, which added to the experience for the players, Grier said.
“Some of the referees that we had during our games said we had the best team there,” Grier added. “These kids practice together a lot, even in the winter, so they’re pretty committed and love the game.”
That a team from a town of less than 15,000 can compete with — and beat — teams from bigger cities and states continues to amaze those who see the team in action, Grier said.
“When they hear we’re from a small town, they just can’t believe it,” she said. “It’s so great for these young men because they have worked so hard.”
And after all of that, one would think the players would enjoy a little time off.
No way, said Grier.
“These kids are part of the Union Omaha unified soccer team and that season starts in a couple of weeks, and I wanted to take a week off before getting ready for that season, but they stopped by the house tonight to get the balls and shoot around,” she said. “Which is fine with me.”
