- August 5, 2026
-
-
Loading
Loading
Jeff Lowdermilk has been coaching for 30 years. In that time, he’s worked with all sorts of teams, trying to pass along his wisdom and trying to guide each of them to great heights.
Results vary with talent and execution. That’s the nature of decades in coaching. Some of his teams have been more successful than others.
Only one has reached the final match of a national tournament, though.
Florida Premier FC SWFL’s U13 girls soccer team is that one. The Lakewood Ranch-based squad got all the way to the championship of its age/gender division in the U.S. Club Soccer National Cup, held from July 20-24 in Denver, Colorado.
It ultimately lost, 3-0, to the FC Tampa Rangers and settled for being a runner-up with a 3-1-1 record at the tournament. To Lowdermilk, appearing in the final was plenty impressive.
“It was a tough last match. It really was,” Lowdermilk said. “But to get there is just massive. It’s something the girls and their parents will remember for the rest of their lives.”
The team is composed of players born in 2013 — most of whom will be in eighth grade for the 2026-27 academic year. Most of them also plan to play for Lakewood Ranch High one day.
When they’re not competing in tournaments, they battle players from other clubs across the state. Florida Premier FC SWFL is a member of the Regional League’s North Division in the Elite Clubs National League.
Its girls U13 team wrapped this past season with a 9-4-3 record and in third place of its nine-team division. The National Cup is separate from its season and just one of multiple tournaments it participates in every year.
To win the National Cup in any age/gender division is to win the highest honor in U.S. Club Soccer. Champions are crowned annually among boys and girls ranging U13-19.
Throughout the 2025-26 season, Lowdermilk saw signs this team could truly contend for that sought-after trophy.
“I’ve always seen the potential there,” he said. “The question with a lot of teams is, ‘Are they going to realize that potential?’ The fundamental thing that it boils down to is the hard work and consistency.”
Florida Premier FC SWFL’s girls U13 squad began its national quest by entering the U.S. Club Soccer Florida Cup. There, it defeated Sporting Jax SA in the quarterfinals, 3-1, and Brevard SA in the semifinals, 3-0, to earn a date with the FC Tampa Rangers in the title match May 10.
No shortage of dramatics accompanied that championship match. The two teams were tied, 1-1, in regulation when the FC Tampa Rangers scored with five minutes remaining in the extra period.
Florida Premier FC SWFL found an equalizer and sent the match to penalty kicks. The victor would automatically qualify for the National Cup, while the loser would have to get there the hard way — enter a regional tournament and win its way in.
“It’s very stressful, but at the same time, it’s fun,” said rising seventh-grade goalkeeper Brooke Constanzer. “It’s either you make it or you don’t.”
The Lakewood Ranch-based team prevailed, and just over two months later, found itself in Colorado. Five matches stood between it and a national championship.
Its run to the final began with group play. Following a 1-0 opening victory over West Coast SC of California, the team drew with FC United of Iowa, 0-0, and defeated Manta United SC of Ohio, 1-0.
Winning its group thrust the team into the semifinals, where it squared off with Oklahoma Celtic FC and the locals came away with another narrow victory, 1-0.
Four matches. Four clean sheets.
“We were very organized,” said rising eighth-grade defender/midfielder Lauren Bittar. “We all knew our roles and what to do.”
The very team awaiting it in the National Cup was a familiar foe — FC Tampa Rangers. That made for a rematch, and this time around, that foe triumphed.
Florida Premier FC SWFL didn’t return home with the trophy, but did have memories to show for its trip. The players won’t soon forget what it felt like to go that far.
“A lot of us have known each other for at least a year or two,” said rising eighth-grade forward/midfielder Shawnessy Aguirre. “We got to nationals together, so that makes our band (stronger). We’ve bonded so well together as a team.”
High school soccer is still more than a year away for all of them. For now, club soccer is the avenue through which they train and compete.
When they do reach that next level, they won’t be playing for Lowdermilk anymore. Most of them will play for Lakewood Ranch against Palmetto — against him.
To him, these players will always be synonymous with that one team which did what none other in his career could.
“I’ve coached for 30 years,” Lowdermilk said. “I (had) been to regional finals, but never a national final.”
