Pilot Cup opens up Tuesday

Every year about this time, the pitter-patter of cleated feet begins to echo around The Farm Sports Complex in Costa Mesa. This year, that sound is just a little bit louder.

Yes, it’s time once again for the Daily Pilot Cup, the annual youth soccer tournament that includes every elementary school that serves the Newport-Mesa area. All of them, that is, except Killybrooke and Wilson, which declined to field teams again.

Even without those two schools, there are more teams in the field for 2006 ? 130 teams in all. Joining the tournament this year is the Pegasus School, which is based in Huntington Beach but has a student body which largely hailes from Costa Mesa.

The big storyline will be a trio of winning streaks in the Pilot Cup. Rea Elementary has won five consecutive titles in the boys’ fifth- and sixth-grade gold division. Carden Hall has a three-year winning streak in the girls’ fifth- and sixth-grade gold division. Andersen Elementary’s string of girls’ third- and fourth-grade gold titles is at four straight.

Play begins Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. at The Farm. The event continues through championship games on Sunday.