Keeper’s Cup opens Peninsula-area soccer season while educating teens to perils of distracted driving.
The Keeper’s Cup is a soccer tournament with a mission. Two missions really.
On the one hand, it continues a decades-old Peninsula-area tradition of opening the high school season with a quality tournament including boys and girls teams on the varsity and junior-varsity levels. On the other, it serves to educate new teenage drivers, and their parents, on the dangers of distracted, destructive driving.
The soccer event, beginning Monday and ending Thursday, includes more than 850 players competing on seven turf fields at three venues in James City and York counties: the Warhill Sports Complex, Bailey Field at York High and Bruton High.
It is organized by Tammy Gweedo McGee, whose son, Conner Guido, was a goalie at Tabb High whose life was cut short by an underaged, unlicensed driver. McGee uses this event and other forms of advocacy, such as spearheading state legislative changes, to make driving safer for teens and honor her son’s legacy with the Gweedo Memorial Foundation.
Three games will be played each night on the seven fields, five of which are at the Warhill complex — the hub of an event that has the feel of a carnival. Visitors may “touch a truck,” be they fire trucks, ambulances, big-rig trucks and monster trucks.
Representatives of Fire, Police, EMS, Students against Destructive Decisions (SADD), Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), Virginia Tech and Williamsburg Area Transit Authority will be among those providing the educational aspect. That will be fun, too, as the teen with the most QR code scans from each booth wins $250 cash, while the team with the most teens participating wins $400 in soccer equipment.
Adults can bid in the online silent auction for hotel stays, dining experiences, NFL game tickets, jewelry and more (bidding runs from Monday to Friday at https://www.32auctions.com/KeepersCup2025?r=1&t=all).
The tournament will include some of the top teams and players on the Peninsula. Menchville finished No. 5 last year in the final 757Teamz boys Top 15, led by All-Tidewater pick Christian Robertson (24 goals, 11 assists), while Jamestown was No. 6, led by Max Cooper (26 goals, nine assists).
Lafayette won the Class 3 boys state title, beating Western Albemarle 1-0 in the final. Bruton’s boys reached the Class 2 state semifinals.
Warhill’s boys had one of their best seasons in school history, reaching the Class 4 state semifinals, so the Warhill-Menchville game at 7:30 p.m. Monday on Warhill field No. 2 will be highly anticipated. Ditto for the game at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Bailey Field between defending Class 3 Region A champion Grafton and rival Tabb — a perennial Class 3 state tournament participant and recent state champ.
The girls varsity bracket features some competitive matchups as well, starting with Lafayette-York on Monday at 7:30 p.m. at Warhill field No. 6. Lafayette — which won the Class 3 state title in 2022, reached the final in ’23 and was a semifinalist in ’24 — puts forward Taylor Walker (26 goals, 22 assists), midfielder Ceci Riggs and defender Kira Moore on the All-Tidewater team a year ago.
Class 4 state semifinalist Jamestown is scheduled to play Class 3 state quarterfinalist Tabb at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday on Warhill field No. 2. A matchup on field No. 3 between Jamestown and rival Warhill will be the girls highlight Thursday.
The distracted driving events are free. Game spectators are asked to donate $10 to offset tournament expenses (children 12 and under are admitted free). For more information, contact McGee at 757-812-4455/keeperscuptournament@gmail.com
Originally Published: March 16, 2025 at 2:46 PM EDT