Spirit’s Style Makes a Difference : Soccer: Fountain Valley youth team uses ball control and deft passing to advance to Western Regional this weekend in Colorado.

FOUNTAIN VALLEY — To most, “kick ball” is an innocuous game we all played in elementary school, but to many soccer coaches, it has a more insipid meaning.

Kick ball is an unpolished style of soccer where the object is to beat defenses by chasing down long passes. Teams can be successful playing kick ball, but for purists, that would be winning ugly. And soccer aesthetics are important to Jim Stucker, the coach of the Fountain Valley Spirit girls’ soccer team.

“We challenge the kids to play a game that is other than kick the ball over the top and run like hell,” Stucker said.

“We have a team that people really like to watch. At one tournament this year, teams were lined up behind us and the other coaches were saying, ‘Watch this, this is what we want to do.’

“They were using our team as an instructional example and that’s the highest compliment you can get.”

The Spirit’s ball-control, passing game has won it admirers and has also made it one of the strongest age-group teams in the state. In April, the Spirit won the Southern California under-16 title to advance to the U.S. Youth Soccer Assn.’s Western Regional competition, which opens Saturday at Golden, Colo.

The winner in the 10-team competition, which finishes Wednesday, will advance to the National Cup championships July 22 in Richmond, Va. The Mission Viejo Herricanes won the under-16 title last year.

It may be difficult to assess the Spirit’s chances of winning the title, but the team has dominated its competition this season. Since the season started last August, the Spirit is 42-2-4 in tournament and league play, outscoring opponents, 8-1.

“We all get along really well and we work together on the field during games,” said the Spirit’s Julie Koudelka, who will be a junior at Edison High School next fall. “We just pass so well that it makes soccer really fun.”

The Spirit’s style of play requires deft passing. Therefore, Stucker and assistant coach Jack Bailey have put together a skillful bunch of players from throughout Southern California. The largest group, including Stucker’s daughter, Shellee, and Bailey’s daughter, Erin, are among five who will be juniors at Edison in the fall. But there are also players from Ocean View, Los Alamitos, Corona del Mar, Mater Dei, Sunny Hills, Canyon and Bakersfield high schools.

The players likely will be among the best on their high school teams for the next several years, but playing club soccer allows them to hone their skills with more talented teammates and against better competition.

The Spirit recently added a trainer, Bobby Bruch, a semiprofessional player and girls’ soccer coach at Marina High. Bruch, who played on two NCAA Division II championship teams at Seattle Pacific, said he has been impressed by the players’ work ethic.

“When they come out here and work as hard as they do, it’s a joy,” he said. “And I only see them getting better.”