The first ASL tournament at Bethesda took place on November 18th, 19th & 20th, with all the ASL boys’ teams from U14 to U18 in attendance. It was a solid weekend for the boys against stiff competition. Club President, Martin Brown said of the weekend, “it was a great overall experience, the teams did well against good opposition, and all of the coaches did a fantastic job on and off the field with the boys. I was very happy to see the improvements the teams have made and look forward to the second ASL event in North Carolina”.
The JU 97/98B White team travelled to Bethesda having only played 8 games together, since their inception. Having to play teams that have been together for quite a while was always going to pose a problem. The scheduling was not easy, having to play at 8AM on both games, but the players adapted well. The one thing this team has is a lot of spirit and character, which showed, when playing opposition that was maybe a little ahead of where we are right now and with that never say die attitude, we really tested them at times. There were some great positives to come out of a difficult weekend, with team bonding, and knowledge of both individual and team strengths and weaknesses, being highlighted.
The team played some great soccer at times, which needs to be more consistent over game time, but this will improve with every game. Coach Miles added, “I was pleased with the effort of the boys and want to say a big well done to them for all their hard work.”
An encouraging opening weekend for the 96/97 boys Blue saw them open up with a 0 - 0 tie and then fall to 1 - 0 and 2 - 0 score lines. Coach Morris said, “I was happy with our overall play and there are certainly areas to work on along with areas that we can take great encouragement from. I feel we showed we deserve to be competing at this level in terms of our performances. I am confident we will grow as the competition moves along and with more time spent on the practice field. The players will have learned a lot form this past weekend and I am sure they are already excited to take part in our next round of games in January”.
The Spartans 95/96B White team went 0-3 at Bethesda, losing all 3 ASL games by 1 goal. In the 1st game against Soca Lightning (VA), the 2011 Virginia State Cup Champs the Spartans sat back and defended well in the 1st half. 0-0 at halftime and coming out confident that they could play with such a good team, J.U. had the better chances in the 2nd half, hitting the crossbar twice. Eventually an own goal with 10 minutes left, ended up in the back of the goal.
In the second game vs. Prince William Courage (VA), the Spartans came out strong early creating numerous chances, but couldn’t finish. A suspect offside call would have knotted the game in the final 5 minutes, but the final score was a 1-0 loss.
In the final game vs. NC Alliance (2011 Region 3 Premier League Champions), the Spartans went toe to toe with one of the top teams in the Southeast US. The Spartans took an early lead on a goal started by Robbie Principe to Evan Hawkes and finished by Jeremy Kot. NC Alliance took advantage of an open middle of the field and ripped a 25 yard shot in the top corner, a shot not many keepers could save. NC then won a penalty kick and finished the game winning 2-1.
Coach Nash added, “In back to back weekends, the defending from Vyas Maddukuri, Sam Curtis & Gideon Tamir has been exceptional. Jeremy Kot, Evan Hawkes & Luis Goncalves have put in some big performances over the past 7 games and Trevor Bachert was the best player on the field Friday night vs. Soca Lightning, a team with 3 regional players on the team. I was very happy with the three performances and feel the team is improving week in and week out”.
The Spartans 94/95B Blue team went 3-0 in the first ASL weekend, in the first game against SOCA, goals from Conor Pellas and Tim DiBisceglie, from a corner from Pellas, were enough to see SOCA off, after dominating the first half the Spartans sat back a little in the second and after going 2-0 up conceded a sloppy goal to give SOCA some life towards the end of the game. Good defending and goalkeeping from Taylor Sovelove was enough to see out the game.
The second game saw the Spartans take on a good NY Elite team, the game was 0-0- at half time and although the Spartans had chances even going into a strong wind, they were unable to capitalize despite being the better team in the first half. Improvements were made after half time and a rocket free kick from Conor Pellas into the top corner from 22 yards gave the Spartans the lead, they went on to create other chances but it wasn’t until Dylan Hammer beat the last defender with a nice move and repeated it one v one with the goalkeeper to walk the ball in to make it 2-0 was the game safe.
The last game saw the Spartans play a good, strong, athletic Warrington team from PA, the game was played in a physical manner with very few chances at all in the game. Danny Reilly got into some good positions wide right but the Spartans couldn’t connect. The defended very well and against tough pressure and about 15 minutes into the second half Derek Stiles played the ball wide to Spenser Heller who cut inside beating the right defender and completely fooling the covering center back with a scissors move before sliding the ball past the on rushing goalkeeper to give the Spartans the 1-0 lead. Some excellent defending from Robby Bonjione, Tim DiBisceglie, Conor Kelly and Derek Stiles saw the game out and allowed the Spartans to go to 3-0 for the weekend and 3-0 for the Atlantic Soccer League. Coach Brown added, “I was pleased with the victories and the way the boys hustled and the way the team defended, there are still areas to improve on and we have to put it all together for 80 minutes, but it is a very good starting point and I look forward to the next ASL event."
A 2-1 start to the ASL league for the 93/94B White team doesn’t sound like a bad weekend, but the Spartans know they lost a great opportunity to start 3-0. Leaving countless goal scoring opportunities on the field vs. South Jersey Barons (NJ), the Spartans know they should have done better. Dylan Stankowitz and Jack Caffrey dominated the middle of the field, but the offense couldn’t find the back of the net.
In the 2nd game vs. Montgomery United (PA), 7 unanswered goals proved that the Spartans are a team with some serious firepower this year. Newcomer Tyler Raff started off the scoring, followed by a 25 yard strike from Jordin Henry, a 20 yard rocket by James Lynch, a nice finish by Julian Light, another newcomer Zach Frazier getting 2 goals and Jeremy Robbins scoring on a beautiful individual 1v1 move. The defense was organized and didn’t have much to do all day.
In the final game vs. Hockessin Strikers (#1 team in DE & a top 25 team in Region 1) the Spartans dominated the game and finished with a 2-0 victory. On a long ball over the top from Chris Hall, the Hockessin defender & goalkeeper got crossed-up and Julian Light was there to finish. Tyler Raff scored a sensational volley after Jordin Henry played a ball over the top to him. Hockessin had 2 dangerous scoring chances and the Spartans had others including a rocket from Robbins that nicked the bar.
Coach Nash added, “Overall a good weekend, but could have been even better. Tyler Duggan, Chris Hall & Kyle Morris were excellent at the back and most players played well in front on many college coaches on hand at the event. I was pleased with the team performance and the performances of some individuals, some areas we can still improve on, but a good start.”
Spenser Heller scores for Spartans 94/95 Boys Blue.
