Spartans 94/95B Blue Fall Short In Final Of The Disney Showcase
A Great Week For The U17 Boys @ Disney
The Spartans Blue 94/95 Boys Team took a squad of 17 including one 94/95B White player, Charles Bushnell and tow 95/96B White players, Evan Hawkes and Nico Saldivar down to Orlando , Florida for the prestigious Disney Soccer Showcase being held at the fantastic ESPN Wide World of Sports. Between the sun and the theme parks the team took time to actually play some soccer at this great event! The Spartans competed in the U17 Boys Copa division and were in a division of 8 teams and were in one bracket of four. In the Copa division one team from each bracket of four made the final.
The week started well as the Spartans jumped to a quick 2-0 lead over Boca United of Florida, with goals from Julian Light and a free kick from Conor Pellas, the team played very well and held a 2-0 lead at half time. Boca United came back into the game at the start of the second half but the Spartans played good counter attacking soccer and one of those attacks led Jeff Remley to go through one on one with the keeper and slot the ball home for his first goal for Jersey United, to give the Spartans a 3-0 lead. Not even a late consolation from Boca United could dampen the spirits as the game finished 3-1 and a great start for the team.
On Day 2 the Spartans faced on paper their toughest opposition playing Cleveland United fro, Ohio, the number 3 ranked team in Ohio North. The Spartans soon saw the excellence of the opposition and found it difficult to get the ball in the opening exchanges and soon found themselves a goal down after a mix up at the back. The Spartans struggled for most of the first half to get a foot hold in the game but did start to improve in the last 20 minutes of the first half. The Spartans made a couple of adjustments at half time and came out with some fire in the start of the second half and when Conor Pellas lashed a free kick that moved at least four yards from the middle of the goal to the corner to make it 1-1, the game had really turned on its head. The Spartans were now first to every ball and were controlling the temp o of the game. They got their reward with about 15 minutes to go when Conor Pellas played in Julian Light and he hit the bar the ball was half cleared to Kolby Simon who finished brilliantly to make it 2-1, the Spartans managed to see out the last few minutes of pressure from Cleveland to go 2-0 in the group.
Day 3 brought an interesting concept for the Spartans, a win or a tie would put them through but a loss depending on other results may also be enough. The Spartans were playing the Texans from Texas who were 1-1 from the first two days and had to win to have any chance of going through. The Spartans started sluggishly and were probably lucky not to be behind early, a few subs and changes didn’t do the trick and the Texans were working much harder but couldn’t find the final pass or finish. The Spartans were lucky to be 0-0 at the half. Five minutes into the second half a defensive mistake let the Texans forward through on goal and this time they made no mistake and the Spartans found themselves in the hole again 1-0. The response was positive and the play started to improve. They got that bit of luck when things seemed to not be going their way when the Texans right defender tried to clear the ball and in advert ably handled the ball in the box to give the Spartans the break they needed. Mike Dicola slotted the PK home to make it 1-1. This seemed to take the wind out of the sails of the Texans and two goals inside four minutes killed the game. Firstly, Conor Pellas had a great run and slide rule pass to play in Julian Light who fired past the Texans goalkeeper, the same combination did the damage again a couple of minutes later with Pellas flicking on a quick long ball from Dylan Castanheira to put Light threw again and he again beat the keeper and make it 3-1. While not the best performance the character to come back and win was very good after being down for the second day in a row. The Spartans finished 3-0 in their group and moved onto the final against Cape Fear of NC, the number 2 team in NC.
The final started well for the Spartans they controlled the ball and Dylan Weitz almost was played in well by Mike DiCola but the pass and run were unable to connect. The Spartans continued to press and Derek Stiles had a good header well saved by the NC goalkeeper. The Spartans were dealt a big blow three minutes before half time when a long ball was flicked on and the NC striker went one on one with Dylan Castanheira and slotted it home. At half time it was 1-0 Cape Fear. The Spartans came out in the second half and worked hard but didn’t really have the end product that was required to break down a good defense and mid way into the second half the referee missed a blatant foul on Mike DiCola and with him down the NC striker picked up the ball and finished in a bout of confusion the goal stood and it was 2-0. The Spartans tried to chase the game and in doing so went to three at the back and four up front but couldn’t find that piece of magic to get back into the game and were unfortunately hit on the counter attack for the third goal. The 3-0 score line didn’t reflect the game and on another day we may have had one or two things go our way and the game could have been very different. Coach Brown said, “I was very pleased overall, the players played some good soccer against good teams and when we didn’t quite play well we still found a way to win with the exception of the final. The boys handled themselves professionally both on and off the field, they were very responsible and I was very proud of the week we had at such a great event”.
