Saturday was a great day for soccer, unless you were a coach, sub or spectator! Rain to keep you cool and a wet pitch to make play interesting. The fields on the Coast were playable, but teams travelling to the Lower Mainland were not so fortunate.The U12 Storm played against the Richmond Storm (how well named were they?) soaked to the bone, but full of fight.Our boys played a strong first half, but came out down 2-0. The locals kicked it up a notch in the second half and were rewarded by a tally from Kelsey Dixon. A late goal by Richmond spoiled a good effort, though. The team played hard with an especially strong performance from the midfield.
The U14 United boys travelled to Carnavon Park in Vancouver only to find the field closed.
Kerrisdale Cobras agreed to play a friendly at the nearby Kerrisdale Park. I don't know why they call them friendly games. Give two teams of young boys a ball and it's win at all costs. United seemed to love the mud and played one of their best games, passing the ball with intelligence and good movement. Justice Coady and Julian Cantarutti notched goals. Julian brought lots of ammunition and was firing at every opportunity, giving the Cobras' goalie lots to do.
United plays at Shirley Macey in a cup round game, on Saturday against West Van Spuraways. Rick McGuire's boys play a nice brand of football, so come out and be entertained.
The U14 Celtics played Richmond Whitecaps and gave a good account of themselves, even though they were on the wrong end of a 4-2 score.
Drew Dennes played a great game at the right midfield position and stepped up to score both goals. The first was from a through pass hitting a high shot past the Richmond goalie, while the second was on an alert play as he caught the goalie cheating and lobbed the ball over his head into the net. The U16 Strikers found their game field swamped, but the opposition, Pirates, agreed to play a friendly on a nearby gravel pitch.
The Strikers took advantage of the game with players switching positions and played without missing a beat. Moving the ball intelligently and with speed, the local lads played a great game.
Kelly Neu moved up from his central defense position to play center forward and grabbed himself a goal. Will they ever be able to keep him back now that he had had a taste of that euphoria? Brandon Elsdon chipped in his usual contribution with two goals and Jesse Horn nailed the forth. A 4-1 result for the Strikers that apparently impressed the heck out of the Pirates coach.
The U12 Stingray girls played the North Shore Avalanche in similar weather conditions as the other teams.
The local gals held the Avalanche scoreless until the last minute of the first half, but two late goals gave the opponents a 3-0 win.
I talked to my informants at their Tuesday practice and was impressed by their mature view of how they played and what was needed to become a good team. They told me how they plan to work hard and improve as the U14 Scorpions have over the last three years.
Speaking of the Scorpions, they also played on a gravel pitch as they faced third place Burnaby Blast.
The Blast caught the Scorpions napping within the first 10 minutes as they roared through and blasted a shot past goalkeeper Gurveen Clair for a rare goal against and a 1-0 lead. That was the first half score. The Scorpions got the equalizer early in the second half as Noah Mithrush sent Tayler Metcalfe away with a nice pass. Tayler made a perfect cross that gunner Candice Veale slammed into the net for her fifth goal in five games. Then fitness, skill and determination won through with five minutes to go as Scorpions, who were outplaying the Blast, got the winner as Kendra Pomfret cracked a shot from 20 yards out. With the win, the Scorpions remain undefeated this season.
The U16 Strikers are holding two fund-raising events that will be interesting to our young people.
Monday, Nov. 22, at Shirley Macey Park, there will be a one-day soccer camp. The ages 9 to 12 camp goes from 9 a.m. to noon while ages 5 to 8 goes from 1 to 3 p.m.
The camp will be conducted by the Strikers players including Jeremy Izad who plays with the Vancouver Whitecaps youth team that is off to the nationals and other players who are also participating in the Whitecaps soccer academy program.
On Saturday, Nov. 26 there will be at dance for grade 6 and 7 students at the Chat Secondary School gym. Tickets are $5.Tickets for both events are available at your elementary school office or call 604-886-2230 for more information.
