The Orchard Valley U15 Boys’ Class I soccer club played the
2003-04 State Cup Champions from Mount Hamilton, and battled to a
1-1 tie on Saturday, Sept. 18.
The Orchard Valley U15 Boys’ Class I soccer club played the 2003-04 State Cup Champions from Mount Hamilton, and battled to a 1-1 tie on Saturday, Sept. 18.
The Stingrays were scheduled to play in the Golden Gate Invitational tournament, at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco last weekend.
Stingrays 1, Mount Hamilton Lobitos 1
In a very heated, aggressive, hard-fought match, the Stingrays battled back from a 1-0 halftime deficit to tie the two-time State Cup Champions 1-1. Although the Lobitos dominated play in the first half — outshooting the Stingrays 8-3, the defense (Casey Mott, Eric Miller, Robert Salinas, Nick Rodriquez, and Kevin Grove) and mid-field (Danny Nelson, Bryan Faulk, Gerardo Morillo, Blake Presar, Myles Downing, Noel Vera, and Hugo Arriaga) for Orchard Valley held their ground. With just a few minutes before halftime, the Lobitos drew first blood as a cross from the right wing found their center forward, who deflected the cross past keeper Sheldon Steenhuis. The Stingrays – disappointed, but still determined – outworked the Lobitos in the second half, as forwards Brendant Palomo, Spencer Razouk, Murilo Almeida, and Ricardo Plata each put pressure on the Lobitos’ defense. Finally, the Stingrays caught the keeper out of position, as Mott found Plata unmarked at the 30-yard mark. Plata curled a shot from the left just over the keeper’s hands, knotting the score. The final 25 minutes of the contest was quite intense, as the Lobitos pushed a defender up into the offense in an effort to score the go-ahead goal. But the ‘Rays were unfazed, and they continued to move the ball and maintain spacing, as the Lobitos panicked and never had any further goal scoring opportunities.. Although the result was a tie, the Stingrays (with a point in Abronzino League standings) felt as if they had a victory, and moved into fourth place in the division.
Fury U12 girls tie SC Jaws
The U12 Fury soccer team played a tough and hot game in Morgan Hill against the Jaws from Santa Cruz earlier this month. The game ended in a 2-2 tie with both sides battling for a last attempt at a win.
For the Fury, members of the Orchard Valley Youth Soccer League, Lauren Bertero made both goals with assistance from many of her teammates. Forward Melanie Menage kept the ball near the opponent’s net and made several good passes. The first goal was made when a penalty kick was deflected; Bertero followed up and got the ball in the net.
In the midfield, Anna Molyneux supported the forwards by making several good tackles and battling for the ball after throw-in.
Sweeper Alyssa Gummow was especially effective at defending the goal, while goalie Mariah Derry registered three saves.
Coach Omar Alvarado’s team played better during the second half, when it battled back from a 2-0 deficit to tie up the game.
The next day, the Fury played the Shock from Almaden Valley. The game ended in another 2-2 tie and Bertero was again responsible for both goals.
She received special help from Kelly Foster, whose offensive skills kept the ball moving forward, and Veronica Lane, who tackled the ball aggressively in the midfield area.
Tornadoes U13 girls open SSJYSL play with tie, loss
Here’s a look back at the recent start of South San Jose Youth Soccer League play:
SSJYSL Tornadoes 3, Belmont United Lightning 3
The Tornadoes opened league play against a tough Lightning team. The Lightning scored first, but the Tornadoes came back with an example of excellent team passing.
Midfielder Amanda Whitling pushed the ball ahead to forward Amanda Kline, who dropped the ball back to midfielder Sarah Block, who angled it ahead to Lexi MacPhail.
MacPhail finished the job with a nifty left footer to even the score at 1-1.
The Morgan Hill girls looked to be in trouble the rest of the first half, as the Lightning took control and moved ahead 3-1.
But the second half belonged to the Tornadoes, as the locals dominated play and pulled even.
Kline scored off a direct kick from about 25 yards to pull the Tornadoes within one, and Bella Comin tied it up with a nice goal off a feed from MacPhail.
The Tornadoes had several chances to move ahead in the second half, hitting the post twice and the crossbar once, but couldn’t find the go-ahead goal.
San Carlos Inferno 2, SSJYSL Tornadoes 1
Coming off a late Saturday afternoon game, the Tornadoes were a bit flat on Sunday morning — and the Inferno took advantage by scoring two quick goals early in the first half.
The Tornado defense — goalie Nichole Downing, Cloey LemMon, Stephanie Wan, and Lindsay Pund, along with midfielders Amanda Whitling, JC Clayton, Mary Thatcher, Alex Seda, and Taylor Johnson —stiffened considerably after the early onslaught, and kept the Inferno out of the net the rest of the way.
However, the Tornadoes were only able to get on the scoreboard once, as Whitling hit Johnson with a nice lead pass to set her up on a breakaway. The Tornadoes had several other good chances to score in the second half, but couldn’t get it between the posts.
