The Orchard Valley U13 Boys
’ Class I soccer club recently competed in the Central Coast
Condor tournament in Pismo Beach as a warm-up for the upcoming
State Cup.
The Orchard Valley U13 Boys’ Class I soccer club recently competed in the Central Coast Condor tournament in Pismo Beach as a warm-up for the upcoming State Cup. The Stingrays finished in fourth place with a win, loss and a tie in their three games.
Stingrays 4, SLO Roadrunners 2
The Stingrays scored early, as Ricardo Plata took advantage of a Roadrunner turnover and blasted a shot from the left point past the keeper. Plata was set up by Casey Mott, who quickly found Plata after the sweeper lost control of the ball.
Later in the half, Plata scored again. Plata deflected a shot by Spencer Razouk off a Matt Altamirano corner kick into the net. Razouk scored early in the second half on Mott’s second assist.
Plata finished the scoring with a hat trick goal set up by a penalty kick by defenseman Eric Miller. With a four-goal lead, the Stingrays had a couple of breakdowns late in the game as the young Roadrunners scored two goals. But excellent saves by goalkeepers Sheldon Steenhuis and Trevor Newcomb helped preserve the victory.
Stingrays 1, Roosevelt Revolution 6
In the game that would determine the tournament champion, the Stingrays had a poor game and lost to a team they tied last year. The Revolution took a 3-0 lead in the first half, as their striker made some incredible runs for two of the goals. Casey Mott scored the lone goal for the Stingrays on a beautiful header from a corner kick by Matt Altamirano. Down 3-1 at halftime, the Stingrays had several chances early in the second half, but the Revolution put the game away with three more goals.
Stingrays 0, Santa Barbara FC 0
Despite the score, the Stingrays played a very solid game both offensively and defensively with 17 shots on goal, many of which just missed their mark. Both teams played well. Kevin Grove controlled the midfield, and Nick Rodriquez ran down every Santa Barbara run as the sweeper for the Stingrays. Rodriquez’ move to sweeper allowed Danny Nelson to move to forward and have several nice runs toward goal. The Stingrays’ defense of Miller, Rodriquez, Grove and Matt Stuck repeatedly prevented scoring opportunities and transitioned the ball to midfielders Jonathan Hughes, Chris Nielsen, Stephen Smith and Nelson.
