Tuesday, 04 December 2007 07:02

The 2007 Plantation Thanksgiving Tournament saw West Pines United teams taking top honors in 5 divisions while placing 2 other teams in medal rounds as finalists. Championships in the U-11, U-12 and U-15 girls’ gold divisions as well as the U-9 Blue and U-12 gold boys’ categories, West Pines ended their campaign with the most championships won at the tournament by any club. Our U-13 and U-14 boys went down fighting as finalists in their respective divisions.



U9 Boy’s Academy - CHAMPIONS (Blue Division)
The youngest team in the club stepped up against older competition at Plantation. Their performance elicited countless accolades from competing teams and onlookers. Playing 6v6 and with teamate Giancarlo Riccobono away for the weekend, the team had only seven members available to play the five games necessary to win the championship.

West Pines hammered to a 5-2 victory over Weston Wild, cruised to a 4-1 win against Cooper City Optimist White and crushed the Plantation Eagles 98 Predators by a 6-1 margin to make their way into the semi-final round as group winners. Prolific goal-scorer, Timothy Weah was unstoppable as Nicholas Guilliod, Daniel Torres, Yannick Blackman and Nathaniel Haynes all found the back of the net with their attacking style of play. Goalkeeper Lucas Grauer was up to the task between the sticks as Matthew Levy provided the necessary defensive work with Guilliod.

Their semi-final match against the wildcard Naples Sharks produced little in the form of competition as the boys romped to a 6-0 win and a meeting with the Cooper City Optimist Red, 1-0 winners over Plantation in the other semi-final game.

Up against the more physically larger “Reds”, the fighting spirit of West Pines came to the fore. In a fiercely fought match long to be remembered, a 3-3 tied game was the result at the end of regulation play. The boys were not to be denied however, and when keeper Grauer dove to his left to smother the “Reds” first shot in the penalty shootout phase, the championship started its journey to West Pines as Guilliod, Blackman, Torres and Haynes all buried their respective strikes for a 4-2 margin and the victory.

U11 Girl’s (Gold Division) – CHAMPIONS.
Coach Wayne Smith’s squad was tested early in the competition when held to a 0-0 tie by the Coral Springs Renegades in their first game. Undaunted, the girls rallied to record two shut-outs with a 4-0 blanking of Wellington followed by a 6-0 thrashing of Central Florida’s CFU Rowdies, sending them into the final for a return engagement with the Renegades, winners of the other group.

As before, the intense rivalry produced an excellent game as both teams allowed the first goal to be scored against them in competition play to remain tied at one goal apiece at the end of regulation play. West Pines finally took home the championship when, with goalkeeper Jacqueline in fine form, the Renegades faltered, missing on three PK attempts as Rachel Smith, Danielle Anteiau and Taylor Coffee all scored for Pines.

U-12 Boys BLACK (Gold Division) - CHAMPIONS.
“Hardly breaking a sweat”, was the comment used by a prominent coach when describing the performance of coach Richard Jobson’s under-12 boys. Playing with complete confidence and control, the team took their game to a different level whenever the need to do so arose. With team captain Brian Gonzalez out with a shoulder injury, Alex Marotta, Ramario “Bebito” Bernard, Kevin Paz, Darren Rios, Michael Dingwall, Jarred Heller, Baultista Pedezert, Aaron Diaz, Andre Blackman, Josh Castellanos and Joseph Ghittis all exploded for 9-1 and 8-0 blow-outs against Strike Force and Team Boca respectively. Cooling it a bit, the boys then recorded a controlling 5-2 victory over the Pinellas Raiders (St. Pete) who, in securing the wildcard semi-final spot, found themselves in the unfortunate position of having to play Richard’s “Rebels” once again.

As expected, their second meeting only differed when the Raiders failed to score this time around as West Pines proceeded to blank the West Coast team 4-0, while saving energy for the finals to be contested against one of two Weston Premier teams who were facing each other in the other semi-final game. Earlier, hopes of both the “Black” and “Gold” West Pines teams meeting in the final were dashed when the “Gold’s” went down to a 1-4 defeat at the hands of Weston Premier. The team had previously secured victories over Doral Milan (3-1), and Cape Coral (3-0).

In an awesome display of attacking soccer, West Pines proceeded to totally dominate the championship game against Weston Premier, taking home the bacon with a lop-sided 7-1 victory.

U12 Girls (Gold Division) – CHAMPIONS
Sparing little time in stamping their authority, Todd Goodman’s girls proceeded to out score their two group opponents by a margin of 13-2 with 6-2 and 7-0 victories over Plantation Eagles Copa and Florida Premier, respectively. With their spot in the finals secured, the third game saw West Pines suffering a brief lapse in concentration, tumbling to a 2-0 defeat in their match-up with Kendall Soccer Coalition.

A repeat of last year’s championship game with the Weston Fury, winners of the other group, was anti-climatic as West Pines proceeded to defend their championship with a workmanlike 3-0 victory courtesy of goal-scorers, Alessandra Salazar, Melanie Monteagudo and Bridget Callahan.

U13 Boys (Blue Division) - FINALIST
With one team resting after their Raleigh Cup trip to North Carolina, it was up to the U-13 “Gold” team to represent the age group at Plantation. A grueling four games later, it was their turn to seek some rest.

Getting of to a good start, West Pines defeated the Weston Wild by a close 1-0 margin in their first game. The squad returned the following morning for a grueling 1-1 encounter with Sunrise Soccer Club. With barely enough time to rest and grab a bite to replenish their bodies, West Pines now needed to win their second game that day against Miami Strike Force, victors over both Sunrise and Weston by 1-0 and 5-1 margins respectively. In a knock-down, all-or-nothing duel, West Pines stole “the Force” from their Miami opponents in a thrilling 2-1 upset victory and a place in the finals. The hard-fought win may have cost them the championship however, as the Miramar Strikers were enjoying an easy 8-1 thrashing of the Boynton Knights to advance as finalist in the other group.

The highlight of their tournament was playing a very talented U13 Miramar Strikers team in the final. This was a very competitive game, Miramar scored first but Cameron Brice found the back of the net and tied the game later in the first half. The two teams battled through a scoreless half until Miramar scored the winning goal with only a few minutes left on the clock. After three grueling games in group play, West Pines finally succumbed to exhaustion in the championship game as weary legs betrayed stout hearts in the 1-2 loss to the Strikers.

U14 boys BOYS (Blue Division) - FINALIST Coach Vince Serio’s boys were quickly off the mark when scoring relatively easy victories in their first two games. Securing their place in the final, West Pines had beaten group opponents Team Boca by a score of 3-1 and the Weston Wild by a 4-0 margin.

Re-enforcing the point that no team should be taken lightly, West Pines were forced to reach deep in their third game against the winless Naples Sharks, as their cross-over rivals from the West Coast put them to the test for a hard-fought 1-1 tie. The scheduled start time of 8:00 p.m. for the game which ended late into the night, may have played a factor in the team’s lack-luster performance in the next morning’s 10:00 a.m. championship game against the Miami Springs Eagles, winners of the second group.

Having played their last group game some six hours before West Pines took the field against Naples, it was clear that the Eagles reported to the championship game a more rested and alert team. As West Pines’ players gradually wilted during the second half of the match the Eagles soared to a 3-0 win to take the championship.

U15 Girls - CHAMPIONS Still confident from their championship run in the West Pines Classic in October last, the squad ran their unbeaten tournament record to 8 victories when defeating the Naples Sharks 2-1 (4-2 in penalty kicks), in the final. The victory over the sharks avenged last season’s two losses to the defending Orange Classic champions.

In the first game, a 3-1 win over the Renegades Flo, striker Melanie Meyer led the way with two goals sandwiching an assist on the second goal scored by mid-fielder, Brittney Lane. Meyer’s goals were assisted by Jamilla Stanbury and Paula Villafane. Strictly Soccer was next to fall by a 2-0 margin as Stanbury’s scorching left-footer from 25 yards out was followed by a deft lob from mid-fielder, Angelica Sant Antonio to seal the win and a place in the finals.

The work of mid-fielders Alexa Casaña, Adriana Perez and striker Desirre Quadros to break the defense of cross-over opponents, Delray Flames, was rewarded when a timely strike from Perez off a Nicole Di Pasquale corner kick extinguished the Flames. Led by Arielle Elizee, the defensive play of Danielle Chanzes, Sydney Dixon, Daniella Ugarte and Ashley Taylor allowed just one shot on goal for the entire game. The 1-0 victory over the Flames also avenged years of frustrating losses against that team.

Breaking the Naples off-side trap in the championship game proved a difficult task to overcome as frustration resulted in numerous scoring opportunities being squandered by West Pines. A long throw-in over the top by Perez found Meyer beating the trap and calmly slotting away the go-ahead goal in the first half. Naples equalized in the second stanza to end regulation play at one goal apiece. With mid-fielder Mica-Shea Bailey coming ever so close to scoring on a number of occasions, the 20-minute overtime period failed to break the deadlock. Final victory was achieved however when, goal-keeper and game MVP, Nicole Martin rose to the occasion to save two penalty kicks as West Pines’ Di Pasquale, Stanbury, Meyer and Villafane all scored to secure the championship.