DISNEY’S JR. SHOWCASE  

 

Having qualified for the showcase in September, our Premier U-13 and U-14 Girls teams were joined by the U-13 Boys’ squad at this year’s event. Missing were the recently crowned Super Y-League National Champions, the U-14 Boys Premier who, though having qualified for the tournament, had to decline the invitation when many of its members were called to the year-end Regional ODP camp on the same week-end.

 

Competing against some of the Nation’s best teams, the Wayne Smith led U-13 girls suffered agonizing 1-0 losses to the Dallas Texans and VSA Heat Blue of Virginia, as many scoring opportunities went a-begging for West Pines. The teams are ranked 2^nd.

and 4^th. in their respective States. The girls finally found the net in their 3^rd. and final game when fighting to a 2-2 stalemate with Georgia’s #2 ranked Atlanta Fire. Despite the early exit, the girls clearly showed they could compete at a very high level.

 

Todd Goodman’s U-14 girls were not as fortunate in going down to Maryland’s Baltimore Bays and Georgia’s #1 ranked Atlanta Fire by identical 4-2 margins. The team may have arrived at Disney with a few weary legs after having competed in the Super Y-League National Finals just days before in Tampa, where they had finished with a 3-1-0 record. Champions of the Y-League’s Southeast Division, the 1-0 loss to eventual finalist, Pennsylvania’s Berks Rage, was the only defeat suffered by the team during the 16-game Super-Y season. Deflated somewhat, the girls rebounded in their final game to record a

0-0 tie with Alabama’s State Champions, Birmingham United. This marked the seventh game played against elite opponents over a 10 day period. Incredible.

 

Akin to a runaway locomotive, our U-13 boys rumbled through North Carolina’s Charlotte SA and West Florida’s Fusion SC posting 6-1 and 4-1 victories over their stunned opponents. Turning up the steam, the train rocked past Great Osceola United, stopping only when the game was halted with 12 minutes still on the clock and the score at 10-0 in favor of West Pines. The much-anticipated semi-final match against St. Petersburg’s Brandon Flames was marred with the ejection of two team members from the game. The under-manned squad, already missing players who were attending the ODP camp, fought through double overtime before succumbing to a late goal and a 2-1 defeat.

 

 

With many of our Premier teams absent from this year’s renewal, it was always going to be difficult for West Pines to match the performance of previous years. This time around, championship honors were reserved for our U-10 Boys Black and U-12 Girls Gold teams.     

Finalists included the U-9 Girls Black, U-16 Boys Black and the U-16 Boys Gold teams. Just failing to make the championship round were the U-9 Boys and Girls White teams, the U-12 Boys and Girls Black teams, the U-13 Girls Gold squad (who actually won their group), and the U-15 Boys Gold.

 

Producing some of their best soccer for the season, the Bernard Guilloid coached U-10 Boys stampeded through group action scoring 21 goals with only 2 against. Taking a 5-1 victory over Weston FC- Inter Milan in their first game, the boys followed up with an 8-0 drubbing of Doral SC before pummeling their hosts, the Plantation Eagles 8-1. This set the much-anticipated meeting with SAA Real Madrid for the championship. A hard-fought match followed with West Pines proving the better in a 4-2 victory over their Miami rivals.

 

Keeping a cool head is paramount when coaching the game of soccer. Coach Patrick Chin had a hard time doing this after his U-12 girls gave a sluggish performance in a 1-1 tie with Kendal Coalition in their first game. Picking up a head of steam, the team rebounded to dispatch Bonita Storm by a comfortable 3-1 margin before creating an upset in a hair-raising 3-2 overtime victory over the more fancied West Pines sister team. Against Weston FC Nike in the championship game and with the score at0-0 at the half, West Pines exploded with 2 goals minutes into the second stanza, cruising to a 3-0 championship victory. Patrick’s cool head paid dividends but became a whole lot cooler when he honored a promise made to his team. He would allow them to shave his locks if they won the tournament. They did just that and he kept his promise, showing to all what true sportsmanship is really all about.

 

Awarded a forfeit, the U-9 Girls Black rolled over the Miami Strikers 6-1 before gaining a comfortable 3-1 victory over Weston-Arsenal. In the championship game Juan Laureano’s charges fought gallantly against Cooper City, but missed opportunities cost them in the end as the Cobras held on to win by the odd goal in five.

 

Locked 1-1 in their first game against Kicks SC, the same team they had beaten to win the West Pines Kick-off Classic, the U-16 Boys Black team then recorded 3-2 and 1-0 wins over KPK602 and Kendall Coalition only to face Kicks once more in the final game.

The hard-fought contest went to their opponents this time around as Kicks SC turned the tables, holding on for a 2-1 championship victory.

 

Reaching the finals with a 1-1-1 record, the U-16 Boys Gold squad found no answer to a rejuvenated Plantation team, going down by 5-0. Both teams had fought to a 1-1 drawn game in an earlier group game but the return match was, simply put, no match.

 

Other notable performances came from our U-9 Boys Gold team who won their group but were out-gunned 4-0 by the Parkland Predators, a team good enough to have played in the Top division. In the case of our U-9 Girls White, semi-final action saw them losing a close 3-2 decision to the Miramar Strikers after missing many glorious scoring opportunities. The team had topped their group with a perfect 3-0 record beforehand.

 

The title of “Most Unluckiest Team” goes to our U11 Boys Gold squad who, because of the Tournaments cross-group play format, failed to make the final 4 after posting an undefeated 2-0-1 record in group action. Posting perfect 3-0-0 records, two other teams in the “Group of Death” were able to advance to the semi-final round. Ask the U-14 boys team manager about the “Lucky Charm”.

 

Congratulations must go to the Plantation Eagles for producing a well-organized, well-run tournament once again. We will be back for some more turkey shoot in 2010.