Yet another trio of Sudbury competitive boys soccer teams were kept busy over the first weekend of June as three local squads took part in the Barrie Spiritfest Rep Tournament hosted by the Barrie Soccer Club last weekend. All three teams survived pool play to advance to the playoff round, with a pair of local entries making it through to the finals. Following are updates for all three teams:
Sudbury Athletic U-13 BoysIn round robin play, the Athletic were in tough right from the opening touch, facing the 2006 tournament U-12 champion Collingwood Comets. The Athletic fell 3-1 to the Comets as Jesse Johnson scored the lone Sudbury goal. The second game would see the locals rebound with an offensive flurry, beating the Bolton Wanderers 5-0 behind two goals efforts from Emerson Carniel and James Larocque.
Damjan Peric rounded out the Athletic scoring parade while goaltender Joel Carpino also came up big, stopping a penalty kick. The final round robin game on Sunday morning was much closer as Sudbury edged the King City Royals 3-2. Emerson Carniel scored twice and Jesse Johnson added the single as coach Jeff Vaillancourt's squad moved on to the quarter finals.
The Athletic crew lost 2-0 to a very strong Barrie Spirit "A" squad, who were competing in their third tournament of the year. The 2007 Sudbury Athletic U-13 boys' roster includes: Joel Carpino (Goalie), Patrick Robert, Alex Jibb, Emerson Carniel, Connor Griffiths, Spencer Moore, Keegan Pitre, Jesse Johnson, Sven Trodel, Liam Doyle, Damjan Peric, Conor Blayney, Marco Prest, August Jarecki, Kari Hytti and James Larocque.
The team's head coach is Jeff Vaillancourt while Dan Moore serves as Manager and Trainer.
Panhellenic UnitedWith a weekend off from the rigours of CSL (Central Soccer League) regular season play, Panhellenic United took advantage to get some extra work in facing some different opponents in Barrie. Clive Stephenson's crew opening the festivities on a winning note, blanking the Barrie U-16 squad 2-0 as Tomi Pollard and Dorien Manchulenko fired goals for Sudbury.
The level of intensity got cranked up a notch for game two as Panhellenic made it a pair of wins of Barrie teams, stopping the U-17 group 3-1. Mark Bamberger converted on a penalty kick and Joey Martellacci and Brian Hennessy rounded out the scoring as both teams dealt with the hot and humid weather conditions. "The key to victory was the pressure game that didn't allow Barrie to utilize their abundant skill" noted Stephenson, who was especially pleased with the work of defenders Kersey Kalubi, Josh Haslam and Jordan Sovran as well as keeper Thomas Guscott who came through with with some key saves.
With first place in the round robin segment on the line, United enjoyed their most exciting match, clipping the Bolton Wanderers 3-2 as Martellacci, Bamberger and Sovran handled the Sudbury offense. Leading 2-1 at the half, Panhellenic took advantage of a misplay by the Bolton goaltender on Sovran's long free kick to build a 3-1 lead, protecting the lead through the game's dying minutes. Stephenson highlighted the strong running of midfielder Hennessy as being among the more notables efforts on the afternoon.
With a record of 3-0, Sudbury faced the Barrie U-17 squad in a semi-final encounter that was really no contest. Martellacci, the leading scorer in the CSL one year ago, was at his goal-scoring best, netting the hat trick, putting his speed and deft ball-handling ability to good use. Justin Visentin registered the remaining Sudbury goal as Panhellenic earned a berth in the final opposite the Wanderers.
This time around, things simply were not clicking, as Stephenson explains. "We could not string any passes together, and laboured to keep possession. I guess the heat and the track activities (NOSSA) caught up with us", noted Stephenson as his team fell 2-0 in the championship final.
Panhellenic will make the trek to Barrie for a second consecutive weekend this Sunday, facing the Barrie Spirit in CSL action. The team will next take to the field at home on the weekend of June 23rd and 24th when the Vaughan Azzurri and Toronto Eagles are in town.
