Compiled by Tyler Pray
Players in Downtown Soccer continued to progress and improve their soccer skills and team play in a full schedule of games last weekend.
Junior 6
West Ham defeated South Hampton, 4-1. Jack McGreevy scored 3 goals and Liam Fuerst scored 1. Goalies Otilia Olmedo-Young and Ciarra Reynolds each made great saves for West Ham.
Arsenal tied Bolton 1-1. Bolton’s Niall Gallagher scored early in the match and held the lead until late in the game when Arsenal’s Dario Flores managed to penetrate the formidable Bolton defensive line and tie the game. Margaret Matthews of Arsenal rallied her teammates with tireless offense while Rosa Valentino assisted valiantly on defense for Bolton.
Junior 7
The undefeated Manchester United defeated Chelsea on Saturday. The game went into halftime with Manchester leading, 1-0, and Chelsea putting up a tough defensive battle. Manchester managed to break through the Chelsea defense with goals by Bryan Gomez, Chloe Lombardi, Henry Martin, Owen O’Keefe and Aidan Rogers.
Minor 8
AS Roma defeated Bari, 2-0, in a cold Saturday morning match featuring star players on both teams. AS Roma played a cohesive game of precise passes of long ball while Bari played short passes and very tough defense with fall back Xavier Russo. Nicholas Fils-Aime, one of the skillful goalkeepers, made a diving save on a point-blank breakaway blast by Alex Scheman, a Bari forward. Parents of both teams applauded the play. Michael Klusendorf took a pass from teammate Yanai Feldman dribbling ahead of Bari’s Celine Sutter and kicked the ball past Bari goalie Lucas Deysine, giving his team its first goal of the game. After a hard fought sequence between Violet Low-Beinart and Raphael Santore of Bari in the second half, Tyler Brandon, a versatile team-player, centered the ball forward allowing his fellow teammate Asher H. Baron a smart shot to beat Bari’s goalie Christian Baumann for the second goal. It was all over for Bari because of the super plays of full back Philip Shin replacing Hannah Stanke out with a bad ankle.
Minor 9
Celtic managed to defeat previously undefeated Motherwell, 4-2, on Saturday. Several players scored their first goals. Outstanding defense on the part of Celtic helped contribute to their win given Motherwell’s powerful offense and high scoring ability.
Major 10
Playing without any substitute players, Valencia defeated Sevilla, 7-2, in a fast-paced contest. Both teams kept the ball constantly moving between players. Brian Boyd made a number of key passes for Valencia, and Caspar Henak contributing to the goals scored by Jake Shapiro, Cameron Spector, Jake Miller and Joseph Demarco. Alternating in goal for Valencia were Ali Rossi and Jake Shapiro, who were able to turn away a number of shots by Sevilla. Charles Porcaro, however, was able to slip two skillful shots into the net in the second half, scoring the first goal on an assist from Jonah Yang and his second on an assist from Oren Shore for Sevilla.
Barcelona defeated Malaga, 7-2, in a game filled with spectacular plays. Kyle Maer, Jake Bader and Ian Petrarca lead offensively while Jeremy Allen and Jordan Greenblatt held down tight defense for Barcelona. Elias Sosa and Harris Uslander both put in a strong effort for Malaga.
Major 11
Nice defeated Lyon, 2-1, in a very well played game on Sunday. Harrison Laifer scored the lone goal, unassisted, for Lyon, and Christine Hu continued her excellent Lyon goalkeeping.
Senior 12-13
Crew defeated Revolution, 8-4. Crew coach Robert Brody thanks Raymond Perez from Fire, Paris Leach from DC United and Ben Lenovitz from Dallas Burn for helping Crew field a team. Lucas Brody of Crew scored 2 goals, one of them an incredible header off a corner kick. Ben Lenovitz scored 2 for Crew and Zack Karson, Paris Leach, Max Davis, and Raymond Perez each scored a goal while Eric Chang put up solid goal keeping for Crew.
Downtown Soccer League coaches should e-mail game highlights to news@DowntownExpress.com on Mondays.
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