Hoosiers make it to regional semis

(Published Evening News & Tribune, June 24, '08)

Two southern Indiana players have made it to today's US Youth Soccer Midwest Regional Championship semi-finals in Rockford, Ill.

Trevor Bruner of Jeffersonville and Keenan Sparks of New Albany are part of Javanon's U16 team, which won a tough bracket courtesy of a superior goal difference. They play Vardar Red of Michigan this morning (10 a.m.) for a place in tomorrow's final.

The boys will need no motivation for what will be one of the biggest games of their lives to date, as they lost to Vardar in the Midwest Regional League earlier in the season and will be gunning for revenge.

The team got off to a flyer on Saturday against another Michigan side, Vardar West, when running out 5-1 victors, but then lost narrowly on Sunday to KCFC Strikers of Kansas 2-1.

However, a 5-2 win against PSA United (Ohio North) yesterday put them atop the bracket after KCFC Strikers lost to Vardar West.

Over 200 teams and 4,000 players from 14 state associations descended on Rockford this week for the Region II Championships. The bracket games took place Saturday, Sunday and yesterday, with the semi-finals down for decision today, and the finals tomorrow.

Among them were a number of the area's top players, including New Albany's Kaitlin Robinett, who starred for Mockingbird's U16 girls Sunday when scoring both her team's goals in a 2-1 victory or South Dakota.

The girls, the club’s sole representative at the championships, tied their first game against FC Milwaukee Blue, and beat JUSC Premier of Iowa 3-0, but agonizingly went out on goal difference to Milwaukee despite an unbeaten run.

Also unlucky to miss out was Javanon's U13 girls, a team featuring Leah Mattingly of Floyds Knobs. They faced an uphill battle after losing their opening day game to KCFC Force from Kansas by a lone goal, but bounced back to beat Rushmore of South Dakota 4-1, and then Toro Booyah of Nebraska 2-1. Only a tiebreaker prevented them from going any further.

Pierce Crawley's Javanon U13s also lost out on goal differential. They got off to a great start on Saturday with a 3-1 win over Michigan Elite, but hit a flat spot on Sunday when going down 4-0 to CASA of Ohio. Undeterred, the boys put in a good performance against Bangu Tsunami Blue of Minnesota to finish on a high and second in a three way tie at the top of the table.

One of the most anticipated games of the tournament was the U17 Kentucky Open State Cup final rematch between winners United 1996 and Javanon, and it didn't disappoint. Javanon, featuring New Albany's Nathan Driggers, took a 3-1 lead, only to lose the game 5-3. United progress to the semi-finals after three victories and will play against Scott Gallagher (MO) at 12 noon today.

Javanon's U14s feature Providence's Daniel Wilburn and Floyd Central's Matt Kelsey. For Wilburn, from New Albany, the week got off to a nightmare start after he broke his foot in practice just three days before regionals. They lost to FC Milwaukee 2-0 (WI), Cleveland 3-1 (Ohio North) and Michigan Jaguars (3-2) . Wilburn has been blogging his team's exploits on US Youth Soccer's website (championships.usyouthsoccer.org/ChampionshipsBlog.asp)

United 1996's U19s featured New Albany's Derek Webb and Jefforsonville's TJ Fox, who lost to FC Milwaukee (WI), Arsenal Bluejays (NE) and KC Wizards (KS).

Jefforsonville's Chelsea Grover was part of Javanon U19 team which tied to PSA Gunners (MN) and FC Milwaukee (WI), before losing to Eclipse Select (IL).

The third team from Louisville to make today's semi-finals are Javanon's U18s, who play Shattuck St Mary's from Minnesota (10 a.m.). They had wins agains FC United (IL) and Cup Red (Ohio South), and tied with Arsenal Hibernians (NE) after coming from 2-0 behind to tie 2-2.

Gus Bender, president of Illinois Youth Soccer and host for the regional championships, said, "“This (US Youth Soccer National Championship Series) is the greatest tournament in the United States. Everyone in the nation knows that when you win a regional or national championship you have really done something."

Tomorrow's regional winners from U14 to U19 will go on to play at the US Youth Soccer National Championships at
Burns Park Soccer Complex in Little Rock, Arkansas from July 22-27.

Awesome Arshavin lights up Euros

The clash of the busiest period in the club youth soccer calendar with the European Championships in Switzerland and Austria has prevented me from commenting on the latter, which reaches its final stages this week.

To date, there have been many memorable games and some fine football (or futbol as my editor keeps reminding me) to keep the interest, despite the absence of all British teams and Ireland.

Standout games have included the quarter-final involving Croatia and Turkey, where a crazy final couple of minutes led to a penalty shoot out won by the Turks, and the 'Cardiac Turks' again when coming from 2-0 behind to beat the Czech Republic 3-2 in the group stages.

However, my advice to any youth player in the area is to get their hands on a recording of the quarter-final clash between the Netherlands and Russia, where the performance of Andrei Arshavin was simply phenomenal. He was at the heart of every Russian move and sliced the Orange defense like a knife on numerous occasions. The tireless energy and skill of the Zenit St Petersburg playmaker was a joy to behold, as was the performances of his team mates such as Sergei Semak and Konstantin Zyryanov.

For one, I'm looking forward to seeing awesome Arshavin in Russia's semi-final on Thursday against Spain, who are no slouches themselves with a lethal strike force comprising Liverpool's Fernando Torres and Valencia's David Villa. Arshavin missed the group game between the two, when Spain ran out 4-1 winners.

First up, though, is another intriguing semi-final tomorrow, when Germany take on Turkey. Both games are on ESPN, while the final, which will be held on Sunday, will be on ABC. All games are at 2.45 p.m.