Having got off to a flyer with a 3-1 victory in its opener against New York's East Fishkill Thunder, and then securing a point in a 1-1 tie against Westside Metros Internationals of Oregon, Javanon found Discoveries too good in the final group game, losing 4-2.
However, Graham Merryweather's boys had accumulated enough points in the round-robin to earn themselves a final berth and a rematch against the number one ranked team in the nation.
The championship decider didn't start well for Javanon, with Enzo Marinez putting Discoveries up after seven minutes. Then the promising Juan Velasquez, Golden Boot recipient with five goals, doubled the lead with a 44th minute strike.
Javanon fought back with goal six minutes later from Vinny Paiva, and piled on the pressure in the dying minutes without any reward.
There was some consolation for the team, as it received the U18 Fair Play Award.
Jacob Kemper celebrates his goal against Discoveries in the group stages with Kyle Shickel
Assistant coach Lee Weyland said the boys completed a phenomenal season, culminating in a "heartbreaking" loss.
"We are only the third team from Kentucky to ever play in the national championship final and I am proud of every player and how they represented our state by earning the Fair Play Award," he said. “This is a memorable experience for the players, who have achieved something that most youth soccer players only get to dream about.”
Vinny Paiva, scorer in the championship game, said it was a great experience he was privileged to have been a part of.
"I got to spend a week with 18 of the best soccer players I know. And to have been able to make it to the finals and compete for a national championship was great," he said. "It saddened many of the players to lose but when you look back on it, second in the nation isn't bad at all. I'm just glad I got to be a part of it."
This was the first time that Louisville, or indeed Kentucky, had two teams at the national championships in the same year. It produced national champions in 1997 (U16 boys) and 2006 (U19 boys).
The second team at the championships was Javanon '92, returning to the big stage after defending its Midwest regional crown with a penalty shootout victory against Chicago Fire Juniors.
The U17 section was tough to say the least, with six of the best teams in the US challenging for the title.
In its first game, Tim Chastonay's charges faced Lower Merion Velez of Pennsylvania, a team it beat 2-1 at last year's competition in Little Rock, Arkansas. Despite going 1-0 up with a 29th minute goal from South Oldham HS's Will Vitalis – who also scored when the teams last met -- Javanon conceded four without reply.
Unfortunately, it didn't get any better, as the boys lost to CZ Elite of California South 4-0, and rounded out its tournament with a close 1-0 defeat to Triangle United of North Carolina. CZ Elite won the title, beating Triangle 3-2 in the championship decider.
The US Youth Soccer series began with over 10,000 teams and 185,000 players competing for 55 state association titles. Twelve national champions were crowned in Massachusetts from U14 to U19, both boys and girls.
No comments:
Post a Comment