Team mates battle for bragging rights

They're the best of team mates in the spring, but come fall they're the fiercest of rivals.

And tomorrow (Monday), that rivalry will be firmly in the spotlight when 11 members of Southern Indiana United's U18 boys' soccer team feature as New Albany hosts Providence at Prosser field (varsity 5.30 p.m. kick off).

The SIU players --- all seniors -- are split six for the Bulldogs and five for the Pioneers.

In the red and black corner, you have Sheldon Albertson, Alex Blum, Stephan Kossis, Chris Newland, Keegan O'Connor and Zacharia Litzelswope.

In the blue and white corner, you've got Nathan Marshall, Ben Hughes, Steven Meyer, Andrew McCartin and Nick Knear-Bell. Another, Patrick Leistner, also played with the team in the past.

Add to that the fact that many of the schools' underclassmen play for other SIU teams and you've got all the ingredients for a tasty tie.

New Albany forward Stephan Kossis said that the Providence clash is one they always love playing because it gives the winner bragging rights for the remainder of the year.

"It's an advantage playing against Ben, Nathan, and the other guys from SIU who are my teammates in the spring but my rivals in the fall," said Kossis. " I know their tendencies and their weaknesses and it enables us to exploit them. Throughout the game we are pushing and shoving, but at the end of the game we all shake hands and laugh it up."

Trying to blank out Kossis and the rest of the Bulldogs will be Providence defender Nick Knear-Bell, who says he is looking forward to playing against his 'own team'.

"Since I have played with them, I think that will give me an advantage in helping to defend Providence's goal," said Knear-Bell. "Providence has the majority of the defenders and mid-fielders and only a couple of the offense from our SIU team. Come on out and watch one of the most exciting soccer games of the fall high school season."

There hasn't been much of an opportunity for either team’s players to brag in recent years, as the last two games between the sides have ended deadlocked (0-0 in '07 and 2-2 in '06).

Providence are 7-4 on the season after last night's 4-0 thumping of rivals Jeffersonville, with all of its losses coming to Kentucky opposition, including state champion St Xavier (2-0) and Oldham County (4-2).

New Albany, meanwhile, comes into the game in good heart after a morale boosting 3-2 victory over Jeffersonville on Tuesday, and a 1-1 tie against Eastern High School -- securing a share of the spoils after a goal in the dying seconds -- on Thursday.

Photo above - Team mates become rivals(from left to right): Zacharia Litzelswope, Steven Meyer, Keegan O'Connor, Nick Knear-Bell, Sheldon Albertson, Ben Hughes, Stephan Kossis, Andrew McCartin, Alex Blum, Nathan Marshall, Chris Newland and Patrick Leistner.

Devils lock horns with Pioneers

The regular season clashes between Jeffersonville and Providence boys' varsity teams can be a good indicator as to how the legendary sectional battles are going to go, and this Saturday should prove to be no exception.

The last time these two teams met -- in last year's sectional semi-final -- the Red Devils came out on top of a penalty shoot out following an exhausting, energy sapping 94 minutes which had the teams deadlocked at 1-1.

In regular season play, Jeffersonville also got the better of Providence with a 1-0 victory, so the Pioneers will be looking to turn around their fortunes when Saturday comes at Providence (6 p.m.).

The game, which is also Providence’s senior night, will be titled “PHS Coaches vs Cancer”. All gate money will be donated to cancer research.

“We have had at least five parents affected by cancer in the last five years,” said Pioneers coach Adam Giovenco. “ It's just our little way of saying we care. We are looking to have a great crowd for a great cause.”

Giovenco believes his team, now sitting at 6-4 this season, is gaining momentum coming into this week, having beat Madison 4-1 last night.


Providence midfielder Ben Hughes, who scored twice for the Pioneers against Madison last night (Tuesday), will be in action against rivals Jeffersonville Saturday.

"I have been fairly pleased as to how the season has gone so far," said coach Giovenco. "We had a poor showing in the Hoosier Cup, losing to two teams we should have beat, but we followed that up with a very good win against Jennings Co. 6-2, and a great effort against St. Xavier (ranked #3 in the country at the time)."

On the Jeffersonville game, Giovenco said they have had some great battles with their rivals over the last three or four years.

“No matter who has had the upper hand talent wise, it always seems to be a close game and I expect this to be no different,” he said. “ Ryan Bixler is a great coach and gets the maximum out of everybody on his team. He'll have them ready to play. We'll see if we can match their level of play.”

Jeffersonville, meanwhile, suffered defeat at the hands of New Albany last night (3-2)-- its senior night -- and coach Ryan Bixler says the team -- which is 5-6 at present -- has played "very inconsistent" this year.

"We are having trouble putting 80 good minutes out on the field. We have good 10 minute spurts here and there, but 10 minutes here and there doesn't amount to much. We definitely still have a lot of improving to do before we are playing at a high level consistently, and with only two weeks left in the season time is not on our side."

Bixler believes Providence are as strong as they have been in the last three or four years.

" I expect them to be our toughest opponent so far this year, and playing on their home field will make it even tougher," said Bixler. "It will take the best 80 minutes we are capable of playing to get a good result."

Girls set for battle royal

The girls' varsity results in southern Indiana to date are pointing to a battle royal when sectionals come round in October.

First you had Providence knock off reigning sectional champion Floyd Central 3-2 in a barnburner of a game two weeks ago.

Then you had new kids on the block, New Albany, beat the Highlanders 3-2 last week, informing anyone who hadn't already listened that they will be in the mix come sectionals, which commence at Jeffersonville on October 13.

All of which you will imagine will have Floyd Central coach Lewie Stevens and his talented bunch all fired up when it comes to the business of retaining its title. That crown is one the Highlanders have split 2-2 with Providence over the past four years, winning the last two.

And now with the Lady Bulldogs getting stronger under new coach Julie Deuser, we’ve got a third team with real prospects of lifting the hardware. (Let’s not also forget that Corydon Central, Jeffersonville, North Harrison, Salem and Silver Creek are involved, and getting stronger.)

So you may want to catch New Albany’s visit to coach Dave Smith’s Providence next Tuesday (Sept 30, action starts 5.30 p.m.) – a game definitely worth putting in your diaries if you’re looking for clues as to how post-season will shape up.

Not so wise Owls!

Jeffersonville has filed a protest with the IHSAA following its 2-1 varsity boys' loss to Seymour Tuesday.

Apparently, the Owls had a player on the field for all four halves of the junior varsity and varsity games. The IHSAA rule states that in a single session (i.e. jv and varsity game right after each other), a player can only play in three halves. Oops!

Seymour, admirably, has also reported itself to the IHSAA for the rule violation, and will likely have to forfeit the game as soon as there is a ruling on it.

For the record, Seymour's goals were scored by Mahlon Davis and Chaz Hague, while Lucas Rigsby netted for the Red Devils.

Golden MEAD win for Javanon

Congrats go out to Javanon's U13s, which beat top sides from Indiana, Cincinnati and Missouri to take the 29th annual MEAD Cup in Dayton, Ohio over Labor Day weekend.

The tournament for U8 through U14 boys and girls had some 475 teams participate. Coach Greg Robinson's boys won the U13 Gold Division title by going five games unbeaten against Carmel United from Indianapolis (twice), Cincinnati Soccer Alliance, Southern Cincinnati Soccer United and TKO from Kalamazoo, MI.

Three players on the Javanon team are from southern Indiana – Evan Hollkamp, who goes to Providence Jr. High; Varun Alse, who attends Highland Hills Middle School; and Grant Hollkamp, who goes to St. Paul’s Elementary School.

For more info on the MEAD Cup, check out www.meadcupsoccer.com

Sites worth a visit

Southern Indiana's Providence High School has had a site dedicated to its boys' varsity and junior varsity soccer teams for some time, but now it has added a section for the girls' teams. You can check it out at www.phsboyssoccer.com.

Good job by soccer parent Tim Brown (sons are sophomore twins Wade and Trent Brown) on this season's match reports, which are pretty thorough.

Another school site worth checking out is that of Eastern High School of Louisville (http://www.ehssoccer.com/default.htm), which has -- amongst other things -- information on its recent soccer extravaganza.

If you know of any decent school soccer sites worth visiting, give us a shout here atthe blog.

High school spotlight

The high school soccer season is in full swing and already teams are giving a good indication as to who will be playing for honors come October.

One of the teams we advised you to watch out for this fall as far as southern Indiana is concerned is New Albany's Lady Bulldogs.

Yesterday (Saturday), we watched Julie Deuser's charges beat Bedford North Lawrence 11-2 in its Hoosier Hills Conference opener to go 4-0 on the season. Having beaten Forest Park 3-0, North Harrison a whopping 20-1, and Silver Creek 8-1, they have now averaged over 10 goals a game.

Standout Kaitlin Robinett scored three (to bring her season tally to eight), while Mackenzie Nash and Kameron Cole each scored two. Kayton Cole, Chelsea Cotner, Kelsey Graeter and Whitney Smith also found the net.

However, it would be fair to say that New Albany could easily have doubled its tally if its shooting had have been a little more accurate.

The sectional will come down to the Bulldogs, Providence and reigning champion Floyd Central. The Highlanders started off the season well at the Eastern College Extravaganza in Louisville last week with a 4-0 win against Meade County, and followed it up with a 3-2 victory over Mercy Academy a couple of days later.

However, FC was up against it at the weekend at the Hoosier Cup in Bloomington, losing 4-1 to both Indianapolis Roncalli and Evansville Mater Dei. It did finish the tourney on a winning note, beating Lafayette Central Catholic 4-0.

Also taking part in the Hoosier Cup was Providence boys' team and Christian Academy of Louisville, with the latter running out 2-1 victors in the game between both. Scorers for CAL were Jacob Scearce and Tanner Wilcox, while Ben Hughes netted for the Pioneers.

Providence also lost to Ryle by a 1-0 scoreline, but finished on a high note with a 5-0 victory against Edgewood with goals from Steven Meyer, Omar Salguero (2) Keenan Sparks, and Patrick Leistner. Meanwhile, CAL lost 6-1 to Indiana's No #7 ranked Zionsville.

Elsewhere, reigning KHSAA girls' champion Sacred Heart has signalled its intent to repeat its fine 2007 season with an unbeaten start (6-0-1) which included a 2-0 victory over rivals Assumption. Its tie (1-1) was against Notre Dame of Park Hills yesterday, state winners in 2004 and a team expected to go far this year.

DuPont Manual is another team with high hopes. It has started the campaign 6-0, and has already proven too strong for North Oldham, South Oldham and Lexington Catholic.

On the boys' side, 2007 KHSAA champion St Xavier is 3-0 after a 2-0 win against Erie Cathedral of Pennsylvania, while Trinity won its fourth game on the trot when beating Louisville Collegiate 1-0.