Triangle Y Soccer Club

In a very successful and exciting tournament, the Strikers ended up with 2 wins in the tougher of two tournament brackets. Their only loss was to the eventual tournament champions. Unlike many other tournaments, no consolation match for 3^rd place occurs and only the bracket winners play against each other for the championship.  The end result was that the Strikers ended up in a well earned 3^rd place position. Way to go team!

Tournament highlights:

Game #1:

In a close fought match against the NDSL Sidekicks the Strikers won in dramatic fashion in a 3-2 win.  While the score was close the Strikers dominated on the offensive end with 2-3 times the number of on goal shot attempts.  It should be noted that Kyle ended up with the rare hat trick (3 goals in one game) all from passes by different teammates (Joel, Dylan and Jason) including a wild spinning high arching shot that proved to be the game winner with little time remaining in the game.  While it’s a team effort in wins and losses our hat is off to the one they call BIGFOOT.  Overall the team played well with some good passing and strong defense in a good overall performance.  (Readers: Sorry if I don’t have more specifics, but I actually missed the 1^st game – thanks to the parents and coaches who provided me the stats and info!)

Game #2:

In a match again the CASL Azzurri the team got off to a tough start with Azzurri taking advantage of some fortunate bounces and a couple of Striker lapses which results in the Strikers quickly getting behind.  Overall the team appeared flat early on and while they certainly picked up the intensity in the second half, they never quite recovered and ended up on the short end of a 7-1 game.  Some highlights include a near goal by Matt on a direct kick.  Idris, Kyle and Matt all had good shot attempts and strong passes. David also delivered some strong shots in the second half.   Our lone goal was a great direct kick from Jason in the 2^nd half.  It also seemed like we had someone down and hurt on the field every few minutes during the game which didn’t help matters.  While we played a strong team, if we had played the 1^st half like we played the second half the score would have been more like a 4-2 game vs. 7-1.  It should also be noted that both teams showed great sportsmanship throughout the match.

The question then became: how would the Strikers respond in game #3 the next day after this tough loss to end the day?

Game #3:

In their best overall team performance of the year the Strikers emphatically answered the tough loss in game #2 with a dominant 6-2 performance against the CASL AZTECS in what I would call a complete team effort top to bottom.  There were few if any lapses and from start to finish they ran down balls, supported each other on defense and were very unselfish with the ball which resulted in a quick 4-0 lead which was never relinquished.  The Strikers once again outshot their opponents and had 6 different people score (Dylan, Kyle, Joel, Idris, Matt and Jason).   Other highlights include some great work by the mid and offensive side with good one on one moves and some great passing today to clear the ball and find the open teammate. We should also recognize that Joel led the team in total points with a goal and two assists, way to go!

In addition, the tag team of David and Daniel completely shut down our opponents with stifling teamwork and great individual efforts including countless clears around mid-field that lead to goals – we aren’t sure which one was Superman and which one was Batman but they were both superhero’s this weekend.  Justin once again was clutch as goalie and was exceptional with goal kicks and punts which were deep and to the sides. He made great decisions and appeared cool and collected the entire match.  David, Daniel and Justin earn special kudos because while the offense gets a lot of attention in soccer (and sports) it all starts with good defense and this trio throughout the tournament always gave the team a chance to win by stopping the opponent and getting us back on offense – thanks guys!

We want to thank the coaches for a great tournament and we also want to give a special shout-out to Justin’s parents (Jeff and Michele) for arranging the pizza dinner, helping with the hotels and all the other things they did to make this a great weekend!