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Sol Wins Regional
Championship in Sacramento
Qualifies for
USASA National Cup Championship tourney
and for the First
Round of U.S. Open Cup
May 22, 2005
After a brutal run of four ninety-minute games plus 30 minutes of overtime and penalty
kicks in the final, Sonoma County Sol defeated the Salinas Samba
for the USASA Region IV Championship at the Cherry Island Soccer Complex in
Sacramento. With the win, Sol qualifies for both the first round in the U.S.
Open Cup in June and for the USASA National Cup Finals with the three other
amateur regional champions to be held in Dallas from August 5-7, 2005.
Sol won all of its games
with a combined score of 19 to 2 for a +17
goal differential. Even so,
with strong competition from the two other
NPSL teams in the tournament,
victory was not assured until the very
last penalty kick was taken by Sol
player
Adrian Zavala.
Sol now goes on to the
first round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup to
be played on June 15th.
The draw for the opponent and the location
will be announced on June 1st.
Regional runner-up NPSL Salinas Valley Samba will play a qualifier against
the PDL Western Conference runner-up on June 8th.
Below are the highlights
of the regional IV championship tournament games played this weekend.
Sol defeats
Titanes 6-0 in First U.S Open Cup Game
May 20, 2005 Sol
began the tournament with a 6-0 thrashing of the Titanes of Yuba City of
Friday night. The Titanes showed up with an undermanned squad of 11
players against a full roster of 18 for Sol. Titanes had some talented
players up front and gave Sol some excellent competition and the score was
only 1-0 at the end of the 1st half. However, the thick
grass, warm weather and lack of substitutes together with strong play by
both the starters and the talented Sol bench, led to a five goal second half
blow out.
Sol
had the better of the run of play with several notable opportunities that
went for naught in the first half. A penalty kick was awarded when
forward
David Briceno
was fouled in the penalty area. However,
Miguel Santoyo’s shot failed when it banged
off the cross bar.
Shortly thereafter,
Tony Bussard made a strong run down the right side of the field
and a beautiful low cross right in front of the goal mouth toward the
waiting David Briceno. A defender made a desperate stab at the ball only to
put it into his own net.
Later Briceno was about to protest a questionable offside call which stopped
his run for a great chance when he glanced over and saw the Assistant
Referee was an attractive young lady. Briceno immediately flashed a
big smile and gave a thumbs-up to the call.
In
the second half Sol had several opportunities but the fun really began in
the 57th minute when Miguel Santoyo made a great run up the left
side passing off a cross to David Briceno who finished. This was
followed in the 58th minute when David Briceno shot the ball at
the Titanes goalie. He made the save but the ball rolled back to Briceno who
finished with his left foot. The deluge of goals continued in the 63
minute when Santoyo crossed a ball that banged in off the head of
Brandon Boone.
In minute 65, Santoyo entertained the crowd and annoyed the Titanes central
defense when 12 yards out from the goal he collected the ball juked right,
then took a left footed shot from a stationary position. The final
goal came from Miguel Santoyo and and his close friend and youth soccer
teammate Trevor Hurst with a cheeky short corner that Hurst finished.
Goalkeeper Derek
Shaffer had a relatively easy day with 3-4 saves as the Sol
defense swallowed up most all of the challenges sent his way. He made
most of his saves look easy except one shot from close-in which forced an
excellent reaction foot save. Titanes has some excellent players and as the
team develops, should prove a threat in the future.
Sol Defeats Sacramento
Knights 2-1 to Assure Appearance in Final
May 21, 2005 Sol and NPSL Sacramento Knights renewed their rivalry
in the game that proved pivotal for the right to play in the final the next
day. This game was a repeat of the type the teams played two weeks ago
in their initial meeting at
Sacramento and ended with
Sol desperately holding on to a 2-1 victory.
Sacramento’s hard charging style put considerable pressure on the Sol
defense but subjected the Knights to counter attack. Just such a
counter occurred in the 26th minute when the ball was played
quickly from
Travis, to
Briceno to the header finish by Brandon Boone, putting Sol up 1-0. For much
of the remainder of the first half the Knight’s pressure kept Sol on the
defensive. Sacramento got off several quality shots, but they all
missed the mark either wide or high. Goal keeper Eric Kronberg did not
have to make many saves, but he was kept busy coordinating the defense and
taking goal kicks.
Shaffer shifted his troops into a 4-3-3 formation in the second half to
counter the relentless pressure by the Knights. In the 62nd
minute midfielder Chris Daly ended up right in front of the goal. He
took the opportunity and put Sol up 2-0. This charged up the Knights
who redoubled their efforts to score on the tough Sol defense. They
were rewarded in the 67th minute with a hard shot that bounced
off the cross bar and rebounded high up in the air only to drop in front of
a Sacramento forward who quickly banged it home. The Knights were further
energized after the goal, but the Sol defense kept their cool and dissipated
the energy to survive the remaining minutes of the game earning the win.
Sol
Defeats Struggling Nevada Aces 10 to 0
May 21, 2005
Sol’s last game in group play came late in
the afternoon against the Northern Nevada Aces, a team that Sol had seen
last year when they played in the Men’s Premier Soccer League. The
result was similar to the last time they met; a lopsided score of 10 to 0 in
a game that was meaningless to the Tournament as Sol had already qualified
for the final with the win over Sacramento. Sol started the game minus
the four Sonoma State players,
Mike Travis,
Scott Preckwinkle,
Brett Cooke
and Steve Browne
who headed home to study for final examinations for the remainder of the
weekend.
After 20 minutes of constant pressure on the Aces, Defender
Justin Delacruz
made a run up the middle and scored with an assist from fellow Cal Bear
player Brad Yuska.
Yuska followed up with an assist on a goal scored by
Carlos Barrajas
one minute later. The game slowed down and was a bit more casual for
the remainder of the half.
In
the second half, goalie
Eric Kronberg was tested by the Aces with a
penalty kick drawn when Sol defender
Justin Diener fouled an Ace in the penalty
area. Kronberg stopped the PK which seemed to ignite the team.
From then on, Sol took complete charge scoring goal after goal including
those by Tony Brussard,
Tyler Hurst (2),
Adrian Zavala, Brandon Boone, David Briceno, Carlos Barrajas and
new forward Derek Shaffer (usually a goalie). Even with the lopsided
score, Sol appreciated the continued strong effort of the Aces.
Sol Defeats Samba in
Penalty Kicks to Claim Championship
May 22, 2005 The Sol/Samba game proved a classic. Each team had defeated
the other in league play on their home turf so there was a score to be
settled in this meeting. Sol and Samba are in a dog fight for 1st
place in the NPSL Western Division.
Both
Sol and Samba had a depleted corps of players. Four of Sol’s top
players were home studying for finals and were unavailable for the
championship game. For Samba, league top scorer Ismael Ibarra was
injured in an earlier game and only saw limited duty in the final. Samba’s
top two goalkeepers were also unavailable for the game.
The
game turned into a classic midfield/defensive struggle with both teams
making strong runs and connecting passes, but with very little penetration
of the back line for either team. A strong Samba shot in the first
half forced a finger tip diversion by goalie Eric Kronberg. Otherwise,
both defenses absorbed and redirected to attack of the other. For much
of the first half, the game was played just over the half line in Samba’s
portion of the field, but there were few strong shots on goal by either
team.
Finally in minute 67
Trevor Hurst, who had been doing some
excellent work against his defender, was fouled in the penalty area and drew
a penalty kick. Miguel Santoyo buried the shot perfectly with the
Samba keeper anticipating the shot to his other side.
For
the next 33 minutes, Samba threw everything forward, but the Sol defense
held firm until three minutes into extra time when Samba broke loose over
their right side and put a perfect cross streaking over the six yard line
and directly on to the head of an onrushing Samba player for the goal.
Ten seconds later, the final whistle blew with the score 1-1 forcing two
fifteen minutes of golden goal overtime. Sol and Samba slugged it out
through the end of these periods, proving nothing in the end.
Finally, penalty kicks were called upon to decide it. The five for Sol
were
Purdy,
Santoyo, Trevor Hurst, Barrajas and Zavala. All were perfect.
Samba was almost as perfect but their fourth kicker hit the ball over the
cross bar.
Sol
goes on to the first round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup on June 15th.
The draw for the opponent and location will be held on June 1 and will
likely be one of the qualifying PDL teams from the Western region. Samba
continues on in Open Cup competition even with the loss but will need to win
one additional qualifying game on June 8th to advance.
Next
weekend, Sol plays two away games in San Diego vs. the Pumitas. The next
home game for Sol is Friday, June 3rd against, you guessed
it…Samba!
USASA Region IV US Open Cup Qualifier
Results
May 20, 2005
Sol won their first game in the
Region IV Championship tournament with a score of 6-0 vs. the Titanes from
Yuba City. Goals were by
David Brinceno (2),
Miguel Santoyo,
Brandon Boone,
Tyler Hurst,
and Tony Bussard.
Derek Shaffer
led the defense for the shutout. Sol plays again Saturday at 11:00 vs. the
Sacramento Knights and at 5:00 vs. the Northern Nevada Aces at Cherry
Island.
More results
SOL to Play This Weekend for USASA Region
IV
US Open Cup Qualifier
May 18, 2005 Sol will play the Sacramento
Knights in the second game this weekend at 11:00 AM at Cherry Island. The
third place NPSL team, San Diego Pumitas, elected not to play and were
replaced by the Knights.
May 16, 2005
Sonoma County Sol will play in the
Region IV qualifier for one of two spots to move on in the US Open Cup
at
Cherry Island
in Sacramento starting Friday, May 20th at 5:00 PM against the Titanes
(California North). The second game is Saturday at 11:00 vs. the NPSL
San Diego Pumitas, who after a big 6-1 victory last Saturday vs. the Las
Vegas Strikers, snatched the third place NPSL spot in the tournament from
the Sacramento Knights. Sol plays again at 5:00 PM Saturday vs. the Northern
Nevada Aces. The championship game is scheduled for Sunday morning, May 22
at 9:00 AM. For the complete tournament schedule for this coming weekend,
see
Region IV Championship tournament.
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