STATE CUP RESULT: AC United 1-2 Whitpain

In the end, only the score matters.  But we played so well, just could not finish.  An old story in soccer.  Outshooting a team 20-3 and losing the game 2-1.  Two defensive breakdowns on a team that could only counter attack.  Five times we are in with no one but the keeper and 4 times we failed to find the net.  Three times wide and once to the keeper.  But it makes us stronger, it was our best State Cup so far... and good things still are ahead for this group. 

Game Report State Cups - AC United 3 - 2 HMMS

In our second State Cup game, AC United took on a seasoned HMMS FC Eagle ’97 team. From looking at HMMS’s schedule, we knew we were in for a tough game. Their team has been out playing tournaments all spring and was going to pose a challenge. They were well coached and had a very good back line, a big strong center mid and played with three forwards, which is always an extra challenge for our 3 back defense.

The first 5 minutes were played mostly in our end, but nothing particularly dangerous. Then, about 5 minutes in, we struck first on a beautiful cross from Jermaine that found Jose for the finish. 1-0 AC United. We all know how important the next 5 minutes of a game are – after a goal. Of course, what about the next 10 seconds. Off the tap, they played a ball through out wide that was then crossed and walked in. 1-1. Play was then back and forth. We seemed to have the better of opportunities for the next 15 minutes (playing down hill and with the wind at Ardsley Park). On a weak clearance from their box, Westin one timed a shot from about 30 yards and put it into the top of the net. 2-1 AC United. About 5 minutes later, Robby was fouled (one of many fouls he drew) and he finished it from about 25 yards out – just over the keeper’s reach. 3-1 at half.

We knew that the second half would be tough, up wind, up hill, and against a desperate team. HMMS came out strong and most of the half was played in our end. We worked to get 10 behind the ball, and to counter attack. Sam got injured on a save and Jermaine had to sub in at goal, leaving us with only one sub for the last 20 minutes. We had 3 or 4 good opportunities with Sean on pressured break-aways, but simply could not finish. That 4th goal would have put the game away.

Then, with about 10 minutes left, they scored on a corner kick that Jermaine got a hand on but could not catch in the crowd and he was not able to knock it far out. It bounced to the feet of an HMMS player and was finished. 3-2. The last 10 minutes were rough, and it seemed at one point that HMMS had found the equalizer, but it was called back for an offsides. Again, we had a few opportunities to put in another, but failed, and again and again we had to simply defend like mad to prevent them from scoring the tie goal.

In the end, we managed to hold them off for the 3-2 win.

FINAL AC UNITED 3 – 2 HMMS

Notables,

• Jermaine for his cross that Jose finished
• Jose for opening up the scoring.
• Westin for his great shot on a one timer from the outside
• Robby for controlling the ball so well and drawing a number of fouls and for making them pay for one of those fouls with the game winning goal.
• Sam for a number of great saves in ¾ of the game that he played
• Jermaine for stepping in at goal and making a number of very good saves and great punts to clear the ball into the stiff wind.
• Jarrod for great and tireless work up top subbing for Jose, who in the second half we dropped into the mid-filed to man mark HMMS’s big midfielder and deny him the ball.
• Jose for man-marking #10 on HMMS!

We have Whitpain next week. A familiar foe against whom we have 2 ties and a win last year. We play them on the turf at 8:30AM at Wissahickon High School on Sunday April 10. With a win of next week’s game we will go through to the semi-finals.

STATE CUP RESULT: AC United 6-0 Spirit United

The U13 Boys began their State Cups this year with a 1-hour drive to Downingtown to face Spirit United. In the first half, we had to play into a stiff wind, and possess the ball. We opened the scoring is a nice left foot shot from about 25 out by Max Monheit about 20 minutes in. We had been dominating play had many opportunities in the box, but ended up scoring from the outside. This was followed by a goal by Jose Cardoso on a lose ball in the box that he was able to toe poke into the back of the net. 2-0 at half. Second half we had the wind and momentum. We did not let up one bit. About 10 minutes in, Max scored again, this time a right footed shot that was just over the keepers reach. A few minutes later Jose had the 4th on another ball bouncing around in the box. Then Jarrod Gibson scored with about ten minutes left on a ball he played through to himself and easily slid it in the far side as the keeper dove near side. Finally, with about 2 minutes left, Robby Durham, who had been getting pummeled all day long as he controlled the ball throughout the midfield, took the ball to the corner, played keep away with the help of Westin and Max. Robby then emerged from the corner with the ball, took it across the top of the box and was taken down about 22 yards out. On the ensuing free kick Robby placed the ball in the top of the net as time ran down. Final AC United 6 – 0 Spirit United.

Great game boys. Your hard work and enduring playing tough competition this winter is now paying dividends. I am so vary proud of how we played today.

Next week, we have HMMS at home on April 2, 2011 at 1PM at Ardsley Park.

-Coach Mike

White v. Maroon 2010

and

Fall Seasons - Maroon Final Standings Fall 2010 - 1st Place

Under 13 Boys
Division 2 North
Pts W L T GA GF GD GP GD4
01. ACU Maroon 24 7 0 3 8 32 24 10 21
02. MUSC Fury 20 6 2 2 22 39 17 10 13
03. Whitpain 15 4 3 3 21 23 2 10 1
04. HOR Storm 14 4 3 2 15 27 12 9 7
05. LowerSthmpt 8 2 5 2 27 26 -1 9 -4
06. UDB UDSC Red 0 0 10 0 57 3 -54 10 -38

White Team Photos

Thanks to Marlon.  More great shots can be seen here:

http://flickr.com/gp/54896958@N04/TnK1G2

White Team Photos

http://flickr.com/gp/54896958@N04/Y484QD

White Team Photos - Hunter Tournament

Pictures from the U13 white team's 3rd game vs. HVAA, championship game vs. Havorford and receiving the trophy. Again, congrats to both teams!

Tournament Report - Hunter Jack Walsh Memorial 2010

The boys teams won both divisions of the U13 at the 2010 Jack Walsh Memorial hosted by Hunter Soccer Club.

White opened with a 3-1 win over Fox Chase. Goals by Jose(2), Zach. They followed this with a 1-0 win over Plymouth, with Jose netting the games only score. Then a 1-0 win over HVAA, with Zach scoring the game winner, his second goal of the tournament. Finally, the boys faced off with Haverford (a Delco League Team) and prevailed 1-0 on a goal by Jose (his third of the tournament) with 3 minutes left in regulation.

The Maroon boys opened with a solid 2-0 win over Horsham (who we will face twice more in the next three weeks in ICSL). Goals by Sean from DJ, and Colton.

We then faced a physical and defensive minded Roxboro team that "packed it in" and made it very difficult for us to connect passes within the offensive third of the field. A defensive breakdown lead to us going down 1-0, and Roxboro's defensive approach became even more significant. We had the ball in their end and in their box for most of the game, finally breaking through with a goal by Sean off of a rebound from Dave Pohle's shot. The game ended 1-1. We kept trying to connect passes through the middle and were not successful with this. Despite urging the boys to trail balls back for shots from the outside, or to play them wide for a cross, we kept trying balls through the middle. I think that the boys learned a lot from that game in terms of how they need to adjust their style of play or formation in order to adjust to how the other team (even a far less talented team) has chosen to play the game. In this case, we learned the hard way that sometimes you have to settle for shots from the outside, or crosses from the outside, when you play a team that packs it in defensively.

We then played Cheltenham (a first division ICSL team) whom we have never faced outdoor before. They opened up scoring in the first few minutes off of a cross that we needed to be more aggressive in defending, and the half ended down 0-1. We knew we were "in the game" and had probably the better of play, but Cheltenham had a lot of size, speed, and skill up top and was very dangerous with all of their set plays. So we made some adjustments, sticking with only larger 3 defenders, adding a 6th midfielder and going with only 1 in the attack (rotating 4 players up top for short and intense shifts -- asking a lot of them to pressure all four defenders for 5-6 minutes at a time). This allowed us to play 9v5 in the rest of the field and to control the center of the field from which we could play long balls out wide. In the second half we evened the score on a shot from about 30 out by Colton that found the top of the net. Cheltenham was on their heels and we kept pressing, appearing to put in the game winner on a throw in cross that rebounded around and then out to past the 18 where Davey Pohle hit a laser of a left foot into the back of the net. The goal was called back as the referee considered us to have obstructed their goalie. Trust me, the ball would not have been saved, but perhaps we were in the goalie's way. In any event, the game ended 1-1 and we were going to need some help to reach the finals which would promise a rematch with Cheltenham. That help came when Roxboro managed to score against Horsham, placing us in a tie in points with Horsham but having the head-to-head tiebreaker.

This set up our final. Repeating our previous opponent, Cheltenham. We kept with the same style of play - 6 in the midfield, 3 defenders, and one forward. Again playing only 1 forward pressuring 4 defenders (1v4) and giving us an advantage in the midfield. Cheltenham continued to play in a 4-3-3 formation, and thus we had 6 midfielders to their 3 and could control most of the play. Our defenders had to work hard to keep the 3 attackers to the outside. But our midfield play was too much for Cheltenham and thus nearly every dangerous opportunity was ours! We opened the scoring (a goal by Sean). Then one more by Sean. And we were up 2-0 at half. Second half we were down hill and down wind, so we knew that all we needed to do was keep the ball wide and down at their end where our single forward could pressure their defense and create turnovers back to our midfield from where we could return the ball back deep into the Cheltenham defense third.

This worked well and we got a 3rd goal when Sean crossed a ball and Duane ran onto it and toe poked it past the keeper as I heard the Cheltenham coach yelling “somebody get #15.” Too late! 3-0 AC United. Unfortunately the tide started to turn. First off of a bad call, when the ball hit the backside of DJ, but somehow the referree thought it hit DJ's hand in the box. PK. Sam did his best to make the save but the shot was sure and the score 3-1. We ran our mouths a bit in this and it resulted in a Yellow Card to DJ. And thankfully DJ's teammates were restraining DJ and apologizing for him to the ref. But from that moment on, we did not get one call. Not one. And we were in for a battle with a renewed Cheltenham side. There were 15 minutes left and we knew that they would be intense. Especially if Cheltenham were to put in a second goal, something I feared would turn the momentum and cause us to tighten up.

Things went worse, when Sean, who was ALREADY ON A YELLOW CARD kicked a ball away after the whistle. That resulted in his second yellow and thus a RED CARD and we were playing down a man 11-10, with about 10 minutes to play. It affected our ability to then have even one forward for the rest of the game, as we needed to pack it in a bit and just defend and keep the ball wide. We settled down, our focus seemed to return, and we ground out the last ten minutes with not much danger. Well done.

Game Reports - Fall 2010

We are 3 games into our Fall season.  We tied Whitpain 2-2 and followed up with two strong wins 7-2 over MUSC and 4-0 over Lower Southhampton Inter.  Next week we have Upper Dublin.  Play has improved dramatically since our first half against Whitpain.