2015 Disney Boys Showcase Day 2 Recap
Teams were fierce and games were tight during day two of the Boys Disney Soccer Showcase on Monday. But moving day is ahead tomorrow and that will tell the tale of which teams make it to the championship and which don’t.
FC Dallas Youth 00 Premier U16 (TX) 1-1 Arlington Eagles Red U16 (VA)
Despite half of the Dallas team’s players arriving to Orlando at around 3 a.m. this morning due to weather delaying their flights, FC Dallas played its way to a 1-1 tie but controlled much of the game. The five yellow cards its players received may have been just because the kids were sleep deprived too.
“Having only three hours of sleep after you’re trying to get here and 48 hours being on the road is tough,” Dallas head coach Clementin Oancea said. “I thought that we did well, I thought that we hustled. … One silly mistake and not being able to clear is the difference in winning and losing these games.”
Dallas struck first in the 30th minute after Dylan Becerra crossed the ball into the middle of the box and Arlington’s goalkeeper slipped on wet grass attempting to cover the dribbler. But Nicholas Garcia was waiting for Dallas and picked up the goal.
Arlington’s luck changed in the 48th minute when it received a free kick from directly at the top of the box. The initial shot went directly into the wall but Dallas whiffed on the clear, sending the ball onto the foot of Giacomo Mecagni, who sent a shot across the box and into the right side of the net.
In the 58th minute, Mecagni found space just outside the left side of the box and sent a rocket off the inside of the right post that found its way back into play.
Houston Express 99 Navy U17 (TX) 3-3 SDFC Rangers U17 (NJ)
After losing possession just a few times and tallying two goals in the initial 30 minutes of the game, Houston Express 99 Navy, which is No. 15 in Top Drawer Soccer’s Top 25 Club Soccer Team Rankings, were stunned to exit the game with a 3-3 tie.
“We got off to a really good start. We scored three good goals today,” Houston Express head coach Christopher Johnson said. “What changed the game was right before halftime. We gave away sort of a silly free kick, their player hits a great free kick and kind of changes the game.”
Houston Express struck twice in three minutes, the first one coming in the 27th minute. They earned a corner kick and Harrison Vickers took it and put it perfectly in the middle of the box for Matthew Sanders to head into the back of the net.
MORE: 2015 Disney Coverage
The next goal was from Samuel Adeniron and set up by a set piece play by Nicholas Seydler. Seydler put up a left footer from the left side and Adenironput it in the back of the net with a perfectly placed head ball.
The Rangers’ Mason Toye converted on a free kick in the 45th minute when he took two steps and chipped the ball over the three-man wall and the keeper. Houston’s Reese Huffaker came back with a goal just three minutes after that to make it 3-1.
Then it was all SDFC, scoring in the 71st minute and the 74th to tie the game at three apiece. Toye and Christian Pozzoli got the goals for the Rangers, each on rocket shots to the left corner.
Michigan Jaguars ’99 U17 (MI) 3-1 Lake Grove-Newfield SC Rampage U17 (NY)
In a game that was heavily dominated by the Michigan Jaguars in time of possession, they only made a few mistakes and let up one goal in the process.
“Today I thought we started well. We moved the ball, we dictated the game,” Michigan head coach Barry Scott said. “Today they went in for us, so overall it was good.”
Michigan’s Benjamin McCauley opened up the scoring in the 11th minute when he sent a scorcher on net from about 30 yards out that steamed past Rampage’s diving goalkeeper.
A pair of Jaguars twins connected for the second goal of the game. Dalton Michael crossed the ball into the box to twin brother Donovan Michael, who put home a left footer in the 12th minute.
Rampage’s Kevin Ayala put his team on the board with one minute remaining in the first half when he found space deep in the box and beat the keeper to the left side.
Scott Maidens iced the cake for the Jaguars in the 87th minute when he sent a laser from about 10-yards out that stymied the keeper.
Birmingham United SA 99 East U17 1-0 St. Louis Scott Gallagher SC Elite U17 (MO)
St. Louis dominated the first half of the match and bits of the second half but the team looked tired and as if it had met its match after allowing a goal to Birmingham in the 55th minute.
“I thought our movement was a lot better in the second half,” Birmingham head coach Ben Parks said. “I thought we defended well to be honest with you.”
Reyes Hernandez was the only one to tally a marker in the 90-minute match and he did so with a highlight-reel goal. Dishawn Cullen crossed the ball across the box and Hernandez came flying in and put a left foot on the ball from about waist high before the ball had touched the ground.
Before the 55th minute, it was all St. Louis, though. Kousha Bahramahi beat four opposing players to find his way into the box before being cleanly tackled before getting the shot off. He also had another attempt in the 52nd minute but missed the mark just wide left.
Birmingham’s goalkeeper, Cole Phillips, made save after save to record a clean sleet.
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