Treasure Coast United U-18 Boys

August 31, 2008

 

The United Coerver Elite U18 boys led by Paul “Gibbo” Gibbons (Director of Coaching) started off the 08-09 college showcase tournament season in style. The team was undefeated and was crowned champions at the Puma Cup in Sarasota, Fl.

 

The Elite team with players from Stuart, Port St. Lucie, Palm City, Jupiter and Osceola were exciting to watch and with their never quit attitude went 5-0-0 against some very strong U-18 and U19 teams from throughout the state of Florida.

 

Game 1 matched up against the Bartow Sting and with constant pressure and great movement the Elite ended up with an easy 4-0 victory. The team led in all areas of play with 32 shots, 14 shots on goal and 12 corner kicks. The team’s goalie, Ryan Arvin had and easy time of it due to the exceptional midfield and defensive plays. Dalton Everett lead the team with points with 2 goals and 1 assist, Matt McCarthy and John Thomas combined for a goal apiece while assists were added by Evan Greenbaum, Aaron Applebee and Brent Meinhold.

 

Game 2 was a bit more exciting when United Elite team faced the U-18 Academy team from Clearwater who entered the tournament to prepare for the Academy league season. This game was supposed to be a warm up for Clearwater Academy but they were not prepared for the determined United team during the 50 minute match that was shorted due to bad weather. Although the Academy team led in shots and corners, they came up short on scores due to some outstanding defense by Evan Greenbaum, Jimmy Tills, Shane Lynch and Casey Good. Ryan Arvin made a couple incredible saves shutting out Clearwater Academy. The deciding goal was scored in tight by a nice finish by John Thomas with the assist provided by Curtis Berger. This game showed everyone at the tournament that United Coerver Elite was for real.

 

Game 3 was also shortened by weather and the game was played in near tropical storm force winds and that was what the goalie from the Clearwater Chargers must have felt he ran into. In another 50 minute game, United had 18 shots with 10 of them on goal. This was one of those games that even the United parents could not help cheering for some incredible saves made by the Clearwater goalie. The game was finally decided with less than 30 seconds to play when Dalton Everett broke away and went in unassisted driving the ball into the back of the net. Final score 1-0.

 

 

The semi final game against a very good South Kendall team proved to be very frustrating not only due to the lightning delays but also because our team had one of those games that we appeared to be outplaying the opponent, leading in shots, shots on goal and 7-0 on corner kicks but late in the game United was behind 2-1 on the scoreboard, missing a couple golden opportunities. United’s first goal was an unassisted shot that found the back of the net by John Thomas. A lot of teams might have quit late in the second half down by one, but not this team led by captains Curtis Berger and Joey Maxson in the midfield. Again, great defense and help in the midfield by Jake Walsh and Mike Talaia, late in the game it was tied up with a goal by Thomas Veronee on an assist by Vinny Banner. Regulation ended 2-2. This is when Ryan Arvin stepped up in goal and basically shut down South Kendall by blocking 3 PK’s that were on target. United moved on to the finals.

 

The final against Wellington started out flat with Wellington seeming to have the edge while they had a slight wind advantage. They were moving the ball well and we knew that they had not given up a goal in the previous 4 games. But in the second half the desire in the United team showed thru and they clearly turned into the better team. Ryan Arvin was once again called upon when regulation ended 0-0. In all my years of watching club soccer, over 250 games, I can’t remember a final shootout for a championship that played out the way this one did. Wellington had made 4 successful PK’s along with 4 United PK’s provided by Joey Maxson, Jake Walsh, Thomas Veronee and Evan Greenbaum. Problem was the Wellington goalie made a nice stop earlier in the lineup and all they needed was to drive the final shot past Arvin for the championship. The final shooter lined up a nice shot and delivered the ball low right with a lot of pace but not enough to get past Ryan Arvin who smothered the shot next to the post. Mike Talaia and Shane Lynch executed perfectly when they stepped up for the 6^th and 7^th shots to win the final when Wellingtons last shot went wide.. Final Score 1-0 (6-5 in PK’s).