July 3, 2007
Coach Todd Whitcomb likened the early workouts of his Maine
Coast United under-14 boys' soccer team to that of the first
days of Little League baseball practice.
Everybody either wants to pitch or play shortstop, but an entire
roster needs to be filled out and a set of roles must be assigned.
Whitcomb had plenty of players willing to score goals, but he
had to stress the importance of defense. At the U.S. Youth
Soccer Region 1 tournament this weekend, his team fulfilled his
hopes.
Maine Coast United allowed only one goal in three games, and
before the tournament, Whitcomb estimated his team gave up
one goal in 17 games in front of goalkeeper Kyle DeVinney, with
Ryan Rybka anchoring the defense.
The team won two games in the tournament and was denied a
spot in the semifinals when it lost to New Jersey 1-0 on Sunday.
"It was people giving up a little of their own game to make the
team better," Whitcomb said.
Whitcomb said his team built upon early-season competition
and won a tournament in Connecticut over Memorial Day
weekend.
"We had a lot of success at different tournaments and we started
to believe that we could compete," Whitcomb said.
In Pool A, Maine Coast United defeated Beachside (Conn.) 3-0
and Syracuse Blitz (New York West) 5-0 and lost to the Pasco
(N.J.) Stallions, 1-0. Pasco defeated FC Delco Roadkill of
Pennsylvania 1-0 in the semifinals and will face Baltimore Casa
Mia of Maryland for the U-14 title.
A new round of tryouts will come next year, which Whitcomb
hopes will generate strong interest in his team.
"With success, hopefully people will want to be on the team,"
Whitcomb said. "This fuels that momentum."
SPECTATORS FROM the other fields turned towards field No. 5 at
Bowdoin College to watch a shootout between Massachusetts
and Maryland in a U-18 boys' semifinals, as Western United FC
earned a 1-0 shootout win over the Baltimore Casa Mia Bays,
considered the top U-18 boys' team in the tournament.
Western United FC will face Terryville Fire, the New York West
representative, at 10:30 a.m. today at Bowdoin for the Region 1
championship.
A PAIR OF out-of-state players have been blogging about the
tournament on usyouthsoccer.org.
Alex Beatty of FC Delco's U-14 boys' team and Daphne Corboz
of New Jersey's Players Development Academy's U-14 girls' team
have chronicled the days prior to the tournament and the
progress of the tournament.
On his blog, Beatty pointed out that seven of FC Delco's eight
teams advanced to the tournament semifinals, with a collective
record of 21-1-2.
Staff Writer Rachel Lenzi can be contacted at 791-6415 or at:
rlenzi@pressherald.com
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