Sports Digest Sports Digest (September 03, 2004)

Ballistic Black 90 Team dominates Walnut Creek Summerfest U16/Division III championship

The Ballistic Black 90 Division III team dominated play in the Walnut Creek Summerfest tournament last weekend, winning the Under-16 Division III championship.

Playing their first tournament of the year, the Black 90's offense was formidable, outscoring their opponents 23-4 during the course of the tournament.

In their opening game against the Burlingame Clash, Burlingame scored the first goal within three minutes play, but Black 90 surged forward with goals by Carson Kvaternik, Brent Cambra, Nestor Negrete and two by Matt Dronkers, giving the team a 5-1 win. Their second game pitted them against the Mustang Matrix in what became an one-sided affair as Black 90s exploded with nine goals on the way to a 9-1 win.

Four players notched two goals each: David Norton, Min-Joon Oh, Evan Sherwood, and Negrete.

Jason Bantz took off his goalie jersey in the second half and scored the final goal for Black 90 on an assist from Oh. The final game of pool play against the Mt. Diablo Hurricanes was a 5-0 win for Black 90, with five players scoring: Jeff Squier, Dronkers, Norton, Negrete and Oh. Anoop Takhar and Bantz combined for the shut-out win.

The championship game found the Black 90 facing the San Ramon Thunder. Black 90 took the game, jumping out 2-0 by halftime on goals by Negrete on an assist from Kvaternik and on a Min-Joon Oh corner kick.

Negrete scored his sixth goal of the tournament on a great header after a Cambra corner kick to give Black 90 a 3-0 lead.

Battling all of the way, San Ramon made two quick goals to close the gap to 3-2 before Min-Joon Oh scored an insurance goal late in the second half on a great pass from Negrete, sealing the 4-2 victory and championship for the Ballistic Black 90s. Napa Valley Wine Country Classic

The Ballistic United Under-14 boys teams participated in the Napa Valley Wine Classic Aug. 28-29, finishing with a record of 1-1-1.

Ballistic started off the tournament with a loss to Napa Sport Indians 4-0. Ballistic had several good shots on goal, but the team could not net a goal. In game two, Ballistic shutout the Tracy United Zone 3-0, with Trevor Dawson, Chris Lee and Dillon Mullaney scoring for Ballistic. In their final game, Ballistic took an early lead against the Delta Hurricanes, but ended the game in a tie with goals scored by Dillon Mullaney, assisted by Shaun Daut, and Chris Lee.

Mark Gusha had several key saves in the match with solid defensive play by Scott Sweetnam, Matt Yankowski, Jay Jafarpour, Matt Ponzini and Trevor Dawson along with midfield play by George Mayer, Aaron Lek, David Vega, Nathan Roberts and Stefan Rabrenovich. Pleasanton Rage Under-15 holds own at Soccer City Warm Up

The Pleasanton Rage Under-15 Division III team only managed to capture one goal in their three games at the Soccer City Warm Up, but strong defense behind the sterling play of goalie LeeAnn Meyer played well enough for the team to go 1-1-1.

After scoring 29 goals in their first eight games, the Rage found the going much tougher when the team was matched up with the physical play of the under-16 teams in their bracket. After dropping their first game to Roseville 1-0, Pleasanton bounced back with a 1-0 victory against De Anza and finished on Sunday with a 0-0 tie with Petaluma.

Soccer City signaled the end of the preseason for Pleasanton, who entered the regular season boasting a 9-1-1 record.

Pleasanton's lone loss could have easily been worse. The Rage was out shot by the Roseville Storm by a 2-to-1 margin, but hung tough with the bracket-winning Roseville squad throughout the game.

Roseville's goal came four minutes into the second half with what seemed like an easily handled centering pass that instead spun away from Meyer. A hustling Storm player seized the opportunity and punched it into the net.

Meyer and the Rage defense, led by Lindsey Ellison and Brittany Kepke, kept Roseville from doing any further damage. However, Pleasanton's offense, despite a couple good chances by Ashley Royer and Kristyn Hayashi, could not find its way to force a tie. The Rage's first loss of the season seemed to have little effect on the Team's psyche and Pleasanton came out firing in second game against the De Anza Dynamite.

Taking the opening kickoff, Megan Gomez moved straight down the middle of the field and temporarily lost the ball before passing to Jamie Thurman 10 yards from the box.

Thurman then worked a give-and-go with Gomez, getting the ball back just inside the box, slightly to the right of center and ripped a shot to the near post for a 1-0 lead.

The goal came only 30 seconds into the contest. Pleasanton continued the pressure throughout most of the first half, getting great opportunities from Valerie Rycerski, Katie Farthing and Royer.

With four minutes remaining in the first half, Pleasanton had out-shot De Anza by a 10-1 margin and it appeared just a matter of time before they would break the game wide open.

The Dynamite found a great chance to even the scoreboard and only a spectacular diving save by Meyer kept De Anza from knotting the score.

De Anza rallied back, turning the tables on Pleasanton, out-shooting them 11-4 the rest of the way.

Following Meyer's diving save by hitting the cross bar, De Anza went over the top twice before the half ended. It was clear that the apparent rout had turned into a battle.

De Anza kept up the pressure throughout the second half, with Meyer making another bold save late in the second half, punching a shot from the left side over the net.

Finally, the Rage defense, led by Brooke Silva, Robyn Clark and Alex Martin managed to contain the attacking Dynamite squad and kept the ball out of scoring range long enough to make the lone goal stand up for the win.

While needing another win to earn Pleasanton the chance to advance to the medal games, the team could only manage a 0-0 tie with the Petaluma Thunder in a very physical game.

Pleasanton again opened with a great scoring opportunity early in the first half. Alicia Fraticelli hit a perfect through ball down the right side that Farthing ran down and carried into the box. Her ensuing angle shot was struck well, but soared over the crossbar.

Petaluma struggled putting the ball on net, recording four wide shots in the first half or ones that went over the top.

The Rage worked hard against the substantial Petaluma squad with Angie Macaulay and Christina Fromson banging bodies in the midfield and making passes to wingers Justine Snyder and Clark to keep the play from advancing into the Rage zone.

With most of the play in the midfield, neither team mounted many offensive threats during the second half and the game ended scoreless. Rage Under-13 takes fourth at tourney

Battling 100-degree temperatures, the Pleasanton Rage Under-13 Division III team faced fifteen other Under-13 and Under-14 teams to finish in fourth place at the Pleasanton Soccer City Warm Up tournament held Aug. 28 and 29.

Starting with their first qualifying game and finishing with their final qualifier, the Rage rode a balanced team effort of shut-down defense and pressure offense.

After winning their group and qualifying for the consolation game, the Rage ran into a strong opponent in the Rohnert Park Under-14 team, who lost 0-4 in a tough, physical and final game.

The Rage's first victory came against West Marin Thunder with a final score of 2-0.

Pleasanton got the scoring started on a Scarlett Dante direct 24-yard kick 26 minutes into the game.

The Rage finished the scoring with an efficient combination of passes starting with the ball moving up field from Ann Palowitch to Samantha Lysaght, who pushed the ball through the defense and to the feet of Julia Frizzel.

Frizzel fired a rocket from just inside the 18-yard box for the goal.

Cheyenne Murray served three solid crossing passes resulting in scoring opportunities, while the tough Rage defense held the Thunder scoreless.

In the next game, the Rage came out shooting. With a total of 29 shots on goal, the Rage pressured their opponent, the West Valley Magic, from whistle to whistle.

The 7-0 final score was proof of the solid teamwork, passing and defense.

The Rage midfield provided numerous crossing balls and through pass opportunities leading to the 29 shots.

In the third and final qualifying game, the Rage held a tough Sierra EXtreme team 0-0.

The Rage's back line, Dante, Lysaght, Briana Snyder and Nazly Bayramoglu, held the EXtreme in check, while offensive opportunities came from Ailsa Smith with six shots on frame.

In the consolation game, the Rage was held without a shot on goal as the formidable Rohnert Park team dominated the game 4-0.

Goalies Chelsea Skinner and Stephanie Belcher played forcefully throughout the game, making 22 saves on 26 shots. Devil Mountain member places fourth in national championship

Pleasanton's Devil Mountain member Christopher Hassoon, 13, placed fourth in the junior level riding, running and marksmanship phases at the 2004 U.S. Pony Clubs, Inc. National Championship held in Lexington, Kent., on July 19-23. Hassoon also placed fifth in the swimming phase and hi steam placed third in horse management.

The horsemanship riders compete in dressage, mounted games, polocrosse, show jumping, tetrathlon (riding, running, swimming and marksmanship) and an unmounted equine quiz competition.

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