Ballistic Boys charge Mustangs in invitational
The Ballistic United boys U-13 soccer team played in the Mustang Winter Turf Invitational soccer tournament Jan. 3-4 in Danville.
In the first game, Ballistic played against Milan and controlled the game from the beginning and took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Joey Devivo halfway through the first half. Eric Toombs and Devivo, the two Ballistic forwards, had many other chances to put the game out of reach, but could not close the deal with many scoring opportunities going wide or stopped by the Hillmar goalie.
In the team’s second day, Ballistic played the defending State Cup champions, Placer Prestige. Both teams played hard and the game was tied going into half time. Shortly into the second half, Placer was called for a foul and Nate Grixti launched a 45 yard cross into the box and Marco Neves fought to reach it and headed the ball past the Placer goalie to put Ballistic up 1-0.
From that point, the intensity of the game increased and with 3 minutes left, Placer played a long diagonal through ball to their right forward who out ran the Ballistic defense and tied the game at 1-1. Neither team was able to create any additional scoring chances and the game ended tied 1-1.
The last day of the tournament, Ballistic played the Ceres Earthquake in the final pool game needing a win to move into the championship game. The game see-sawed back and forth with both teams having scoring opportunities, but neither being able to finish. The game finally ended when a Ceres forward received a pass and beat Ballistic goalie Daniel Slominski to put Ceres up 1-0. Ballistic pushed hard to try to regain that goal, but the score remained 1-0.
Ballistic took out their frustration on the Mustang team from Danville from their earlier loss and jumped out to a 2-0 lead. Devivo scored the first three goals of the game. A couple more goals by Devivo with help from Eric Toombs and they beat the Danville rivals 5-0.
Rage U11 Premier top all at tourney
The RAGE U11 Premier team beat all opponents at the Bullard Classic Tournament in Fresno Jan. 3-4. The team handily won all four games due in large part to the tenaciousness of a strong defensive unit, anchored by an outstanding performance by goalkeeper Sophia Brown who only gave up one goal. The strong defense was provided by Juliana Leedeman, Katlyn Franciskovich, Hannah McGillivray, Kennedy Truex and Eilis Hegarty kept the opposing offenses off-balance throughout the tournament. Sophie Santos was phenomenal in midfield and was able to consistently deliver the ball to the forwards. The midfield was also supported with excellent work by Brookey Villanueva, Olivia Christensen, Heather Jackson and Maggie Kilday. The forwards were led by Carley Robertson, Malissa Shadle, Sami LaBella, Hailey Mann and Hanna Mallie.
Pictured: Back row (l-r) Nick Mangiardi, Malissa Shadle, Sami LaBella, Maggie Kilday, Eilis Hegarty, Kennedy Truex and Jamie Mangiardi; middle: Heather Jackson, Olivia Christensen, Hannah McGillivray, Hanna Mallie, Brookey Villanueva, Katlyn Franciskovich, Sophia Brown and Juliana Leedeman; front: Sophie Santos, Carley Robertson and Hailey Mann.
BUSC U12 take home the win
The BUSC U12 Division III Black team took home an impressive win at the CYSA Association Cup Championships.
The boys tied their first game 2-2 against the Hayward Badd Boys and won the next two matches against Redwood Palo Alto 2-0 and CAP Valley Rush 3-0.
The Black team’s defense held all appoints scoreless during regular play other than two converted penalty kicks in the first game. The boys continued to dominate offensively through a well balanced attack with eleven different players registering shots on goal for a three match total of 55 to opponents’ 7. Goals were scored by Bradley Pilkington, Ben Smedley, Mason Picone and Jared Siegel with assists from Brian Kinnee, Roberto Beard, Chris Goldhawk, Mason P icone and Ben Smedley. Rounding out the offensive squad was Brendan Gold and Joey Repac.
Pictured: Back row (l-r): Sammy Hanson, Matthew Teng, Jared Siegel, Brian Kinnee, Andrew Griehshammer, Roberto Beard, Ben Smedley, Mason Picone, Chris Goldhawk, Jack Geasa and Ryan Vicencio; front: Coach Tyrone Tuell, Joey Repac, Brendan Gold, Alex Lee, Bradley Pilkington and Joshua Cole.
