Rage under-16 team takes second place in Surf Cup
The Pleasanton Rage Under-16 Premier Team finished second in the San Diego Surf Cup soccer tournament held Aug. 5-7 at the San Diego Polo Club in Del Mar, Calif. The Rage lost 1-0 in the finals to the Southern California Slammers.To make it to the finals, the Rage first won in their pool, which contained teams from Hawaii, Southern California and Colorado. The Rage beat the team from Hawaii 2-1, with both goals scored by Ashley Loughmiller. One goal was unassisted and Asha Smith assisted the second. The Rage also beat the West Coast FC 1-0 by a free kick by Amanda Luxford, put in to the next from 30 yards out. Pool play finished with a tied 1-1 game against Real Colorado with Olivia Klie scoring the only goal.
In the quarterfinals, the Rage played against the Georgia State Champions from Atlanta, winning with a final score of 3-0. Klie, Carlee Payne and Megan Jurado scored the three goals. In the semi-final game against San Diego Surf, the Rage played to a 0-0 tie in regulation time, and continued on to two 10-minute quarters with still no score. The game was decided by penalty kicks. Goalkeeper Maddie Fox saved one attempt and Sophie Metz made her penalty kick for the win.
Ballistic under-16 take fourth in Sunstroke Classic
The Ballistic Black under-16 boys Al Caffodio League soccer team finished fourth in the Elk Grove Sunstroke Classic in Elk Grove, Calif. with a 2-2 record over the course of the weekend.In the consolation game, the Ballistics fell 3-2 to the Danville Mustangs with Mason Ridgway scoring on a pass by Mark Gusha in the first half. Gusha tied the score 2-2 with five seconds left in overtime. In the first game of the tournament, the Ballistics took a 4-0 victory over the Elk Grove Wolfpack. Ridgeway scored with an assist from Patrick Yee and Justin Dorsey scored with an assist from Ridgeway. Yee and John Leach rounded out the scoring with shots taken 20 yards away.
While the Ballistics lost to the Eureka Attack 4-0 in the afternoon game, they rebounded with a 3-0 win over the East Diablo Outlaws. Dorsey, Gusha and Ridgeway each scored a goal with Ridgeway, Julio Gomez and Gusha providing assists. Goalkeeper Stephen LaCommare was steady throughout the tournament and Nathaniel Roberts, Philip Vieback, Austin Richwood, Mike Chen, Eric Brunnett, Jered Lui and Brandon Lee contributed with solid team play.
–Rebecca Guyon
Under-15 Ballistic White win West Valley Soccer Classic
The under-15 Ballistic White captured first place in this weekend’s West Valley Soccer Classic in San Jose with a 3-0 win over the Fremont Fire.The team started the tournament with a 0-0 tie against the Mustang Alliance. In the second game, Ballistic met up with the Los Gatos Arsenal. After playing to a 1-1 first half stalemate, the Ballistic dominated the second half of play. In a rare appearance as a forward, Evan Zolfarelli scored his first goal of the season to put the White ahead 2-1. Cory Thomas got his second goal of the game to make the final score 3-1.
In the championship game against the Fremont Fire, Ryan Parsons scored early on a nice cross from Cory Thomas. Before halftime, Parsons scored his second goal on a nice cross from Brian Johnston. In the second half, Parsons completed his hat trick on a pass from Nik Thompson.
The Ballistic team dominated play backstopped by a strong defense that was led by Evan Zolfarelli in goal with Nick Anderson, David Meyer and Cody Hoster in the backfield. The midfielders, from Bryan Bui, Krishna Prasad and Jean Luc Masri, controlled the flow of the game with excellent teamwork and ball movement.
Ballistic next plays in the Santa Clara Rotary Cup.
Pleasanton Rage under-15 take fourth place in Sacramento Classic
In their first competitive action of the season, the Rage traveled to the Sacramento United’s Suntan Classic and took fourth place overall in their flight. In Saturday’s two qualifying games, the Rage played the Manteca Rangers to a 1-1 tie in the morning and defeated a very tough El Dorado Eclipse team 1-0 in the afternoon. The Rage used an effective passing game to score their first two goals of the young season.The first goal scoring started deep in Rage territory. Ailsa Smith drove the ball high and long into the right corner to Brittany Repac. Repac carried it into the corner, defeated her defender and placed a beautiful cross just outside the 18-yard box and onto the foot of Paige Robertson. Robertson then slid the ball to Taylor Schoonover who turned quickly left, leaving her defender behind and fired a rocket just inside the near post. The second score was again a result of a Robertson-Repac combination. The scoring drive began with Ali Freeman finding Robertson in the center of the field. Robertson then found the perfect angle for the through ball to a streaking Repac, who delivered the shot from the right side that found the far top corner of the goal. Defensively, Smith, Haley Douglas and Morgan Dorsey played tough throughout the weekend.
–Mike Miller
