Cass soccer team 0-2 at VandenBerg
Published 8:53 pm Thursday, August 28, 2008
By By DON EDEN / Vigilant/Argus
NILES – Phil VanDenBerg would have been proud of the local soccer tournament named in his honor with Buchanan, Brandywine, Niles and Cassopolis competing Saturday.
The Buck kickers held the traveling trophy high and proud as they defeated the Bobcats 2-1 with sophomore Ryan Catalano firing a 25-yard missle to the lower left corner of the net with 1:08 remaining for the championship.
"Brandywine (1-1-1) played a great game but am very very proud of my team as it took three years to win this title," an ecstatic Buck mentor Brian Pruett exclaimed. "Niles also played us tough in the opener and took all we had to beat them."
Every game between the Lakeland Conference rivals in the past two years has been close as the Bobcats won three and tied one of the four games played in 2007 but only outscored Buchanan 6-3 combined. Each team had 15 shots in the championship game to show how even the two squads are with each other.
After a scoreless first half, senior Jose Negrete found an open net as a pass from classmate Paul Kidd went over Brandywine sophomore goalie Brian Exner's outstretched fingers.
Sophomore Stone Hadley of Brandywine tied the score with a 25 yard torpedo of his own with a direct kick that escaped everyone and found the lower left corner of the net past senior goalie Tyler Knisely.
Hadley had kicks from 35-, 55- and 45-yards which, Knisely had to catch with Bobcats waiting to pounce nearby.
Senior Buchanan (2-1) defender Mike Connors was the last to leave the bench afterward and explained "it took a lot of hard work and we ran our butts off the first week of practice and hoping for the best in my last year."
Reed prevented Brandywine from taking the lead as he kicked away a ball heading toward the net with a dozen minutes to play in the first half.
Brandywine reached the final game with a 5-1 triumph in the opener over Cassopolis as they scored all the goals in the first 13 minutes.
Senior Greg Beaver opened the scoring with sophomore Jake Wieger netting the next two goals. Wieger made a couple nice moves and controlled the ball from midfield for his last score. The final two goals were by senior Brett Gilpin and freshman Jordan Hatch.
Cassopolis (0-3) changed the scoreboard for the first time this year with 7:37 remaining in the first half as freshman Blaise Suseland capitalized on a penalty kick.
"The kids are still learning and are on the same page to understand the game better since we are still the youngest team we play," said Cassopolis coach Chris Bachtel. "We are much better than last year but Brandywine is a class act and play how you are supposed to by being very disciplined and communicating and passing very well."
Buchanan reached the final by downing Niles (2-1) in the opener by scoring once in the first half and doubling that in the second stanza. Catalano scored twice against the Vikings with Kidd kicking the other marker.
Niles won the consolation contest with a 6-0 victory over Cassopolis with a 24-5 margin with shots.
Colin Freas had a hat trick (3 goals) for the Vikings with Christian Rackley, Terrell Farrow and Levi Riggenbach each finding the back of the net.