Day 4: Tuesday, December 8th, 2009
The day began even earlier than the day before with both teams waking up at 6:30, before the sun graced the sky. Weary from the day before, we all stumbled our way down to breakfast with the chef who actually got our orders correct and on time, unlike the chef who was “too cool” the days earlier. As we were finishing cleaning our rooms and packing, about to put on our new non-worn white jerseys, Decker sent an inspiring text message informing us that we are wearing our dirty, smelly, wet jerseys from the day before. He also let us know we were going to play the Westin Fury, a team from Miami, Florida, instead of PA Classics. What a fantastic way to wake up thought Zac Walters. . . Baggins… as he complained the whole time about wearing dirty socks. We arrived at the field and went through our pre-game and scouting reports. The 16s game started with a quick goal by Chris Pearson inside the first couple of minutes off of a through ball to Chris who ran behind the defense. The other team seemed to be asleep as we celebrated the early goal. The first half continued with pure SLSG domination. After halftime, they seemed to wake up and start to play. We started to take on water in our ship, but we didn’t sink for a while. With 15 minutes left in the game, they scored the equalizer off of a cross inside the box from the end line. The game ended disappointingly with a score of 1-1. The 18’s game was not as unfortunate. We started the game with a weak scouting report due to the unexpected schedule change, but the unexpected was nothing we couldn’t handle because the first 15-minutes was dominated by the mighty . . . Blues. Even though we had most of the chances, the evil Fury popped one in the back of the net off of a perfect free kick which found a Furious head. This was how the first half ended. The second half brought new energy and a few fresh legs. This new energy brought about a fantastic run by Sean Kuster who roofed one far post. What a Beauty. Only 5 minutes had past and SLSG had closed the gap. About 15 minutes later, Vince Cicciarelli made a great individual run with the ball and placed it past the goalie making the score 2-1. It was a great come from behind win. Once the games were over, both teams headed back to the hotel to shower up and throw any last minute things together. Blake and Dale’s car happened to see an academy ball unattended sitting for us to take. They sent Faik out to retrieve the ball because they can always use more balls. Faik got the ball and put it under his jacket when a field marshal came driving up in his Gator. We quickly closed the door and sped off. As we took off, the field marshal began to follow us in the van. Blake then had to stop the van and make Faik go and return the lost ball. After this little adventure we cleaned up and met in the lobby for departure. Once in the vans, the 45-minute drive to the airport was the least of our worries. Everybody was starving and couldn’t wait to eat. It was 1:45 before we made our way through security and finally found food establishments. Once the plane and the players were fueled up for the trip, the very pleasant flight crew announced we would be having a full flight. This was met with some groans and complaints, but these were short lived because the first group was already boarding the plane. Once on the plane, Black Friday struck again. People were crowding the hallway and throwing bags every which way. It was a sight to see. After everyone was seated, the effects of the weekend set in. People are sawing logs now, even before take off. The flight crew has been warning to turn off the electronics, so I better end this with a quick summation of the trip. I think grandpa Bettger’s words are most fitting, “This was a freakin’ awesome weekend.” Peace.
Logan North, Jason Coon, Alex Zuerlein
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Monday, December 7, 2009
Days 2 and 3- Winter Showcase
Day 2: Sunday, December 6th
The day began early for the U-16 and U-18 squads with a hearty Sunday morning breakfast. We got up at the early time of 8:30 even though we had no games or anything to do during the daytime. SLSG-Adventurers left for Squaw Peak, a mountain of epic proportions in the Arizona desert. We set out for the top. Approximately eight of the players went on an excursion “off the beaten path”. A park ranger spotted them and kindly inquired what organization they were affiliated with. With which they replied, “What!? We have to be on a path?”. They were then sent back down to the bottom of the mountain where they re-started their trip. Approximately twelve individuals made base camp at the half-mile mark up, immediately following Ariel Godinez nearly falling off the mountainside. He commented afterwards, “I like to live my life on the edge.” It took about forty-five minutes to reach the summit for the average individual, where we awaited the arrival of Big Deezy, Sweaty Hewitt, and Zach Baggins. While we waited, a woman of about the age of 50, wearing a jean skirt and having mini tattoos, and asked us what sort of team we are on. She then continued to describe to us her “cougar call” but she was too winded from the ascent to demonstrate. She particularly found the shirtless Kent Kobernus attractive, though she made fun of his colored hair behind his back. While SLSG-Farm Community continued to wait, a police helicopter sent out to pursue our team circled us repeatedly on top of the mountain. Fink recalls, “I thought they were there to recover Hewitt, but they were just messing with us.” When all of the team had joined us at the top, SLSG-Models got their picture taken and then headed back to the vans, a slow ascent. Some individuals ran at break neck speed down the hill “in pursuit of a gliding goddess” who was running down the mountain. She later told witnesses she did it every day.
We arrived back at the hotel where we were informed by Sergeant Decker that we were to meet at the pool in about an hour and a half. We all naturally assumed he was just joking about swimming due to the temperature in the 30’s outdoors the night before. Upon arriving at the pool, SLSG-Polar Bears were shepherded into the pool. Various exclamations heard in the pool during the Sparq warm up that followed include, “I hate Blake”, “Blake sucks”, “Decker die”, “Das Wasser is schitze kalt”, “esta muoy frio, blake es cruelil”, and “ah it hurts!”. SLSG-Popsicles ran to the hot tub where 33 young men crowded into a tub approximately the size of a bowl of cereal. We were then given twenty minutes to all shower and be ready to leave for dinner.
SLSG-Joey Chestnut headed towards Hometown Buffet, a place that focused on quantity over the quality. “The food was poopy,” but, “they had pretty good orange slushes”. A large complaint was about how they ran out of pink lemonade and chocolate milk. Torrence attempted to make a very tall ice cream cone, but when he tried to lick it, it fell off into his hand, where then he walked around for about three minutes trying to find a trash can to dump the ice cream in. We returned to the hotel and went to bed.
Day 3: Monday, December 7th
We started our day early Monday with breakfast. Cicciarelli said, “ridiculous service! Preposterous!” He would also like to add that close to a hundred people got their food before he did, despite his early order. Fink complains about the sugar free syrup too. Later on, we headed to the games.
The 93’s played a hard fought game and drew a tie. The weather was atrocious and uncommon in Phoenix. Fortunately for us, Illinois weather is perfect training for games like this, rainy and wet.
The game began with new faces in new positions. The fact that the ground was drenched in water made the pace of the game unbearably slow and not soccer like.
The 91’s played on the same field against New England Revolution’s U-18 academy team. The first half was filled with near chances with good play in the top third. We were rewarded a corner with about 10 minutes remaining in the first half. Ariel played a ball into the 6-yard box, where the goalie preceded to bat it down, to the feet of Vince who put the ball in the back of the net. There were a few more chances in the half but none were able to give us a 2-0 commanding lead. The second half was a back and forth battle with neither team scoring the second goal of the game. Walters, CJ, Sean, me(Clithero) and Bloomberg were the players coming off the bench, who were able to play a big role in the game. For starts, once Sean got in the game he immediately got a yellow card for a minor foul. Next I was able to score on a through ball played by Martin. It was a good ball leaving me wide open against the goalie and with the wet field I had to slow down because of the wet field conditions, a defender caught me but I was able to maintain control of the ball, the goalie came out and I was able to toe poke it through his legs and he was able to get a piece of the ball, but it still had enough to get past the line and into the back of the net. The remainder of the game was back and forth, with the best chance coming from a ball won by Kuster, who played me, then I played Walters who was able to get a good shot which was pushed past the post for a corner. The remaining of the game had no serious chances and we were able to solidify 3 points from a MLS team (they were actually just the MLS junior Academy team, not the actual MLS team, to clarify).
After the game, we went to celebrate at the local mall where we got Chinese, pizza, and candy by the fourth pound. One notable purchase was a foot-long gummy worm that Ariel purchased (rumor has it that it has been eaten already). A few other players purchased presents for their sweethearts at various stores. We are going to bed early now for a busy game/travel day tomorrow.
Fink, Brennan, Clithero, Kuster
The day began early for the U-16 and U-18 squads with a hearty Sunday morning breakfast. We got up at the early time of 8:30 even though we had no games or anything to do during the daytime. SLSG-Adventurers left for Squaw Peak, a mountain of epic proportions in the Arizona desert. We set out for the top. Approximately eight of the players went on an excursion “off the beaten path”. A park ranger spotted them and kindly inquired what organization they were affiliated with. With which they replied, “What!? We have to be on a path?”. They were then sent back down to the bottom of the mountain where they re-started their trip. Approximately twelve individuals made base camp at the half-mile mark up, immediately following Ariel Godinez nearly falling off the mountainside. He commented afterwards, “I like to live my life on the edge.” It took about forty-five minutes to reach the summit for the average individual, where we awaited the arrival of Big Deezy, Sweaty Hewitt, and Zach Baggins. While we waited, a woman of about the age of 50, wearing a jean skirt and having mini tattoos, and asked us what sort of team we are on. She then continued to describe to us her “cougar call” but she was too winded from the ascent to demonstrate. She particularly found the shirtless Kent Kobernus attractive, though she made fun of his colored hair behind his back. While SLSG-Farm Community continued to wait, a police helicopter sent out to pursue our team circled us repeatedly on top of the mountain. Fink recalls, “I thought they were there to recover Hewitt, but they were just messing with us.” When all of the team had joined us at the top, SLSG-Models got their picture taken and then headed back to the vans, a slow ascent. Some individuals ran at break neck speed down the hill “in pursuit of a gliding goddess” who was running down the mountain. She later told witnesses she did it every day.
We arrived back at the hotel where we were informed by Sergeant Decker that we were to meet at the pool in about an hour and a half. We all naturally assumed he was just joking about swimming due to the temperature in the 30’s outdoors the night before. Upon arriving at the pool, SLSG-Polar Bears were shepherded into the pool. Various exclamations heard in the pool during the Sparq warm up that followed include, “I hate Blake”, “Blake sucks”, “Decker die”, “Das Wasser is schitze kalt”, “esta muoy frio, blake es cruelil”, and “ah it hurts!”. SLSG-Popsicles ran to the hot tub where 33 young men crowded into a tub approximately the size of a bowl of cereal. We were then given twenty minutes to all shower and be ready to leave for dinner.
SLSG-Joey Chestnut headed towards Hometown Buffet, a place that focused on quantity over the quality. “The food was poopy,” but, “they had pretty good orange slushes”. A large complaint was about how they ran out of pink lemonade and chocolate milk. Torrence attempted to make a very tall ice cream cone, but when he tried to lick it, it fell off into his hand, where then he walked around for about three minutes trying to find a trash can to dump the ice cream in. We returned to the hotel and went to bed.
Day 3: Monday, December 7th
We started our day early Monday with breakfast. Cicciarelli said, “ridiculous service! Preposterous!” He would also like to add that close to a hundred people got their food before he did, despite his early order. Fink complains about the sugar free syrup too. Later on, we headed to the games.
The 93’s played a hard fought game and drew a tie. The weather was atrocious and uncommon in Phoenix. Fortunately for us, Illinois weather is perfect training for games like this, rainy and wet.
The game began with new faces in new positions. The fact that the ground was drenched in water made the pace of the game unbearably slow and not soccer like.
The 91’s played on the same field against New England Revolution’s U-18 academy team. The first half was filled with near chances with good play in the top third. We were rewarded a corner with about 10 minutes remaining in the first half. Ariel played a ball into the 6-yard box, where the goalie preceded to bat it down, to the feet of Vince who put the ball in the back of the net. There were a few more chances in the half but none were able to give us a 2-0 commanding lead. The second half was a back and forth battle with neither team scoring the second goal of the game. Walters, CJ, Sean, me(Clithero) and Bloomberg were the players coming off the bench, who were able to play a big role in the game. For starts, once Sean got in the game he immediately got a yellow card for a minor foul. Next I was able to score on a through ball played by Martin. It was a good ball leaving me wide open against the goalie and with the wet field I had to slow down because of the wet field conditions, a defender caught me but I was able to maintain control of the ball, the goalie came out and I was able to toe poke it through his legs and he was able to get a piece of the ball, but it still had enough to get past the line and into the back of the net. The remainder of the game was back and forth, with the best chance coming from a ball won by Kuster, who played me, then I played Walters who was able to get a good shot which was pushed past the post for a corner. The remaining of the game had no serious chances and we were able to solidify 3 points from a MLS team (they were actually just the MLS junior Academy team, not the actual MLS team, to clarify).
After the game, we went to celebrate at the local mall where we got Chinese, pizza, and candy by the fourth pound. One notable purchase was a foot-long gummy worm that Ariel purchased (rumor has it that it has been eaten already). A few other players purchased presents for their sweethearts at various stores. We are going to bed early now for a busy game/travel day tomorrow.
Fink, Brennan, Clithero, Kuster
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Winter Showcase- Day 1 vs. SC United
After a boring day of school on Friday we traveled to the busy airport to rendezvous with our teammates. We checked in, and were surprised that we had to pay 20 dollars for our bags since we had forgotten that part of American Airlines. This frustrated many, but we over came the pain and continued on our long journey through the airport. Further North, were two lone wolves (Vince and Brad) prowling the airport of Bloomington, IL. After a fairly tight and cramped flight to Dallas, Texas, Brad and I (Vincent Dominic Cicciarelli) waited alone for 2 hours for blue team and blue team leaders. Back at home STL, we swiftly moved through security and arrived at the BK Lounge, and Cinnabun to devour the greasy food. Two hours later our flight left for Dallas to meet up with the two lone wolves. We quickly grabbed Auntie Anne’s and then boarded our final leg of the trip to Phoenix. Hoguet speaking, though this flight was more comfortable than the first of the day, it was also more boring. When we finally arrived in Phoenix, everyone was very very very tired. While we were excited to finally arrive at our destination, we waited patiently on Budget and their slow service for our vans. Cicciarelli back on the mic, we finally got our vans and headed to the “Hilton Garden Inn.” We were greeted by cold pizza and as we all know (except for Liam), cold pizzas are the best. Around 1am we finally hit the hay.
This morning we were awoke from our clouds of deep slumber around the time of 8 o’clock STL time. This was quite early coming off of a long day and night of travels. The best part of waking up though was the beautiful and delicious gourmet FAST OF BREAK. The possibilities were endless, from French toast to the lovely waffles. After breakfast, we went back to our rooms and chilled until we went to eat again. If you don’t know by now, all we do is eat, sleep, and play soccer on these trips. Just playing, but seriously. Around eleven hundred hours we departed for our quick Subway run and then off the fields the 93’s went. The 93’s played at 2:15 against South Carolina United and pulled off a beautiful 2 to 1 win. SC united got an early goal in the 20th minute, but we bounced back quickly with the answer. We were granted a corner kick and John kicked it near post to Sam W. who flicked it back post to Billy who just tapped it in. Soon after we were on the offense again and this time Alex Z got all the way to their end line and crosses it back post to Bryan B who headed it down right into the goal. This put us up 2 to 1 and it would keep us there until the end of the game but not after a tough second half they imposed on us.
After the 93’s came the 91’s battle royale vs. South Carolina United. The game started a bit chippy with South Carolina firing on all cylinders. But thankfully our defense was able to weather the storm and start to create some counter attacks. After we started to take control, our defense took a major blow…well Nicholas Marshall did anyways.. a high kick to the face ended his day, a short yet solid day in the backline. After that with a couple adjustments we really started to take control of the game and put in a perfectly timed goal by Carenza. Kuster hit a well driven corner and Carenza buried the ball into the back of the net with a header. Half came, and speech from coaches got the team pumped up even more. We knew the other team was going to come out strong knowing they were losing 1-0. Vince came in relieving CJ Cerna who had played a well fought game. A few minutes later the Hoginator(Travis Hoguet) came in the game. A well played ball from Joe Bettger bounced behind the defense and Travis Hoguet came in to volley it left footed into the right corner. Shortly after the second goal to put us up 2-0, Hoguet flicked a ball onto Mr. Vince Cicciarelli who buried the ball briefly into the net.
After the well fought game which we won 3-1, we went to eat at Sweet Tomatoes. It was great. Then we headed off back to the hotel to take our mandatory ice baths. They were great and very cold. Around 9:30 our time here we had a team meeting briefly summarizing the activities scheduled for tomorrow. While everyone was very very very tired, we all headed off to bed.
Done. =] Wrtten by: Travis Hoguet, Sean Baumann, and Vince Cicci
This morning we were awoke from our clouds of deep slumber around the time of 8 o’clock STL time. This was quite early coming off of a long day and night of travels. The best part of waking up though was the beautiful and delicious gourmet FAST OF BREAK. The possibilities were endless, from French toast to the lovely waffles. After breakfast, we went back to our rooms and chilled until we went to eat again. If you don’t know by now, all we do is eat, sleep, and play soccer on these trips. Just playing, but seriously. Around eleven hundred hours we departed for our quick Subway run and then off the fields the 93’s went. The 93’s played at 2:15 against South Carolina United and pulled off a beautiful 2 to 1 win. SC united got an early goal in the 20th minute, but we bounced back quickly with the answer. We were granted a corner kick and John kicked it near post to Sam W. who flicked it back post to Billy who just tapped it in. Soon after we were on the offense again and this time Alex Z got all the way to their end line and crosses it back post to Bryan B who headed it down right into the goal. This put us up 2 to 1 and it would keep us there until the end of the game but not after a tough second half they imposed on us.
After the 93’s came the 91’s battle royale vs. South Carolina United. The game started a bit chippy with South Carolina firing on all cylinders. But thankfully our defense was able to weather the storm and start to create some counter attacks. After we started to take control, our defense took a major blow…well Nicholas Marshall did anyways.. a high kick to the face ended his day, a short yet solid day in the backline. After that with a couple adjustments we really started to take control of the game and put in a perfectly timed goal by Carenza. Kuster hit a well driven corner and Carenza buried the ball into the back of the net with a header. Half came, and speech from coaches got the team pumped up even more. We knew the other team was going to come out strong knowing they were losing 1-0. Vince came in relieving CJ Cerna who had played a well fought game. A few minutes later the Hoginator(Travis Hoguet) came in the game. A well played ball from Joe Bettger bounced behind the defense and Travis Hoguet came in to volley it left footed into the right corner. Shortly after the second goal to put us up 2-0, Hoguet flicked a ball onto Mr. Vince Cicciarelli who buried the ball briefly into the net.
After the well fought game which we won 3-1, we went to eat at Sweet Tomatoes. It was great. Then we headed off back to the hotel to take our mandatory ice baths. They were great and very cold. Around 9:30 our time here we had a team meeting briefly summarizing the activities scheduled for tomorrow. While everyone was very very very tired, we all headed off to bed.
Done. =] Wrtten by: Travis Hoguet, Sean Baumann, and Vince Cicci
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