Slammers clinch title

The Slammers Maroon 11-and-under girls’ soccer team captured a league championship with wins over Tustin United and San Clemente United in Coast Soccer League play.

With two games remaining in the league season, the Slammers clinched the title.

Against Tustin United, Katarina Freiberger scored the lone goal off a thread pass from Leah Givant in a 1-0 victory. Faith Harper was dominant all over the field and the Slammers received outstanding play from marking backs Shelby Guerena, Paige Fults, Jasi Dunk, Grace Vandervort and Jackie Singer. The win was the sixth shutout of the league season for keeper Destry Comp, who returned to the pitch after sustaining a fractured wrist.

On Saturday the girls squared off with San Clemente United who at the time was in second place just four points behind the league-leading Slammers. Grace Jennings opened the scoring by collecting a perfect thread pass from Katie Dosch beating the keeper with a shot into the far post. San Clemente tied the game in the first half and despite several attacks in the box by the Slammer offense the first half ended at 1-1. The second half was all Slammers as they continued to attack the San Clemente defense. Harper broke the tie with a early second half goal off an assist from Siena Ward. Kiana Ghamari increased the lead with a finish off a perfect cross from Emma Scott. Ghamari added a second goal and Fults finished the scoring with a laser into the back of the net to complete the 5-1 victory. Coach Kirk McIntosh commented that the defense was stabilized with the return of star center-back Bella Goldstein. He also praised the play of Guerena, Fisher and Dunk.

AYSO Region 97

Girls Under 12

Green Hornets 2, Mad Hornets 2: With an assist from Kylee Seeber, Julianna Eifler buried one in the back of the net for the Green Hornets. A few plays later, Olivia Blanda broke free from midfield, and put another goal in for the Green Hornets. The second half was a defensive battle, with stellar play from Jess Andres, Amanda Cox, Haley Datt, Kailey Hambeck, Chloe Hyde, Carly and Lexi Van Oostendorp, Breelyn Viloria, Ashley Obuljen and Mackenzie Mowery. Lani Kerrigan, and Holly Halperin were crucial in goal.

Boys Under 12

The Red Team 2, Black Knights 2: The Red Team claimed first place in the league. Cooper Peters started the scoring with a long range shot. He was assisted by Griffin Burke. The two combined again in the second half, a crisp pass by Sohrob Goodarzy created an opening for Peters to cross the ball to Burke. The defensive line of The Red Team, anchored by Liam Tough in the middle stopped many attacking opportunities by the Black Knights. The constant forays forward by the two fullbacks, Sean Arnold and Spencer Swanson, kept a steady pressure on the Black Knights’ back line. Maxwell Spruill, Alex Michaelson and Brian Shaw controlled the midfield. Micheal Nieto neutralized one of the Black Knights’ top players by shadowing him all over the field. Corbin Joyce controlled in goal and initiated many attacks by his quick release of the ball.

Boys Under 10

Newport FC vs. Green Grenades: Newport FC captains Thomas Vredenburgh and Julian Hernandez led the team to a 3-1 come-from-behind playoff win. Jack Pitchess provided two second half goals and Lucas Mowery put the game out of reach late in the fourth quarter. A strong midfield contributed significantly including assists by Garrett Gendron and Hernandez, as well as stalwart play by Hunter Bostwick and Vredenburgh. Bobby Schulze and Kyle Burger played invincible center defense in the second half. Justan Gizer and John Bush owned the red zone and are averaging only one goal allowed per game over the last three matches. This week’s Game Ball honors went to Burger.

Boys Under 7

Fighter Jets vs. Blue Cobras: Joseph Whelan played well on offense, while Dane Voorhees had a shot on goal and Richie Rimlinger made a great pass to Aidan Gassel for a shot, but the ball bounced off the goal post. Finn McClintock led the defense in the first half, and Jake Nellesen made a great save in goal. Kaiyo Freyder also contributed and Marcus Miller played great in front of the goal, making several saves and steals. Jerome Snyder played well defensively.

Boys Under 6

Swarm vs. Yodas: The Swarm’s leading goal scorer Derick Romero added to his impressive season total with well-taken goals. Fellow forwards Dylan Waunch and Jacob Oei not only assisted, but also saw their own chances go just wide. Melvin Leon, Ryan Forman and Giovanni Sabatasso worked hard in midfield to move the ball forward, while defenders Andrew Lusk, Charlie Nichols-Mora and Sebastian Nowlan responded with passion to the attacks on their team’s goal.

Boys Under 5

Silver Bullets vs. Goal Rushers: Gabe Patrick scored a hat trick and proved to be unstoppable for the Goal Rushers. Wyatt Wilson was another offensive star scoring one goal. Brennan Seiber was close to the opposing goal with several full field breakaways. Chile Wills played great on offense and defense. Wes Hanson was hot on defense with some stellar saves on goal. Mitchell Smith was also a defensive threat preventing the Goal Rushers from scoring on three key plays. James Drayton used his huge midfield kicks to help the offense charge.

FOOTBALL

Seahawks win playoff opener

 By Linda Duffy

The Newport Mesa Jr. All American Football Jr. Midget Division Seahawks came away with a 30-12 first-round victory over the Cerritos Steelers to start playoff action Saturday.

The Seahawks started the game with two key defensive players, Eddie Nolan and Nick Landstrom, out due to injury and illness. But that didn’t seem to slow down the Seahawks’ strong offense led by Chase Forrest and key players Ryan Taormina, Jake Favreau, Luke Napolitano and Ricky Zak.

Favreau drove home the first TD early in the game to set the tone. The first quarter ended with the Seahawks up, 7-0, but Seahawk Cole Martin was sidelined with an ankle injury sustained on the second play of the game.

In the second quarter, Favreau ran for 16 yards. Then a pass from Forrest to Napolitano brought the Seahawks down to the Cerritos two-yard line. Favreau again punched it over the line for the score, but at a great cost: he injured his shoulder when he hit the ground after being tackled, and exited the game. Taormina ran for a two-point conversion.

The Seahawks offensive line (Colin Duffy, Grant Moore, Timmy Strader, Ian Redman and Blake Bauer) opened up huge holes for the running backs to gain large chunks of yards. Taormina was on fire in the third quarter and had a 35-yard run where he broke two tackles along the way. Napolitano caught a 20-yard pass from Forrest to set Newport up with a first-and-goal. That led to a TD run by Taormina. Adam Davis provided the extra point.

The Seahawks defense (Jordan Binder, Brad Hostetler and Andrew Boukather) was strong in the third quarter.

Still on fire from his touchdown run, Taormina sacked the Steelers quarterback deep in the backfield.

The Seahawks will play Inglewood Saturday. Taormina was the Seahawks Player of the Week for his extensive success on both offense and defense.