Tuesday, April 24, 2012
The 2012 Super Y-League kicked off in style recently, with games getting underway in several Mid Atlantic and South Atlantic Division age groups. Nearly 500 teams from more than 100 clubs will take part in the 2012 Super Y-League season, fighting it out in one of the most tradition-rich national youth leagues for a shot at the 2012 SYL North American Finals.
Several players opened their seasons with standout performances as their teams opened in victorious fashion.
Mackenzie Hoglund
Seacoast United Mariners U14 Boys
Hoglund tallied a goal and three assists as the Mariners signaled their intentions in the New England division with a 5-0 home victory against Black Watch SC in the season-opener. Hoglund, a striker, had a hand in four of the five goals while Sam Farr, Jordan Kruguer, Dalton Moore and Austin Nowinski also found the back of the net for Coach James Blackwell’s squad.
“Mackenzie is a key player for us,” Blackwell said. “He can play as a lone striker or in a front two. He’s athletically gifted, a good finisher and above all he’s one of the hardest working players out there. He keeps going from the first minute to the last."
Pasquale Lia
Parsippany SC U12 Boys
Lia found the back of the net three times in a 4-0 Parisppany SC victory against the Westchester Flames as his team improved to 2-0 to open its debut season in Super Y.
Parisppany created several chances to score early, but Westchester was defending well and the goalkeeper made a few strong saves. After going up 1-0 on a goal by William Stroud, Parsippany began to dictate the tempo of the game and Lia scored his first off a nice cross by Reese Little.
Little once again served as provider in the second half, with Lia completing his hat trick with a pair of one-touch shots off crosses from Little. Lia was very active during the game, always pushing on the left side of the field and reading the game well.
“Pasquale’s perfect runs changed the game,” Coach Stan Matlak said. “He was either creating chances with many crosses coming from him, or he put himself in very good positions to score the goals.”
Cole Venner
Nordic Soccer Club U13 Boys
Venner proved to be the difference-maker for Nordic in a back-and-forth battle with the MPS Crusaders in the season-opener for both, scoring three times including the game-winner with two minutes to play in a 5-4 victory.
Nordic was up 3-0 after 20 minutes thanks to a pair of goals from Sam Dickens and one from Venner, but MPS fought back to tie at 4-4 before Venner completed his hat-trick with two minutes remaining.
“Full credit to the Crusaders for pulling the score back to 4-4, but…you should never count Cole out of any game,” Nordic Coach Jim Goudie said. “This was a great way for our U13 boys to mark their Super Y-League debut.”