Major Beach Soccer News Release - www.majorbeachsoccer.com
Monday, June 17, 2013
TAMPA, Fla. – The Major Beach Soccer Daytona Beach tournament finished strong Sunday, with division-winning teams having clinched a berth at the MBS National Championship at Clearwater Beach in December and many more teams well on their way to Clearwater, having racked up a substantial amount of points.
Each final drew a crowd and remained hotly contested until the final whistle Sunday, but according to the spectators, the best displays of the growing sport were the Women’s Open final, the Men’s Open final, and the Co-ed Open final..JPG)
The Co-ed Open final was a rematch of an earlier game. A physical match with plenty of goal-scoring chances saw Sand Blind clinch a spot at Clearwater with a 3-2 win against the Ocala Storm thanks to a golden goal in overtime from Josh Bruno. With the win, Sand Blind finished the tournament undefeated. The match reached its climax when, in overtime, the Ocala Storm goalkeeper just managed to push a penalty kick onto the bar. After a few more moments of back-and-forth action, Bruno slotted the ball away on a counter for the win.
“It was fun,” an exhausted Bruno managed to say after the game.
In the Women’s final IABS-Pink donned their bright neon jerseys to take on the Futbol Freaks. The Freaks ultimately prevailed 2-1 after a series of end-to-end bursts and some great defending. IABS was disappointed to fall short, but Coach Bob Klemczak still had a bright disposition.
“It wasn’t what we wanted, but man wasn’t that a great game? Every year we’ve been coming here and the other tournaments and we always seem to find them in the finals,” Klemczak said. “It’s great every time. Sometimes beating them, sometimes them beating us… It’s good to have such a rival. It’s something we look forward to.”
In the Men’s final La “U” and Los Perros managed to squeak into the final match off a head-to-head tiebreaker. La “U” got the better of Los Perros, 6-2, thanks to an early barrage of four goals from Oscar Carmona and a couple of key saves from the acrobatic Carlos Carcamo.
“This is our first time at Daytona, but we have been coming for forever,” Carmona said. “It started with the old guys – the coaches now – and now they have brought us into it… We play pretty much whenever and wherever we can.”
USL National Technical Director and Major Beach Soccer Founder Peter Mellor was pleased with the professional showing from all the teams involved.
“It was great to see familiar and new faces; good to catch up with the old guard and good to meet some of the new. I think now as we continue this thing we can see how the game is helping train and develop players,” Mellor said. “The sand game is different from the turf, but the skills carry over. As beach soccer catches on and more and more coastal areas begin to participate, we can see the teams getting better each year.”
The next qualifying tournament will be the flagship tournament on July 12 at Clearwater Beach in Florida.