Monday, December 9, 2013
BRADENTON, Fla. – Jason Neves had the only goal as Ironbound SC took a 1-0 victory against the Toronto Lynx to claim the Boys U17 Championship at the 2013 Super Y-League North American Finals, presented by Nike, at IMG Academy.
“Jason’s been working hard all season long,” Ironbound coach Alex Neves said. “I took him out a couple of times in the past, got him back onto the field, and he’s a finisher for us, he’s been there all season long, but the best one happened today.”
The game opened evenly, and Ironbound came close to taking the lead in the 21st minute as Federico De Oliveira turned his marker inside the penalty area, only to send his shot high and wide of the left post. Toronto had a chance of its own four minutes later as Colin Edwards broke in from the left, only for his near-post shot to be saved.
The Lynx then began to take control of the game, and created a number of chances before the halftime break. MacKenzie Kropa went close with a header from a corner in the 35th minute, and four minutes later Philip Mankinde turned his defender well, only to blaze his shot over the crossbar. Mankinde had another good opportunity in the final minute, but his first shot was blocked by a defender, and the rebound saved by Ironbound goalkeeper Cody Gross.
Jason Neves had a big chance to open the scoring for Ironbound in the opening minute of the second half, but Peter Bonnano came up big to make a pair of good saves to keep the game scoreless. Neves again went close with a header in the 62nd minute, but Toronto then began to apply pressure again with Edwards having a shot well saved, and Nathen Mesher shooting wide.
As Toronto pushed forward to try and take the lead, however, they were caught short on the counter-attack as a two-on-two at the halfway line turned into a two-on-one after a defender slipped. De Oliveira walked in on goal, drawing Bonnano, and then slipped a pass to his left to Neves, who finished into an open goal.
Toronto continued to push numbers forward, now in search of an equalizer, and Gross had to make a pair of good saves, the second from point-blank range on Logan Pedrebarac in stoppage time, to keep his side ahead. Moments after that save, however, the final whistle blew, and Ironbound claimed victory.
“The club already has seven national championships, we’ve brought another one for the club, I feel amazing,” Alex Neves said. “We got through injuries, a lot of players played through them, as a unit, and it shows, we won the national championship.”
Waza FC East completes perfect run
BRADENTON, Fla. - Waza FC East finished a perfect 4-0-0 to capture the U17 Girls title at the 2013 Super Y-League North American Finals, presented by Nike. Waza entered its final match against Virginia Alliance needing a win or a tie, and took care of business with a clinical 2-0 victory.
Waza finished with nine goals for and only two against to leave no doubts about the top team in the five-day event.
"Five days and four 90-minute games, we said before we left that this was a 'soccer-first' trip, and the girls spent every night stretching, getting up early and stretching, warming up, and everybody just did their job," Waza Coach Daniel Mendonca said. "It didn't matter who was scoring the goals, everybody just did their job."
The teams battled evenly in the first half, with Virginia coming close to taking the lead early when Haley Roy's corner kick brushed the crossbar. It took until the 65th minute for Waza to break the deadlock, with Nora Broderick scoring off an assist from Isabella Habuda.
Habuda doubled the margin in the 77th minute, with Broderick this time serving as provider.
"This team historically bends but never breaks and the counter attack is what we do, and today [Virginia] pushed knowing they needed to win, and we knew a tie or win would get us through. With the wind at their back in the first half we had to defend and did well, and we came out and scored when we had to in the second half and got the job done."