The Total Demize Soccer Club U10 and U14 Boys teams travelled to Kansas City, Missouri to take part in the 2010 Missouri Salsa Tournament, with the U10 Boys taking the top gong.
The U10’s started the day taking on the Heartland Thunderbolts in game one, and started off slowly getting used to the 6v6 format of the tournament after taking second in the U11 Lake Country Soccer League in the 8v8 format. Typical midfielder captain Josh was called upon to take up the goalkeeping position for the tournament, and helped lead from the back from the first game. After a shaky start, the boys came to grips and fought back to a 5-4 victory to start the tournament off with a bang.
The boys then took on eventual finalists in the U10 division, Summit Soccer Club KC Fury. The match was a battle of attrition, with both Cole and Jaxon having a shot cleared off the line by the determined SSC defense. The Fury strike force was able to come from behind and fight back to earn a 5-4 victory in the dying seconds, pushing the TDSC boys to the only loss of the day.
With a win and a loss under their belt, the U10 boys came in second place in Group B and were drawn against Group A first placed team Harambe Strykers in the Semi-Final match. Coach Andrew Vorce made sure the boys were 100% prepared, and came out of the gates swinging. By the half time whistle 25 minutes later the U10’s were up 6-1, and finished the game by winning 9-5 to advance into the Championship Round. The other Semi-Final match was played between Group B winners SSC KC Fury and Group B runners up Futura FC Palermo, with SSC Fury advancing after winning in a sudden death Penalty Kick shoot out.
Total got a dream start to the Championship game between TDSC U10 and SSC Fury, hitting two early goals to secure a lead. The SSC boys showed the same fighting spirit that earned them top spot in Group B, and hit three before the half was over, including a controversial penalty kick decision on either side of the half. The Total boys showed their ’Never Say Die’ attitude that they exhibited all season long, and fought back to draw 4-4 with 30 seconds left. Cole, Jaxon, and Ty all stepped up to sink their Pk’s, with Josh making two clutch saves to keep the boys in the shoot out. It went into sudden death PK’s, and Josh pushed the SSC Fury’s second kicker’s shot onto the cross bar to allow Jaxon to step up and send in the final PK to bring the Trophy back to Springfield.
The U14 Competitive Boys team put themselves in good positions throughout the tournament, but were unable to close the door when it mattered most. The U14’s found themselves up in both game one and two on Opening day, but gave up the consolation goals to the other teams to come out of the first day with two ties. Kyle scored in both games, with Jacob scoring in the second game to give Total a 2-0 lead in the second half. Letting their opposition back in costed them second place, with two draws not garnering enough points to see them into the semi-finals.
The weekend also saw the TDSC U19 Scorpions capture their second Heartland Division Championship in a row, successfully defending their title to lift up back to back trophies at the end of the season. The end of the Heartland League comes just before State Cup where both the U17 and U19 Scorpion Boys look to delve deep into the competition.
