Playing in their first tournament together, the Weston Fury Premier U18 boys won a match and lost two over the Labor Day weekend. It wasn’t enough to advance beyond pool play at Disney’s Soccer Showcase at Disney’s Wide World of Sports and Austin-Tindall Regional Park in Orlando.
The tournament provided the newly formed team much-needed playing time. Coach Alvin James’s squad has been together only five weeks and has played only one match, beating Boca Raton in an early-season match back on Aug. 13.
Weston started the tournament well Saturday afternoon, coming from behind twice to beat the Wellington Wave 3-2. Fury central midfielder Luis Alva scored the winning goal in a torrential downpour that lasted the entire second half. Alva was assisted by stopper Leo Caldeira and forward Jonathan (J.T.) Thiel. Wellington finished last season ranked #7 in the state by socccerfla.com.
Saturday night Weston trailed 2-0 to the Alpharetta (GA) Ambush at the half, and could only muster a single goal scored by Thiel when following up a hard shot by outside midfielder Jeremy Weber in the second half. The Ambush made it to the semifinals of the Georgia State Cup last season.
On Sunday afternoon, Weston needed to defeat the Cape Coral Cyclones Premier to move into the playoff round. The Fury scored first from a spectacular curving shot to the far, upper 90 by outside midfielder Matt Mobley, assisted by forward David Gordon -- but failed to convert a penalty kick that would have given Weston a 2-0 lead. Cape Coral went ahead on a pair of penalty kicks, the first on a fullback’s foul in the box and the second on a hotly contested handball call against another fullback. The match ended 3-1.
Cape Coral proved to be the surprise of the Showcase, going on to win the U18 boys’ championship. The Cyclones beat the Brandon Flames (Tampa) 3-2 in the semifinals and took the title with a 2-1 victory over Ajax (Orlando) America.
Forward Thiel led the Weston offense with a pair of goals and a pair of assists. Central midfielder/forward Jaime Villarreal had a goal and an assist. Central midfielder Alva and outside midfielder Mobley each had a goal. Three players contributed assists – stopper Caldeira, forward Gordon and outside midfielder Weber. One Mobley left-footed shot hit the crossbar and a Gordon back-heel shot hit the post. Weston goalkeeper Michael Anderson played well throughout the tournament. Anderson stopped a shot in the final minute of the Wellington match to preserve the rain-soaked win. He saved three goals against Alpharetta, including a near own goal in the very early going. Anderson saved his most outstanding stop for the Cape Coral match, when he tipped a point-blank shot over the crossbar only two minutes after his team took a 1-0 lead. It was one of two of his saves in the match.
In the three matches, Weston got off as many or more shots than its opponents and put as many or more of those shots on goal. Against the Wave, Weston had 10 shots on goal to Wellington’s four. Against the Ambush, Weston had five shots on goal to Alpharetta’s four. Against the Cyclones, Weston matched Cape Coral’s nine shots on goal, but Cape Coral converted both penalty kicks and Weston missed its only PK opportunity.
Against Wellington, Coach James started Juan (Papo) Lopez and Mario Figueroa at fullback, Andres Velez at central defender, Iker Ibanez at stopper, Mobley (captain) and Chris Bent at outside midfield, Alva and Villarreal in the central midfield and Gordon and Thiel at forward. James used the tournament to assess numerous combinations. Against Alpharetta, Davide Bombonato started at outside midfield and Eugenio Lascurain started in the central midfield. Against Cape Coral, Weber got a start at outside midfield and Caldeira at stopper. Weber started at outside midfield against Cape Coral. Lascurain was injured in the Alpharetta match and could not play against Cape Coral.
Also playing for Weston were Manuel Sotelo and Martin Urrutia in the midfield and Diogo Marquez at forward, the latter two as guest players.
