Already dominating the match, the Weston Fury 87/88 Premier boys caught the breaks Sunday against Parkland and went on to win 2-0, recording their first shutout of the early season in a home game at Vista Park played between thundershowers.
Weston now stands at 4-3 in the highly competitive South Florida United Youth Soccer Association. The Fury is in fourth place in the 11-team league, trailing Kendall Soccer Coalition white, Team Boca white and Wellington. Two teams -- Kendall black and Miami Strike Force -- have played only five matches to date.
The Weston boys already had established domination in the match -- getting off seven shots and holding Parkland to none -- when the team got its first and biggest break in the 18th minute of the match. Officials missed a Weston foul in the box. Instead of gaining a penalty kick, Parkland lost a player, disqualified for dissension of the no call.
Weston continued its dominance, finishing up with 25 shots, 13 on goal, to Parkland's seven, three on goal. Weston caught its second break in the 56th minute when a Predator goal was negated by an offside call that was loudly protested by the Parkland bench and spectator sideline. This would even out 12 minutes later when a Weston goal was negated in the same fashion.
Excellent play by the Parkland defense kept the Predators in the match. The goalkeeper came up with two big saves and defenders contributed two more.
Head Coach Alvin James had to play without four of his players, three out with injuries and one sidelined by an appendectomy. Three have been regular starters. James started David Gordon and Jonathan (J.T.) Thiel at forward, Rodrigo Paredes and Jaime Villarreal in the central midfield, Chris Bent and Manuel Sotelo at the outside midfield slots, Leo Caldeira at stopper, Mario Figueroa and Juan Lopez at fullback and Matt Mobley at central defender. Mobley moved back from his usual midfield spot to replace Andres Velez, out with the appendectomy. He led a stellar defensive effort, resulting in Weston's first shutout.
James and assistant coach Rene Osorio also played Iker Ibanez and Mobley in the central midfield, Paredes and Villarreal at forward, Jeremy Weber in the central midfield and at fullback, Davide Bombonato at outside midfield and J.J. McFadden at fullback and central defense. Luis Alva, Eugenio Lascurain and Jose Pablo Ruiz are out with injuries.
There was no score at halftime. Weston scored once in the 62nd minute and again in the 81st minute. Villarreal scored first, on a rebound off the keeper of his own shot. Ibanez scored second, when his blast ricocheted off a defender and caught the keeper going the wrong way. The good break, Weston's third of the match, followed Ibanez's bad break. Nine minutes earlier he had a shot carom off the crossbar.
Between the two Fury strikes, keeper Anderson protected his team's one-goal lead with a superb save in the 65th minute.
Weston has three matches remaining in the early season, the next two are to be rescheduled and the third in Oct. 16 at Vista Park against Kendall Hammocks.
