Some excellent news from St Charles today, where Springfield SC advanced several teams to the next round of the State Cup tournament. Of particular note is the 2-0 win by the U16 squad over Lou Fusz Popovic, the 2 time defending state champions. I’ll be back with details and photos of that game and the U17 squads win over Guiliani later this evening.
U16s (above) won 2-0 over Lou Fusz Popovic, two time defending Missouri State champions. It was a game well worth the drive. Two things stood out for me - it was easy to recognize the system of play and more importantly, the commitment the boys had to it. Secondly, the game was won when Springfield SC did what the good teams will do to you - punish the mistakes. Both goals were a direct result of that, the first coming when Ryan Moses provided a clinical finish in the 14th minute on a set piece. Ryan Squires sent a ball to the top of the box (from 50 yards away) where Moses turned on a missed clearance and put a low, hard shot just inside the upright.
The second goal saw Brock Ruggeri jump on a poor back pass and push the ball past the GK. That goal, midway through the second half and what seemed to this observer to be a lack of urgency on the part of Lou Fusz, and our boys were through to the next round. I have two audio interviews I’ll post Monday night when I get back to SGF.
For the U17s (above), a game that saw them come back to tie the game 2-2 was won 4-2 in OT on a pair of goals that featured some fine individual effort. The first, by Guillermo Zuniga, came from his hard work to get to a through ball into the right corner. After winning the ball, he dribbled into the box from right to left, beat a 2nd defender and then put his shot under the onrushing GK. The final margin was provided by Heath Melugin, who redirected a ball from Rob Harbach. Rob made a 40 yard run to track down a ball pushed ahead of him by the wind, where he cut back to beat his first defender before taking on a second to get to the corner of the box. His shot drew the GK to the far post where he was easily beaten when Melugin stepped in and touched it to the near post.
U15s defeated Scott Gallagher - Gold to advance as well.
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