Monthly Archives: January 2009

PASL: Springfield Demize Host KC Kings Sunday

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The defending Midwest Division Champion KC Kings visit Springfield Sunday to play the Demize. The home boys will have returned from a late game on Saturday in Springfield, IL against the Spirit. UPDATE – the Demize win 5-4 in IL. That won’t make their chances any easier as they hope to narrow the distance between the current front-runners and our second place squad.

Game time Sunday – 2:00 pm
Location – Lake Country Soccer Dome
I’ll see you there!

PASL Premier: KC Kings at Springfield Demize What a show today. The Demize, a first year team, faced off against the defending Divsion champions and lost 8-2 or something like that. It was a fun game, as the Demize worked hard to stay with their opponents but even a long-time Demize player commented to me on what a quality opponent they were facing. It was a great lesson for anyone watching today’s game, and hopefully for the Demize.

There are 3 players that seem to have an understanding of how to use the boards and passing angles that are available (Emnet, Gow and Temple) but when Taylor Stacy is running square with Adam Peterson on a 2 v 1 break and he attempts a square pass rather than putting the ball off of the end boards, allowing Adam to run directly onto a ball, then you know there is some work that needs to be done acclimating the team to the indoor game.

The Kings team included Nick King (#6) who is listed as a member of the US National Arena Soccer Team and he showed why, his last goal coming when he received a ball moving left to right, flipped it up slightly and blasted a ball into the upper right hand corner before the defense had a chance to react. Lot’s of nice goals from the Kings as they moved in circles and looked like Duke running the option offense. It was also good to see Brett Thomas continuing his recovery from knee problems, creating a goal for himself this afternoon off of a short-handed situation.

One last chance to see the Demize, on Valentine’s Day at 7:00 pm. See you there!

Pulaski County FC

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Just speculation at this point but the Waynesville Daily Guide had a recent article describing steps being taken by a local group that is interested in increasing the opportunities for competitive soccer in the community:

On Jan. 21, Moore and David Lowe presented the Community Recreation Board with their proposal to take Pulaski County soccer into the next phase.
“Basically, we want to start a competitive soccer club,” Moore told the board, citing the team’s growth over the years and sharing that there are players from other cities on the team.

While those teams are currently recreational, Moore said if a competitive team is formed, then those players could have the potential for playing both recreational and competitive.

Moore and Lowe shared that the group currently has three choices before them: To go on as they have been, establish a club under the Missouri Youth Soccer Association and work through the local area for field space, or the third, which Moore said he thinks is the best option.

“I think the best thing to do would be to have a competitive club that’s part of the OMSF,” he said.

We’ve had our share of experiences in the growth of club soccer locally. What would you recommend Pulaski County, and the Ozark Mountain Soccer group do?

Kansas City Wizards Join Facebook

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KC Wizards LogoThere’s been a couple of fan pages up for awhile but Kyle Rogers, the social media maven in the KC Wizards PR department, now has a complete page up that will see more consistent content. For one thing, you can get all of the news from the Wizards website and their Blogger site, Hillcrest Road, within the Facebook page. So choose your platform, you can get it the way you want it now.

And you know you can do the same with SGFsoccer.com as well don’t you? Get your fix. BTW, did you see Jackie’s still training with the Men’s National Team?

Total Shriner Futsal Classic Champions Announced

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I’m afraid I was at home sick most of last week so I was unable to get out the the Total Demize SC Futsal classic held at the Shrine. Sam Blair, Marketing Director, is filling the gap for me however.

The Shrine Mosque was filled with non-stop futsal action again this year with 32 teams competing in 6 different divisions. After over 33 hours of intense futsal, the six divisions finally crowned their champions.

In the Exhibition Youth division, the Total Demize U8 boys took first place. The Total Demize U12 boys swept the Boys Youth division winning all three games convincingly. In the Girls Youth division, the Magic Soccer U12 girls took the crown in their first ever Futsal tournament. The Intermediate division saw the Total Demize 2012 U13 boys walk away with the championship. They will now be competing in the Super F Futsal tournament in Shawnee, KS. The TDSC U16 girls took the High School division and will also be looking to the Super F National Championship on February 13th, 14th and 15th. The Total Demize Prodigy U16 girls posted a winning record in the Super F league, finishing with a 4-3-1 record.

The Men’s Division saw many exciting high school and college players playing various styles of Fustal. The crown went to Wu Tang FC, which featured past Demize PDL player Ryan Hambach and present PASL players Andrew Vorce, Daniel Ortega and Micheal Gow.

The feature match of the tournament saw the Springfield Demize battle the Rogers State University Hillcats. The Demize were scored on first in the early stages of the match, but once the Demize started clicking there was no stopping them. They stormed back scoring 6 unanswered goals, beating the Hillcats 6-1.

Brett Thomas, back from Oklahoma for the weekend, scored two goals and had two assists and will be joining the Demize PASL team on February 1st when the Demize take on the Kansas City Kings at Lake Country Soccer Dome at 2:00pm.

Stephen Gorton, the Head Coach of the GCCC Broncbuster’s Soccer team, also came down for the weekend and played for the Demize versus the Hillcats. He brought a few of the Miami, FL native Broncobuster team members who originally hail from Argentina, including Mario Ojeda who has recently signed with the Harrisburg City Islanders in the United Soccer League’s 2nd Division and Alexis Dominguez who is a current MLS prospect, to compete in the tournament and they certainly turned some heads.

The Total Shriner Futsal Classic proved to be a huge success and plans to bring even more exciting futsal action to its participants in 2010.

Lawrence Kansas 3v3 Tourney – includes a KC Wizards Ticket

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KC Wizards LogoThis came in as a message via a KC Wizards fan-created Facebook group

Indoor soccer tournament at the KU Recreation Center in Lawrence on Saturday, April 11. 3v3 plus a goalie. Cost is $30 per player.

This fee goes towards field rental, referees, prizes, and a ticket to a Kansas City Wizards game. Prizes will be given for best team name, sexiest uniform, most awesome soccer haircut, and of course the champions.

You need to sign up with me by Wednesday, March 18. I must have everyones fees and a team roster by March 18 at the absolute latest. There is only space for 16 teams, so sign up ASAP. Each team must have a minimum of four players.

I’m not sure yet if non-KU students will be able to play yet, but I will know soon. If you have any questions, don’t send me a facebook message or a text message, email me at ddbillin@ku.edu and I will respond much faster. If enough teams are interested we might expand it to 32 teams so let me know soon if you’re interested. Please tell everyone that you know!

US vs Mexico Ticket Sales

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US Soccer logoA special, one-day ticket presale for Visa® cardholders for the United States against Mexico FIFA World Cup qualifier in Columbus, Ohio, begins today (Tuesday, Jan. 27) at 12 p.m. ET online at ussoccer.com. The presale ends on Wednesday, Jan. 28 at 8 a.m. ET before tickets go on sale to the general public at 12 p.m. ET later on Wednesday.

The game marks the third-consecutive time that Columbus Crew Stadium hosts the final round home leg between the United States and Mexico. The match in Columbus is the first of five home qualifiers for the United States this year. Tickets range in price levels from $48 to $250. During the Visa presale, tickets will be limited to four per purchase.

The normal suspects aren’t attending this year, flight costs out of SGF are non-trivial when combined with the ticket costs. If there is someone in the region planning on attending, I’d love to have you provide some photos and a story about the game for the readers. Contact me!

Culver Stockton Wildcats Holding Open Soccer Workouts

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From the website

Culver-Stockton College will host a women’s soccer workout on Saturday, Feb. 21, for students interested in participating at the collegiate level.

Registration for the day begins at 9:30 a.m. in Charles Field House. That will be followed by a workout in the field house from 10-11:30 a.m.

After lunch, an overview on admissions, financial aid and academics is scheduled from 12:30-1:30 p.m. in the Robert W. Brown Performing Arts Center.

Campus tours and a question and answer session will close the day at 2:30 p.m.

Reservations for the soccer workout day can be made by calling the admissions office at (800) 537-1883 or by e-mail at admissions@culver.edu.

Culver-Stockton is an NAIA program that competes in the Heart of America Athletic Conference that includes Avila, Graceland, Evangel, Missouri Valley and William Jewell University among others.

My Country For A Left Back

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US Soccer logoA nice pointer from Glendale Soccer, this story from the New York Times

More than a decade has passed, coaches have changed and plenty of rocks have been turned over. But as the United States begins to focus on the 2010 World Cup, it still has not solved a nearly 15-year-old riddle: Why can’t anyone play left back?

“It’s an interesting question,” United States Coach Bob Bradley said. “And a very good one.”

It’s a question that wasn’t answered on Saturday either, as the US made the game against Sweden much too interesting. Who knows what might have happened if the Swedes hadn’t come out in the defensive posture they did. By the way, we had two dozen folks at Coester’s cheering on the US, plenty of fun!

KY3 Adds Soccer

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Or more specifically, they are adding a soccer player to their staff. KY3 doesn’t get much love from this site for their lack of attention to the beautiful game – I blame Ned Reynolds. It’s that much more painful to note that two of their anchors are former players and are now expecting a baby, thus the addition.

SPRINGFIELD — Many of you know KY3′s Sara Sheffield and Ethan Forhetz married each other in April 2007.. Now they’re announcing an addition to the family. The “bundle of joy” will be their first child.

“We’re really excited! It’s a true blessing” said Sara, with a big smile on her face. “We’re looking forward to a little soccer player running around,” said Ethan (he and Sara both were longtime soccer players).

Ethan grew up in Collinsville, future home to the St Louis MLS team we hope, and played soccer for the Cahoks, something I confirmed with a former teammate of his who is now the HS Coach. Sara is a graduate of Oklahoma State but I’ve been unable to confirm if she played college ball or high school ball, despite efforts in the past to reach out. Regardless, they’re talking soccer now and that’s what counts!