The Demize had a difficult season, as measured by their 0-16 result. There were 8 goals scored, 48 surrendered. Tough numbers to reflect on but only part of the story of the team and the season. On the other hand, fans also got to see the PDL Champion Thunder Bay Chill twice this season in Springfield. The first game was a narrow 1-2 loss on June 14th and the second an 0-3 loss on July 2nd. 6 times the Demize were beaten by a single goal, out of a total of 16 games. This is a tough Conference, with the 2005 Champion Des Moines Menace, Colorado Rapids U23’s and St Louis Lions setting a very high level of play.

After 4 years of tracking PDL soccer, both here and throughout the region, I’ve come to appreciate how difficult PDL soccer is for the teams and participants. Once again this year, only two of the six teams in the Conference had winning road records (Chill and Rapids) and only one had a positive goal differential on the road (Chill). The Demize scored 6 of their 8 goals at home while surrendering 19. The games were hard fought battles against familiar opponents who also turnover 50% or more of their team year-to-year due to the nature of the league. Important facts but mere background in the bigger picture.

I’ve commented in the past about how much I enjoy the PDL season and this year was no different. It offers some of the highest quality play we can see in the region and a chance to see the continuing development of players we are familiar with in many cases. I talked to Armen Tonianse, Head Coach and Sam Blair, who handles the Reserves, about their experience this year as well as their plans going forward. The first topic of discussion was competition and here is what Armen offered:

The key this year was our effort to bring in committed players. That offered two immediate benefits, the first a higher level of competition with 25 or more players regularly practicing and working to earn playing time. The other thing we accomplished was offering our Reserve players the development opportunities that come from working and playing in a competitive environment like this.

The competitive environment described by Armen and Sam is something I have come to appreciate as an important aspect of any teams development. The most successful teams in my experience are practicing at game speed and building a team environment that supports that effort and competitive spirit. The Demize have also taken the time to explore the successful programs in the region. Thunder Bay’s win this year follows a 2-11-3 season only two years ago. One key for them has been consistency on the roster. Toniase addressed that topic as well:

A key commitment the team made from the beginning is the Reserve team. The Demize see the team as the future of the primary squad and there were several young men who benefited from that opportunity this year.

Sam Blair expanded on the topic:

The Demize made a commitment to the development of the Reserves this year with a couple of key steps. We took them on two road trips, including a trip to Colorado for our games against the Rapids U23. In addition, we see several of them as the future of this team, players like Robbie Curtis and Kyler Temple who begin their college career this Fall, and Lane Chapman who is a senior at Kickapoo. Our hope is that their experiences and growth with the Demize will lead to their continued participation in the future and the overall growth of the team.

I mentioned the 2005 Champion Menace earlier. They are a club and a team that set the bar when it comes to developing ties in the community and club programs in the region. Attendance regularly exceeds 2000 and Mediacom broadcasts several games live every season. Toniase described the model:

The key is building the pyramid. The PDL team is at the top, featuring the highest level of amateur play in the region. We want to offer players in this region an outlet to continue playing at the highest level, that is the key. It also requires increasing the depth and breadth of play locally, with the Reserves, the Club program Total Soccer is offering in Springfield and Logan-Rogersville and on-going play during the year.

I saw a lot of growth from the team as the season progressed, both on the pitch and in the area of sportsmanship. I hope that more of you will take the time to come out and support the players and the team in 2009. Look for more on the Demize and Total SC in the days to come.

Having already made history as the first team to reach the PDL Championship game three straight years, the Laredo Heat will be looking to become the sixth team to repeat as league champion and the lowest seed to ever capture the title.

On the opposite side of the ledger, the Thunder Bay Chill, in their ninth year, have found unprecedented success in their franchise history and are looking to cap a remarkable two-year turnaround in which the club has gone from a record of 2-11-3 in 2006 to a mark of 17-2-1 overall in 2008. The Chill are only the second Canadian team to reach the final (Calgary 2001) and could be the first to win the PDL championship. Casey Mann, Des Moines Menace Coach, was asked what it takes to beat Thunder Bay

“You have to be very organized in the back and know where [Brandon] Swartzendruber, [Gustavo] Oliveira and [Jeremy] Gold are at all times,” said Menace Head Coach Casey Mann. “You cannot give those guys any room. You also need to match them emotionally. They are a team that plays with a lot of heart and emotion. They try to send messages with crushing tackles, but they border on that line of being aggressive and being sent off.”

We’ve got some great games to enjoy this week to prepare ourselves for the new season. The start of the Olympic games features soccer in advance of the formal opening of the games. There is also a Friendly between Red Bull NY and Barcelona. Here’s the lineup:

Wednesday - 6:30 am - US WNT vs Norway (MSNBC/UHD)
Wednesday - 6:00 pm - Barcelona vs Red Bull NY (ESPN2)
Thursday - 4:00 am - US MNT vs. Japan (MSNBC)
There will also be games between Honduras vs Italy as well as Argentina vs Ivory Coast
Saturday - 04:00 am - US WNT vs Japan (USA)
as well as Nigeria vs Germany (W - MSNBC), Brazil vs N Korea (W - MSNBC)
Sunday - 6:45 am - U.S. MNT vs. Netherlands (USA)
as well as Italy vs S Korea (MSNBC) and Argentina vs Australia (Telemundo)

Other opportunities this week include the USYSA National Championship Highlights Show that will be shown on Fox Soccer Channel at noon on Saturday. See the highlights of the games that were played in Little Rock two weeks ago.

In addition, the PDL Championship will be shown Saturday evening, at a time to be determined. The Thunder Bay Chill, regular visitors to Springfield as members of the Heartland Conference, will face the Laredo Heat. If I hear of a viewing party, I’ll let you know!

And if you’re looking for a final road trip, the KC Wizards will host Chivas USA on Saturday at 7:00 pm. Both teams lost this weekend and are stuck in the bottom half of the table in their respective Conference with 22 points each. Not a ringing endorsement of course but with only 12 games remaining there are only a few opportunities remaining to see our regional team and for them to begin moving up the table.

The Chill’s Alvaro Zendejas headed home a corner in the fourth minute of stoppage time to secure Thunder Bay’s first-ever berth in the PDL championship final.

They’ll face the defending champion Laredo Heat, who will play in their 3rd straight championship game. The Heat knocked off the Reading Rage 2-0 Saturday.

The championship game will be played Saturday and broadcast live on Fox Soccer Channel. Time and location have not been determined yet. Photo by Ole from a game in 2007 at St Louis Lions.

Des Moines Menace visit Springfield Demize from oleolson on Vimeo.

The Demize will wrap up their season with the 16 hour bus ride to Thunder Bay, Canada for a pair of games next weekend. They’ll be battling a team hoping to sweep their final four games to gain home-field advantage in the Conference playoffs. The Menace are trying to hold on for the second spot with games at St Louis Wednesday and hosting their primary rival, Rapids U23, next Saturday.

I’ll be back with video later today.

The Demize lost their road game at St Louis on Saturday by the score of 0-3.

I finished the video editing for Thursday nights game in Springfield, a 2-3 loss on an 82nd minute goal by Tom Heinemann. I missed Brett Thomas’ early goal but you can catch the final 4 goals as well as some ancillary action from the game in this video. See you Thursday at Cooper #1!

PDL Soccer: St Louis Lions at Springfield Demize, Jul 3 2008 from oleolson on Vimeo.

The lead held until the 77th minute when the Lion’s leading scorer, Tom Heinemann (Rockford University) took a ball from Mike Utley and broke into the six yard box before sliding his shot to the near post. Heinemann scored again in the 82nd as the Demize pushed forward in an attempt to earn their first win of the season and spoil the Lion’s efforts to remain in the race for the Heartland Division crown. The goals were Heinemann’s 6th and 7th of the season, leading the Lion’s. He was denied on a couple of early attempts as goalkeeper Chris Hanlon fought to keep his team close but it was once again to no avail.

I’ll have video of the game in the next day or two (it’s the holiday’s after all) the final 4 goals and other action from the game.

The Springfield Demize finish the season with an away game at St Louis on Saturday and their final home game of the season is Thursday July 10th when the Des Moines Menace visit. The Menace are in third at the moment, with a pair of games this weekend against the leaders Thunder Bay that will determine their fate. The game next Thursday will feature the return of Drury Panther players Cody Reinberg and Marco Cherisma who are both playing key roles for the Menace.

Wednesday’s game is against the Thunder Bay Chill, a game rescheduled due to rain earlier this month. The Chill moved into a tie for 1st place in the Heartland Division with a 2-0 win over the Kansas City Brass Monday night, with 22 points in 9 games played. Tomorrow’s game will be their 4th in 5 days, which combined with the Demize’s strong play against them June 14th potentially boding well for our home boys.

The Demize is the only team without a shot at first place with six games remaining so their opportunity now is to play the spoiler, as the Chill and Colorado Rapids U23 are best positioned for the Division title. They host the St Louis Lions on Thursday evening, a team that has just lost 4 straight games to Thunder Bay after early success that included winning a spot in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup. I’ll have video from the game Sunday between St Louis and Thunder Bay, a 3-2 win for the Chill that saw two Lions and one Chill player ejected from the game, finishing play 9v10.

On a related note, Carlos Correa of KOLR10 featured the Demize in his Sunday evening Latino Focus section of the newscast. You can catch the video here

But they’re also hoping a roster filled with international players can bring more than just skill and technique to the team. This season’s team is made up of players who were recruited from Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Peru, Serbia, Croatia and Australia.

“We’re a young team so, sometimes we have a lack of experience and its hard for everyone to together, but I think its going to be a good organization in the next two or three years,” said Mario Calderon.

Springfield broke through for its first goal in the weekend series in the 71st minute when substitute forward Nebossa Osaic flicked the ball into the goal after a Demize corner kick.

BTW, that’s Lane Chapman (Kickapoo 2009) pictured in the photo from the Daily Camera. Click on the photo to be taken to a series of shots from the game.

“We had two weeks off and we stopped practicing with so many players,” head coach Peter Ambrose said. “We were focusing on the 23 players on the team. We wanted the team to gel and become a unit.”

The Demize lost 2-3 at home to the Rapids two weeks ago. They’ll play another game at Colorado today at 4pm Mountain time, allowing them to possibly pull some enthusiasm from the Italy vs Spain game today (1:30 CDT/12:30 MDT).

The Chill fought back late in the first half on some excellent individual work. Gustavo Oliveira-Araujo De F, wearing the #10 jersey, showed why as he took a pass and dribbled around three defenders before slotting his shot past the goalkeeper in the 40th (pictured).

The game winner was created by Oliveira-Araujo De F on a counter-attack. A quick diagonal ball sent Swartzendruber in alone and he buried his opportunity after Chris Hanlon blunted a similar attack only a minute earlier.

The Chill are now 1-1-1 and face the KC Brass tomorrow. The Demize hit the road for Colorado next weekend and will return for three games in early July. The Chill will visit July 2nd to make up Friday’s rain out while the Lions visit July 3rd. A final home game July 10th against Colorado will complete the season.

And check out the fine article by Drury’s Logan Hoffman, who appears to be interning at the News-Leader this summer. A soccer player (he’s the goalie for the Panthers) writing about soccer. I have real competition! w00t!