Thunderdome Futsal Tournament In Neosho, Register Now

Thunderdome 28th Futsal Tourney 2010 Thunderdome InvitationGentlemen: Crowder College is proud to present Thunderdome XXVIII on Friday February 19, Saturday February 20 and Sunday February 21, 2010 in the Bob Sneller Gymnasium. Thunderdome is the longest running indoor tournament in the country and follows a modified Futsal format. It is an open tournament. Teams are organized into groups of four and guaranteed three matches. The top two teams from each group advance to a single elimination knock-out tournament.

Teams will be accepted on a first come/first served basis. The first 16 teams will be included – teams will be accepted in groups of four after that. The absolute deadline for registration is February 5, 2010. The cost per team is $225 which includes 10 Tournament T’shirts for each team. Payment must be received prior to your team being included in the Draw.

Each player will be required to sign a waiver before their team’s first match and rosters will be frozen at that time. Play is conducted with four field players and a goalkeeper. The roster may include up to 10 people. No one is allowed to play for more than one team.

The Draw, Schedule, Rules and Guidelines will be sent to those that choose to participate by Friday February 12, 2010. Please join us for a wonderful weekend of futsal and jocularity. If you have questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Download the Thunderdome Invitation

Brad Smith
Tournament Director

Crowder College
601 Laclede
Neosho, MO 64850
417-455-5443

Crowder Roughriders Add A Dozen For 2009 Season

From the Neosho Daily News:

Bryce Collier college signingAfter getting a belated start on recruiting last year, Crowder College soccer coach Brad Smith had specific goals when he was recruiting players this year – he wanted to get faster.

“I thought we were slow and we were not able to score much last year,” Smith said. “I wanted to improve in those areas. We return everybody pretty much, so the goal was to find people that will help make us better and deeper.”

Crowder was 6-10-3 in its inaugural season and returns 16 players, including most of the starters.

bryce collier, ben ballhornThe new group of Roughriders includes: forwards Bryce Collier of Springfield Hillcrest (pictured above signing with Coach Smith back right) and Harrisonville’s Jeremy Savage; a bunch of midfielders in Ben Ballhorn of Springfield Hillcrest (pictured in orange at right with Collier), Lebanon’s Grant Bollig, George Fuente of University High in Waco, Texas, Josh Jesperson of Neosho, Logan Landis from Carl Junction and Neosho’s Aaron Tracy.

The defenders signed include Javier Albarran of Rogers, Ark., Trevor Pedigo of Springfield Kickapoo, Neosho’s Austin Williams and Irvin Sosa of Fayetteville, Ark.

Smith noted he expects to sign a couple more players as well.

“We have kids we think are good and our speed should be better,” Smith said. “We need to figure out how to play together. We added numbers in different places and I think we should be better.”

For some background, Bryce Collier, Grant Bollig and Trevor Pedigo are teammates on the Springfield SC 90/91 team that are two-time defending state champions in Missouri. Both Collier and Bollig have played in the forward position as well as outside midfielder for SSC while Pedigo has played outside midfield and defense.

Bollig and Collier are also Southwest All-Stars for 2009. The game will be played Monday June 15th this year.

Crowder College Roughriders Open With Exhibition at MSSU Lions

Crowder College Roughriders 1st Game at MSSU Lions The Missouri Southern Lions played host to their new neighbor, the Crowder College Roughriders, on Friday night with an exhibition soccer game played on the artificial surface at the football stadium. The score, 2-0 for the Lions, reflected the difference between the programs with the Junior College team visiting a Division 2 school. It was a competitive game, with goals scored in both periods by the Lions as they were able to limit the number of real opportunities the Roughriders could generate.

I caught the second goal, scored by new signee Kevin Aubuchon, which created strong buzz from his teammates on the sideline. The Lions signed 11 players for the upcoming season, including Stuart Ziegler from West Plains who will provide two-way support from his wide midfield position. Junior Ben Pantzlaff and senior Austin Whiles look to lead the charge from midfield while freshman Lawrence Lartey should see time at forward with Nate Evans (Cassville) and Jesse Clevenger (College Heights) while sophomore Eddie Mulholland (Jeff City) was orchestrating things from the backline.

The Roughriders have a slate of 18 games scheduled, playing against all of the Junior College programs in the state. Their region includes Meramec, Flo Valley (my alma mater and former national champions), East Central, Blue River, Jefferson (2006 Champions) and Maple Woods. With a roster that includes 11 players from Southwest Missouri, 7 from Northwest Arkansas and internationals from Scotland, England and Brazil, I am looking forward to Coach Brad Smith’s ability to blend the talent and cultures that are represented. After seeing Meramec last year in the Regional playoffs, I think they have a chance to surprise some folks this year. There are a few photos from the game available on my Flickr and Smugmug sites as always.

Crowder College Roughriders Name Brad Smith Head Coach

From the Neosho Daily News, Cody Thorn has the news

New soccer coach knows how to start new programs

In his course of being a head coach on the soccer pitch for 33 years, Brad Smith has started three different programs from the ground up. He will get a chance to help complete the construction of the Crowder College soccer program next, as he was recently hired as the school’s second head coach.

Smith is currently the head coach at Brescia University in Owensboro, Ky., where he will exit next week and start the new job at Crowder in July.

Crowder will open its season on August 15 with a scrimmage against Missouri Southern. The team will include Hector Valenzuela (Cassville), David Valenciano (Monett), Ryan Toombs (Bolivar), Justin Rogers (Glendale) and Preston Bates (Kickapoo) on it’s first year roster.