YTS Weekly Update 12/22/09

This will be the final entry in what has been a very successful YTS year. Watching the players over the past few weeks I see big improvements in each player that has participated and I hope that this continues in 2010.

There are a few final things to discuss before the end of the year...

-The first is sad news that Coach Elizabeth McNally will be leaving the YTS program and entering into the police academy. Liz was wonderful throughout the season and we thank her for her work with the entire YTS group. There will be a new coach in place before we begin practice in January.

-I have looked into an opportunity to play pre-season games this winter and am excited to announce that each YTS team will be participating in the North Meck Soccer Festival.

(http://www.northmecksoccer.org/home/default.asp?menu_category=Tournaments)

This tournament is a one day event that will have each of our YTS teams playing 2 games. The boys play on Saturday, February 6th and the girls play on Sunday February 7th. This gives us all a chance to play games against unfamiliar opponents and it also is a one day tournament that cuts down on costs of hotels and food. I will be in touch with the managers who I will ask to register each team and collect the $260.00 fee (appx. $16.00 a player). Email to managers will follow.

-In cooperation with FC Cary, we are introducing a new program this spring to the league and YTS. There will be 3 or 4 weekends (decided at a later date) where, in addition to each YTS team playing their scheduled games, we will select 4 teams (2 boys and 2 girls) to play 8v8 games vs. FC Cary.

This is how it will work...

The Monday before the 8 vs. 8 weekends I will post a list with 4 teams (2boys, 2girls) composed of 10/11 players on each. The 8v8 games will be played at the end of the Sunday games. The players selected will play in both their team game and the 8 vs. 8 game. Coaches will obviously be aware of the players that will play two games in a day and substitute accordingly. These 8v8 teams will change each week, and no player is guaranteed a spot. This allows the coaching staff to bring in different players based on their development and their performances leading up to the selections. Some players may play in all of the 8 vs. 8 games, many will not.
This is another healthy competitive addition to YTS. My main concerns whenever introducing a new initiative are always based on the entire group. This 8v8 program is in-addition to YTS, and nothing will be taken away from any of the players that will not participate in these 8v8 games. My favorite part of this initiative is that we will be able to reward players each week, creating a healthy competition within our group. Lastly, every player in YTS will be eligible for these games. I will be including a select few U9's on these teams. These games will be included in the schedule when it is released.

I hope everyone has a great holiday season and wish everyone a Happy New Year. I will be in and out of the office and my computer so if there are issues that come up, be patient and I will get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks for all of your support and help in making this YTS program such a success.

YTS Weekly Update 12/7/09

Parents we have some important news about this week so please read carefully:
I sent an email out last week concerning YTS participation in the opening ceremony of the NCAA National Final this coming Sunday. Many of you had questions about tickets. Here's what you need to know:

-Your YTS player will get in FREE to a NCAA National Final and be on the field before the game. This is a great opportunity for them and I hope that you do everything you can as a family to get here.
-I have reserved 100 tickets for Sunday's game at the Will Call Office. They will be under "CASL YOUTH PLAYERS". Because your child needs to be at the field at 11:00am, which means you will be at the field at 11am, these tickets will be released for sale to the general public at 12 Noon. As soon as you get to the stadium go to Will Call to purchase your tickets.
-I have been assured that there will be tickets in addition to the 100 that we have allocated for us, so everyone who would like to be at the final will be able to get in.
-Tickets are $18.00 and will be CASH ONLY
-I will be at the entrance at 11am with the NCAA representative to get the kids their ticket and T-shirt. They will be given instructions from there.

YTS WINTER TRAINING STARTS BACK UP THIS WEEK!
Please remember note regarding practices at NetSports on Wednesday and Thursday. These sessions will begin at 4:15 and end at 5:30, get there as soon as you can.

YTS Weekly Update 11/19/09

The Fall season has come to a conclusion and it is time to look ahead to the winter and spring. Below are some important dates and schedules for you to know:

December 8th: U10 YTS begins Winter Session at Centex Turf Field, WRAL, 4:30
December 9th: U9 YTS begins Winter Session at NetSports Indoor Complex, 4:15
(or as close to 4:15 as you can)
December 10th: U10 YTS Winter Session at NetSports Indoor Complex, 4:15
(or as close to 4:15 as you can)
December 11th: U9 YTS Winter Session at Centex Turf Field, WRAL, 4:30

-This Schedule is repeated during the weeks of December 14th, January 18th and January 25th

-Training for the spring will begin the week of February 1st.

-Champions League games for YTS will occur on Sundays beginning on March 7th and going until May 2nd.

-May 8th and 9th are still being reserved for a travel tournament for all YTS teams

YTS Weekly Update 11/2/09

Good Morning. We are getting close to the end of the fall season and there is a lot of information that I have to give you so please read carefully.

CEDAR FORK:-Starting this week Cedar Fork is closed for the fall. We will move our two Cedar Fork practice days to the Premier Field and Newcomb fields at WRAL. These fields are across the street from the stadium. So as you drive through the WRAL these fields will be on your right when the stadium is directly to your left. Apologies to those travelling from Cary.

LAST WEEKEND:-I have not checked with the league, but it is likely that yesterday's cancelled games will not be made up.

UPCOMING WEEKEND'S GAMES:
-The upcoming weekend (Nov 8th) games will not be played on Sunday because of the enormous Raleigh Shootout tournament that is being held this coming weekend. We originally scheduled these games knowing that there may be an issue getting field space and unfortunately this is the case. These games are all YTS vs. YTS games so we are going to play these games during our practice slots over the remaining weeks. Starting next week we will play two games each day that YTS is assigned in the stadium. All YTS will practice in their normal slot regardless of whether their team is playing a game, Players need to be at the field at 4:30, games will kickoff at 5pm.

Tuesday, November 10th:
AC Milan vs. Lazio (WRAL Stadium)
Juventus vs. Roma (WRAL Stadium)

Friday, November 13th:
Arsenal vs. Everton (WRAL Stadium)
Chelsea vs. Manchester United (WRAL Stadium)

Tuesday, November 17th:
Crew vs Fire (WRAL Stadium)

Wednesday, November 18th:
Barcelona vs. Madrid (TBD)

*There is one team playing this Sunday, the time and location has been changed:
Galaxy vs. FCC Clash at Green Hope Elementary, 2:30pm

PRACTICE:-A reminder that our last day of practice is Thursday November 19th. All Teams will practice on the 19th as we are not able to have U9 practice on Friday

INDOOR:-We are still working through the indoor registration. If you committed to indoor and have not already done so, please follow this link and get yourself registered and your payment in.

http://www.netsportsnc.com/registration.html

YTS Indoor 10/29/09

In cooperation with NetSports we are very excited about the winter indoor season that will begin in November. I have been in contact with the team managers and we are ready to move forward what is hopefully a very easy registration process. We have worked out a very good rate of $70.00 per player for the season. The teams have been "built" on-line at Netsports and Registration on-line will begin on Saturday, below is the link to get you started.

A few things to know:
-The entire U9 and U10 group is going to play together in the U10 league. I have been assured that this is accurate and will be a positive experience, and based on Friday’s competitive games between the two age groups I think this will be fine.

-Based on the number of commitments we did consolidate our 13 teams into 10 teams. Below are the team assignments. Based on the way we run the program I don't think that switching teams will be too much of a problem, and may actually a great opportunity to play with different players.

-If your son or daughter is not on these lists but committed or wants to commit to playing indoor please let me know and we will place them on a team without a problem

-These teams are for Indoor season only. YTS teams will stay together for the spring without any changes.

-Registration Link:
http://www.netsportsnc.com/registration.html

Indoor Teams:

Galaxy:
Emory Biggs
Madison Bonello
Kaila Hamm
Ashley Merritt
Savannah Renard
Elizabeth Surratt
Taylor Sutter
Kendall Thompson
Hannah Willard
Elizabeth Wilson

Crew:
Camryn Blawas
Sophie Coleman
Grace Densmore
Kate Hampton
Chloe Hasund
Lucy Krueger
Ashley Skinner
Emma Totten
Mia Ziade
Grace Wagner

Fire:
Kendall Augsburg
Anna Bevan
Heather Erlemann
McRae Calhoun
Brooke Finnessy
Samantha Francis
Lily Peden
McKenzie Davis
Christine Lature
Mackenzie Gower

Sounders:
Sierra Lowery
Emma McDonald
Hayleigh Pack
Malina Pardo
Hannah Ziegler
Jessica Kreider
Olivia Mason
Paige Morrison
Brianna Pendergraft
Eliah Tekkote

AC Milan
Tyler Downing
Duncan Baldwin
Kevin Gray
Elliot Guillett
Chandler Cree
Emmanual Petrov
Ryan Gates
Conner Hoke
Anthony Sodano
Colton Howell
Jake Vrolick

ROMA
John Adamkowski
Cameron Boch
Robert Deckelbaum
Jacob Fortner
Spencer Galloway
Thomas Hitchins
Andrew Lee
Kishan Patel
John Trathen
Michael Litt
Ben Zahavi
Michael Hoff

Juventus
Brighton Boshart
Stanley Bryan
Colton Pleasants
Becket Fusik
Harry Cooper
Zack Mason
Chase (Daniel) Crawford
Adam Trickett
Garrett Massengill
Daniel Brackett

Arsenal
Akshay Iyengar
Connor Gregory
Jackson Rhodes
Liam McLaughlin
Lucas DeSousa
Gavin Agee
Colin Coe
Peter Glenn
Jackson Hackney

Everton
Innis Powell
Jake Steinberg
Adam Armour
Ethan Armour
Carter Diehl
Jalen Duran
Owen Perez
Micah Thorp

Chelsea
Jared Andreala
Ben Noga
Gabe Troch
Andrew Rossetti
Lucas Archimede
Matthew Sloan
Nick Eichorn
Raiden Mason
Max Leonard
John Nelson

YTS Weekly Update 10/27/09

Sorry for the delay on the post, before we get to the games a couple of things for you to know:
-For those who do not have a field assignment for this weekend's games at WRAL, those will be posted either today or first thing tomorrow.
-For those who committed to indoor, registration will begin by the end of the week, you will recieve an email with details on how to make the payment.
-We are moving forward on going to a tournament with all of the YTS teams in May. The weekend is May 8th and 9th in Greenville, SC. I will not commit to this until you have more details and there is a consensus from the parents that this is something that we want to do.
Here are the results of the weekend:

Roma-Coach Fabio Suarez
CASL Roma played very well this weekend and came up with a big win. Heading up their attack was Kishan, Thomas, and Big Mack Jack, as all three would combine to score the majority of the teams goals. Coming up with some big time defensive plays in the back was John, and Spencer. Cameron, Jake, Michael, and Robby all played very well making Sundays game a complete team victory. When Roma gets this much contribution from their players, it is very hard for anyone to get anything going against this team.

AC Milan-Coach Andy Truex
A chilly fall day heated up with CASL AC Milan taking the field against FCC Arsenal at WRAL soccer center. The game start off with one way traffic with AC Milan on a fast start led by front runners Elliot Guillett and Tyler Downing. Using combination play and off the ball runs to go up early in the game with help of a solid back line of Ryan Gates and Conner Hoke. Toward the end of half FCC Arsenal battle back in to game, but the great saves by Kevin Gray between the posts kept the opposition off the score sheet. Second half saw the AC Milan team back to a fast pace attacking the FCC back line an finding there way to score chances easily into he half. Great midfield play led the way in the second half with Ryan Kenny showing his attacking talent going forward and Anthony Sodano getting locked in defensively to slow the FCC attack. At the end AC Milan came away the victors in the hard fought contest with the talented FCC Arsenal.

Galaxy-Coach Liz McNally
The girls played a tough game against a good FCC Clash team. The Galaxy went down early in the game but came back with a few great goals. Two goals were scored off of direct kicks by Hannah A. and Emery B. The other goal was scored off of a great cross in the box by Emery B. after beating her defender down the line, Ashley M. came flying in to break up the ball from the keeper and slot it into the goal. The girls made great strides in this game through their combination play in the midfield, communicating with each other and
their outstanding work ethic. Madison and Kalia did a great job of
switching the point of attack in the midfield. Hannah W. and Savannah B. provided a tough defensive stand in the back helping to win the ball and create attacking opportunities. Overall I am very proud of my players and their continued growth as players

Fire-Coach Tommy Retzlaff
This weekend's match for the Fire presented a rare rematch from a strong opponent, FCC Crew. We had to work from behind a few weeks ago to salvage a 2-2 draw. Their physicality and team speed are strong and pose challenges for the girls. It wasn't our prettiest match all around, but some moments of good play created some excellent early opportunities. After about 10 minutes of pounding both ends of the field without much to show for it, Hannah slots a ball through the defense from the back half in the path of Grace who calmly shields the defender and finishes at the far post. Kendall had several excellent runs down the right side serving in several crosses and earning several free kicks. Although she scored a nice goal on her second free kick, the first was a beauty from the touch line which banged off the inside of the far post only to be cleared off the line. Defending was sturdy in the first half as was our goalkeeping. We took the 2-0 lead into half. In the second half, we worked hard to connect some passes and switch the point of attack. We still struggled with working through the midfield due to their physical presence althought we dominated possession through good cover in the back. As we wore them down, Anna was able to break things down in the midfield with her dynamic play and create some good scoring opportunities. Our best run around the box was created by Kendall with a quick switch across the 18 which was laid off by Eliah and volleyed in by Anna. All the girls contributed to finishing up the match with hard tackling and continuous attacking. This was our first shutout of the season which shows how our goalkeeping has improved as well. Final was 5-0...nice team victory by the girls.

Madrid-Coach Kelly Miller
Once again, the girls match up against FC Cary's Breakers was a close game.
FC Cary scored early on in the first half, but CASL Madrid came back to tie the game at 1-1 with a great goal from Ava Whitlark. Paige Morrison had a great day in goal this weekend and stopped a lot of hard shots from the FC Cary girls. Mackenzie Gower and Ava both worked very well together up top and were able to connect passes which led to goals by both of them. CASL Madrid looked much more soccer savvy in the second half when they began to pass the ball to feet and to keep posession. I have seen tremendous improvement from this team since the first day of practice. Keep up the good work girls!

Crew-Coaches Molly Skinner and Lindsey Vera
The crew suffered its first lost this weekend, losing 2-1. They were far and away the better team technically and athletically but were met with a tough physical challenge. Lucy and kate played well in the back containing the breakaways that occurred. Chloe and ashley played well up top using there foot skills and speed to get behind their backs. We will continue to work on shooting this week as we had numerous opportunities but failed to finish sufficiently.

U9 Everton vs FCC Tottenham
This was a great game which showcased some great soccer and skill from two very talented teams. Everton jumped out to a 2-1 lead at the half behind a Tottenham own goal off a well driven corner kick, and a John White breakaway. Ethan Armour played fantastic in goal making some brilliant saves to maintain the one goal advantage at half time. As a team, the first half saw Everton play some of their best soccer of the season maintaining possession of the ball and showing great shape defensively to limit Tottenham's chances. Carter Diehl did a good job in the middle working hard for every ball and finding open teammates, and the backline of Daniel Wu and Jalen Duran kept the talented Tottenham attack off the board for most of the half. Tottenham would score the first two goals of the second half to take a 3-2 lead, but Everton continued to battle and tied the score at 3 after a great long effort from Jake Steinberg found the back of the net with about
10 minutes remaining. Everton would get caught on a counterattack a few minutes later and gave up another goal while trying to push forward for the equalizer. In the end, the boys would be disappointed with the result, but played some tremendous soccer and should keep their heads held high. The referee said it best when he commented "how skilled the boys were and the soccer was better than most of the games he does with teams that are several age groups older than these boys".


U9 Chelsea vs FCC Roma
Chelsea versus FCC Roma was an absolute thriller! Coming off their first win of the season, Chelsea was looking for their second straight victory and to avenge their 1-0 loss in the first game of the season to this same Roma team. The rematch would be just as tight, but it would be the Blues who would be victorious on this day. Chelsea played their best match of the season across the board with great goalkeeping, defending, and ball movement to seal a 1-0 victory. Andrew Rossetti would score the game's only goal in the first half, and came up huge in goal in the second half along with Raiden Mason to preserve the shutout. Defensively, Matthew Sloan, Gabe Troch, Ben Noga, and Braeden Smith all played well throughout limiting Roma's chances. Up front, Nick Eichorn and Jack White were dangerous and narrowly missed on several chances to double the Chelsea lead. There were a lot of tense moments in the second half with Roma pushing for the equalizer, however Chelsea would be up to the task time and again including a fine clearance off the goal line from Joshua Bratager and the fans held their breath as a Roma player narrowly missed on a bicycle attempt on the rebound. As the final whistle sounded, a collective breath was taken by all the spectators who got their moneys worth in this matchup while the players celebrated their hard earned and well deserved victory.

Roma and Lazio (Coach Caleb Norkus)
This weekend's games in Apex started out with Roma putting together an excellent performance. The Italian powerhouse came out very hungry and enthusiastic Sunday, setting the tone of the game early on, as Kishan Patel showcased his one v one ability setting up Cameron Boch for a beautiful finish. Thomas Hitchins exemplified good defense and distribution out of the back as he broke down several attacks from Triangle United's side early and often. John played well in net in the first half, then made way for Robbie Decklebaum who made several excellent saves to help preserve the shutout. This topped off an outstanding day for Robbie as he bull-dozed his way to find the net in the first half. Although conditions were cold and damp, Roma's play was delightful as a summer day, and collectively the crafty little players earned a great result.
Lazio stormed the field in the second game Sunday, and right away took note of a rather small pitch and even smaller goals as they were denied on several opportunities. Jacob Vrolijk and Kelvin Oudjit played heads up futbol, and exploited their ability to switch the field. Good team passing set up Joseph Daley who nearly scored early on, but was closed down quickly by a speedy defense who pressured his shot just wide. Aaron Teal came up short on the dribble as a stubborn defense from Triangle United proved they were not going down without a fight. Colton Howell had a go as well, and the powered rifle of a kick hit side netting, but unfortunatelly on the wrong side. In fact, this contest did not turn out to be one of Lazio's usual barn burners by any means, and the boys would have to draw on their patience, self-control, and discipline. It wasn't until the second half that Lazio saw the fruits of their labor, when they scored the only goal of the game. Michael Hoff played outstanding once again in net in the first half, then showed his stuff as he took on the defense and slipped a short through pass off a curious touch to Stanley. Big Stan showed he's our man in the clutch as he attacked the keeper on the dribble and tucked away the game winner by taking a quick glance then placing the ball just under his hand. Both sides played a very tough, hard-nosed, defensive style, but Lazio's stinginess and will to win, led by Colton Pleasants, ultimately prevailed.

SHOOTOUT TEAMS ANNOUNCED

Below is the list of players that have been invited to participate in the CASL Shootout this November. If your child cannot participate please let us know ASAP. More information to follow:

YTS Girls:
1. Grace Wagner
2. Kaitlyn Bouck
3. Kendall Augsburg
4. Brianna Pendergraft
5. Anna Bevan
6. Lucy Krueger
7. Chloe Hasund
8. Ashley Skinner
9. Kate Hampton
10. Grace Densmore
11. Kalia Hamm
12. Hannah Arostegui
13. Kendall Thompson
14. Emory Biggs

YTS Boys:
1. Elliot Guilliet
2. Ryan Gates
3. Connor Hoke
4. Andrew Lee
5. Thomas Hitchins
6. Kishan Patel
7. Robbie Deckelbaum
8. Cameron Boch
9. Zach Mason
10. Harry Cooper
11. Ashton Crowder
12. Colton Pleasants
13. Colton Howell
14. Joey Daly

Champions League, Week 6 Updates

The fall weather crept in this weekend at the YTS games. We had some great CASL vs. CASL matches as well a tight win up in Apex for Lazio. Overall another good weekend of games, here are the highlights:

Roma-Coach Fabio Suarez (Caleb Norkus)This weekend's games in Apex started out with Roma putting together an excellent performance. The Italian powerhouse came out very hungry and enthusiastic Sunday, setting the tone of the game early on, as Kishan Patel showcased his one v one ability setting up Cameron Boch for a beautiful finish. Thomas Hitchins exemplified good defense and distribution out of the back as he broke down several attacks from Triangle United's side early and often. John played well in net in the first half, then made way for Robbie Decklebaum who made several excellent saves to help preserve the shutout. This topped off an outstanding day for Robbie as he bull-dozed his way to find the net in the first half. Although conditions were cold and damp, Roma's play was delightful as a summer day, and collectively the crafty little players earned a great result.

Lazio-Coach Caleb Norkus
Lazio stormed the field in the second game Sunday, and right away took note of a rather small pitch and even smaller goals as they were denied on several opportunities. Jacob Vrolijk and Kelvin Oudjit played heads up futbol, and showed off their ability to switch the field. Good team passing set up Joseph Daley who nearly scored early on, but was closed down quickly by a speedy defense who pressured his shot just wide. Aaron Teal came up short on the dribble as a stubborn defense from Triangle United proved they were not going down without a fight. Colton Howell had a go as well, with a rifle of a kick that hit the outside netting. This contest did not turn out to be one of Lazio's usual barn burners, and the boys would have to draw on their patience, self-control, and discipline. It wasn't until the second half that Lazio saw the fruits of their labor, when they scored the only goal of the game. Michael Hoff played outstanding once again in net in the first half, then showed his stuff as he took on the defense and slipped a short through pass to Stanley. Big Stan showed he's our man in the clutch as he attacked the keeper on the dribble and tucked away the game winner by taking a quick glance then placing the ball just under his hand. Both sides played a very tough, hard-nosed, defensive style, but Lazio's stinginess and will to win, led by Colton Pleasants, ultimately prevailed.

Barcelona-Coach Jill Bradford (Fabio Suarez)
With the CASL Barcelona and CASL Madrid Darby brewing all week, the players, coaches and fans knew this one was going to be special. Coming out firing was Barcelona with a goal by McKenzie in the first few minutes. Madrid, not ready to back down, weathering the storm quietly bounced back with the equalizer making the game level at 1 again despite great defensive play from Hannah and Sierra. This would be the storyline of the game as both team relentless to give up fought hard all game, showing us once again another fine example of what is CASL soccer. Good stuff girls!

Manchester United (Fabio Suarez)
CASL Man U played very well against a good Triangle United team. Playing hard all game long it was no surprise they were able to maintain a 2 goal lead all game. Nick, Collin, and Tommy manned the back making sure they kept their lead but lucky breaks would allow Triangle to sneak back into a 3-3 tie in the final minutes. John selflessly volunteered to play Keeper, with no one stepping up to the plate he was amazing in the 2nd Half. Keep working hard boys, the W is around the corner!!!

Juventus-Coach Nick Cerullo
Team Juventus had their best game of the year this weekend against Triangle United's Man U squad. The game started with Juventus keeping possession of the ball and showing their passing and patients off. They switched the point of attack and keep their opponents chasing the ball. Ashton kept the ball moving and helped us keep possession. I was very proud of his adjustments. We also got great combination play with Harry and Julius , and Daniel and Zack leading to a strong second half attack. Overall it was an amazing team performance with a great result. I couldn't have been prouder of the boys.

Galaxy-Coach Liz McNally
After a tough loss the previous week, the girls bounced back against a strong fellow YTS team, and played well despite the rain and colder temperatures. The Galaxy got off to a fast start with two early goals!
Kalia Hamm had a hat trick and the fourth goal was added by Hannah Arostegui. Overall the effort by the team was excellent. Taylor Sutter, Brynn Lloyd and Emery Biggs played very hard and were key to our success. Also, Savannah Renard provided us some great chances to score in the second half. Overall, the team had to make quicker decisions with the ball and look to apply pressure quickly against the other teams strong players. We had many opportunities to move the ball forward and look for options to shoot. I am proud of their aggressive play and they are continuing to get better each week. We will continue to work on passing, distribution and 1v1 play.

Fire-Coach Tommy Retzlaff
This weekend's match was our first against one of sister teams, Galaxy. The Galaxy came out attacking by being active and moving the ball quickly into central area of the box. Two quick Galaxy goals by Kalia Hamm and we found ourselves in a new situation of being down by more than 1 goal. This was a new challenge for us to work through and the Galaxy was ready to battle. The Fire girls "buckled" down and start tighten up the defense and put more pressure on the Galaxy's final third. Grace finally broke through for our first goal and bit of relief for the girls as this was a long time without a goal for us. Then I turned my head and the Galaxy scored again off a quick pass from the kick-off...so we took 1-3 into halftime. We found ourselves with a higher challenge at this point as the Galaxy was going to fight to the end. Second half started off with a lot of dynamic play from the Fire. Numerous good chances were create by Brianna and Grace and finally Grace was able to net 2 more goals to equalize. Eliah was holding her own in the goal clearing several dangerous chances against us. Then Ana and Kendall were able to add some offense from the defensive positions as well offering some nice runs and crosses in the box. Finally, Kendall was able to power a ball across the goal through the crowded box for another goal. Galaxy was not having any part of it and quickly scored again off some good passing from Galaxy's Kendall Thompson. The Fire found one more chance and manage to get the ball on the goal, but Galaxy held their line and eventually cleared the danger. The battle ended in 4-4 tie. Well done by both sides.

Everton-Coach Eric Bratager
This Sunday Everton faced Triangle United Sunderland. After jumping out to quick leads the last three weeks, Everton found themselves down 2-0 early in the first half of this game. Everton would battle back to tie the game 2-2 behind John White and Owen Perez goals at the half. Everton would come out firing in the second half and opened the game up with three goals in the first three minutes of the second half. John White took the second half kickoff and beat two defenders for the first goal. The second goal was the result of some great combination play between Owen Perez and Jalen Duran with Owen playing out of pressure to Jalen who then split two defenders with a great first time pass. Daniel Wu added the third goal to start the second half on a strong individual effort beating a number of defenders with some great dribbling and calmly slotting the ball into the net. Everton would add two more goals later in the half, Carson McCorkle capped off a strong game by showing great effort beating a number of defenders to slot home an Adam Armour cross. John White would then finish the scoring on a long range blast to complete his hat trick. James Wiley had a strong game constantly running at the Sunderland defense and narrowly missed on several chances. The second half also saw a strong defensive effort from the boys not allowing a goal and they did a great job of keeping possession once they won the ball.

AC Milan-Coach Andy Truex (Carson Porter)
AC Milan put together one of the finest performances of the season on Sunday. Finally getting the full squad together for the game was a huge boost and each player really did well. Ryan Gates and Elliot Guillet Shared the center back responsibilities both displaying intelligence and skill with great passes and runs out of the back. Tyler Downing quietly does a great job each and every game and Sunday was no different. Emmanuel Petrov has added a boost after being injured early in the season he added a couple of goals for the team yesterday and Connor Hoke's put in a hard days work creating chances for himself and his teammates. Duncan Baldwin was excellent in goal sharing a shootout with a reluctant Jonathan Spear who made some good decisions in goal. Tommy Lewis created some chances up front, Anthony Sodano was rock solid in defense making some very important plays in the back and Kevin Gray contributed to the shootout with his tackling and defensive work. Overall a great performance by the boys.

Crew-Coach Molly Skinner and Lindsey Vera
The crew pulled off a great 7-0 win yesterday. The girls played great soccer, looking to work the ball through the midfield and find other players feet. Mia and sydney both did a great job in goal. Lucy krueger scored twice in the short time she played up top. Chloe's voice in the back has come through to provide a lot of on-field leadership for the team. We look forward to working on defensive shape and off the ball movements this week.

Arsenal-Coach Fabio Suarez (Carson Porter)
Arsenal was on the road in Chapel Hill on Sunday but you could tell during the warm-up that the team was ready to play. After a first half where the team got goals from hard work and individual skills, they were asked to work on their passing and switching of the field in the second period. Straight away the team changed the field with some great passing from Akshay, Gabe and Jackson. Liam showed great skill and Gavin Agee put in some good defensive work. Great job guys.

YTS Weekly Update 10/19/09

There has been a lot going on in the YTS program in the past week and a lot of information that has been given out. Below is a summary of the news that you all need to know including tentative dates for the May tournament, End of season dates, winter training dates and evaluation information.

-The YTS Fall Season will officially conclude on Thursday November 19th. We will practice on our normal schedule until then

-Winter training will go on in December and January. December 7th-11th, December 14th-18th, January 11th-15th and January 18th-22nd are the weeks that we will hold practices in December and January. The practice schedule is identical to the fall with one major change: NetSports Indoor Facility will replace Cedar Fork as the Cary training session. All teams will have one practice at WRAL Stadium and one practice at NetSports.

-The coaching staff will begin setting up verbal 5 minute evals before or after practices beginning next week. If additional time or feedback is requested please contact me through email at carsonp@caslemail.com

-1 boys and 1 girls team will be selected from all the players in U10 YTS to participate in the U11 brackets of the Raleigh Shootout.

-The tournament experience I mentioned for the YTS program is tentatively May 8th and 9th in Greenville, SC. More details will follow but these are the dates to put on your calendar.

-Indoor Teams will be put together this week and you will be receiving additional info as soon as possible.

-Game write ups from the chilly weekend will follow and Shootout team announcements will be posted sometime this week.

Weekly Update 10/12/09

We had some very competitive games this weekend resulting in both wins and losses. This is exactly what our players need. We are very happy with the league thus far particularly because all of our players and all of our teams are being tested. There may be some games where they win by a large margin and there may be some when they get beat up pretty good, overall these experiences are how players improve and we are happy about another great week of games. If you haven't already read the announcement earlier in the day, please scroll down past this article and read about this week's schedule changes.

Fire-Coach Tommy Retzlaff
The Fire were met with an aggressive FC Cary squad this Sunday. Their forwards and midfielder applied hard pressure to the backs during possession and kept the midfield tight. We found ourselves having to make quicker decisions and to be more aware of our options during attack. It took a few minutes to sort out the passing lanes, but thanks to some good vision and passing from Hannah we were able to switch the point of attack and put in two nice goals mid-way through the first half by Grace and Eliah. The match opened up a bit from that point to allow each team their chances, but defense held strong through to half-time. The second half led to a bit more direct play from us as the FC Cary pressure was very high against the backs which put space in behind their defense. Grace and Eliah each found openings in behind allow both to add two more scores to net hat tricks. FC Cary fought back with a free kick goal followed by a "seeing-eye" ball passed our keeper to tighten the game up. Kendall added a late break away chance across the goal to which their keeper made a great foot save, but it fell right back to Kendall who then buried it. As a team, I saw improvement in every player's competition level and some players were able to take it to another level. This was another positive weekend performance for the Fire.

Crew-Molly Skinner and Lindsey Vera
The crew played very well jumping out to an early 5-1 lead. With two girls missing we were able to shift a couple players around and the really excelled in their new positions. Camyrn blawas played great up top pressuring the defense into many mistakes. Emma was outstanding not only as a forward but looking to distribute from the center of the midfield. The players have done well looking to pass out of things and playing through the midfield. We look forward to working with the girls on defensive shape and crossing the ball.

Chelsea-Coach Dwight Findlay (Eric Bratager)
This is a very fun group to work with who really enjoys playing together and always gives their best effort. The game got off to a rocky start with Chelsea going down three goals about midway through the first half while generating little offense of their own. The boys continued to work hard and got better as the game wore on. In the second half, they started to win the battle in the midfield and did a good job of possessing the ball and keeping play in the attacking half of the field, although they were unable to break through on the score sheet for the first 20 minutes. Just when it looked like it was going to be one of those games, Braeden Smith had other ideas and scored a hat trick in the final 5 minutes to level the game at 3-3. Andrew Rosetti made some great saves in goal and Lucas Archimede, Ben Noga, and Gabe Troch played well in the back keeping Roma off the board in the second half. Overall, another great show of heart from this team in battling back to tie this game at the death after being down three goals late in the game!

U9 Everton-Coach Eric Bratager
This was a very good performance from Everton and I was very pleased to see several chances created from switching the point of attack which was something we worked on in training during the week. In particluar, Daniel Wu and Jacob Steinberg showed excellent poise and vision in moving the ball to open teammates. Everton jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead, but a talented and determined FCC Roma side kept the game close throughout tying the score at 3 after Everton were caught sleeping on the second half kickoff. Everton continued to pressure the FCC goal and finally broke through late in the game on an Owen Perez winner about seven minutes from time. The entire team played very well in this game and a number of players continue to get better each week and had their best performances this weekend. John White had his best game of the season, scoring the opening goal and playing very well in the back winning balls and making good decisions. Carter Diehl continues to improve each week and played with a lot of confidence taking players on up front and creating several good scoring chances. Ethan Armour had a strong first half in the back and then stepped in goal late in the game doing his best Tim Howard (Everton, US GK) impression to preserve the victory, while his brother Adam was all over the field making life difficult for Roma with his speed and tireless work rate. Overall, a tremendous team effort from all the boys!

Juventus-Coach Nick Cerullo (Carson Porter)
The last time Coach Carson filled in for the Juventus team they did not play well, so the challenge was made to the team to put together a better performance then the last and they certainly did. Julius McPhun had a nice unselfish assist to begin the scoring and the team would not look back. The entire group played well including some excellent defensive work and passing from Adam Trickett. Daniel Brackett came on in the second half, putting together some excellent combination play that led to goals for Juventus. With the game already won, the team was asked to do a little more passing and posession which they could have done a better job with, but overall a good performance without their fearless leader!

Arsenal-Coach Fabio Suarez
Arsenal suffered their first loss of the season Sunday to a very good FC Tottenham team. While Arsenals attack was relentless the boys first loss came as a wake up call. The feeling at the end of the game was that if we play FC Tottenham again the result will be in our favor.
Coach Fabio is proud of his boys for never quiting and for playing hard all game.

AC Milan-Coach Andy Truex (Fabio Suarez)
CASL AC Milan came out firing!!! Scoring two goals in 10 minutes it looked like this one was in the books already. Not ready to give in was FC Cary as they came back with two goals of their own. While we enjoyed the game and all the goals, we must appreciate the team unity of AC Milan as they refused to lose this game when momentum changed. It is easy to work hard when everything is going your way. Milan showed us no matter what the situation, they were not going to let up!!! Good stuff boys!!!

Barcelona-Coach Jill Fulton
CASL Barcelona jumped out to an early lead on Sunday over a very
talented FC Cary Breakers team. Overall, the YTS girls displayed good
passing abilities as well as strong finishing skills. The first half
was highlighted by two spectacular long distance goals coming from
Christine Lauture. The second half was a much more even contest that
saw some very good soccer from the FC Cary team.

Madrid-Coach Kelly Miller (Jill Fulton)
On Sunday, CASL Madrid competed against a very strong FC Cary Sol
team. The CASL group played well together combining passes throughout
the field. The first half saw both teams benefit from indirect free
kick goals resulting from "pass backs to the goalkeeper." The second
half was equally exciting with both teams creating several goal
scoring opportunities. Mackenzie Gower was excellent all over the field for the Madrid team.

Manchester United-Coach Caleb Norkus
This weekend U-9's Manchester United showed signs of improvement, but took another tough defeat in the end against the always-impressive FC Cary. Innis Powell demonsrated his ability to defend after recovering from a cold last week, and he attacked dangerously as well. Jack Hicks scored a pair of goals as he returned from a trip that kept him out last weekend, and proved that Man U is truly at its best with him on the pitch. Peter Glenn had a good presence in net, showing once again that he can do it all. Nick Atkinson took a stint in goal as well, playing tough in every role he was assigned.

Lazio-Coach Caleb Norkus
U-10's Lazio had a very close game with cross-town rival FC Cary, who scored first. Although Lazio had more possession of the ball, and showed much promise of outscoring their rivals, they fell short of victory. A very tall and well-coordinated keeper from FC Cary made many key saves to preserve their result, including a Colton Pleasants-special free kick that was going into the top corner. Joey Daley was dangerous in the attack, just missing a sweet volley that sailed above the cross bar. Colton Howell opened up the score line for Lazio, playing with sheer tenacity as he out-sprinted the keeper to the ball off a breakaway and poked it past him. Kelvin Oudjit held down the defense, and along with Brighton Boshart, displayed a possessive style. Jake Vrolijk played with his head up and also showed his ability by making an excellent overlapping run with Aaron Teal that almost resulted in a goal. Ben Zahavi continues to show signs of improvement, as he blazed up and down the sideline, matching his natural speed with ball control. The highlight of the game may have been the goal celebration from Colton Pleasants. The always fiery youngster displayed the passion of this intense game as he buried one into the net and slid on both knees at the midfield. Surely, this game showcased future stars in the making.

Roma-Coach Fabio Suarez (Carson Porter)
In-demand head coach Fabio Suarez was double booked on Sunday and wasn't able to be on the sidelines for a very good match vs. FC Cary. Very much a team effort, this game demanded each players very best. Thomas Hitchins was dead solid in the back and Cameron and Kishan worked to get the attack going. Robbie Deckelbaum entered the game up front and caused a lot of problems, eventually creating several goal scoring opportunities. Spencer put in an honest and hard days work, fighting and scrapping for every ball. The game had excellent players on both teams and proved to be a great game. Well done Roma.

YTS Weekly Update 10/12/09

Game recaps will be up soon but there are some changes in this week's schedule that everyone needs to be aware of...

U10 YTS will be cancelled on Tuesday. We have representatives from Chelsea FC in England that will be here and the staff will be working with them and unavailable for Wednesday's practice. This practice WILL be made up on Friday. So the U10 YTS schedule this week is Thursday at Cedar Fork and Friday at WRAL. The U9 Schedule remains the same.

The Chelsea staff will be conducting a training session on Tuesday and have asked me to select 12 boys players to participate in this practice. I have already voiced my unhappiness about not allowing the girls to participate so no need to send me emails on this. After speaking with the coaching staff we are inviting the following players to participate in the training session at WRAL Stadium at 4:30. I am making all parents and players aware of this selection so that everyone knows exactly what is going on with the program and we stay away from rumors and gossip. These 12 players are deserving but certainly not the only players that deserve a chance to train with the Chelsea coaches, unfortunately all of them can't and this is just the way it is. We will see the following players tomorrow (Tuesday) at the stadium. Please let me know if they cannot attend.

1. Owen Perez
2. Gabe Meyer
3. Colton Pleasants
4. Harry Cooper
5. Thomas Hitchins
6. Kishan Patel
7. Ashton Crowder
8. Joey Daly
9. Colton Howell
10. Elliot Guillet
11. Zach Mason
12. Daniel Wu

YTS Weekly Update 10/5/09

We had another great week of games highlighted by some great performances from Dwight Findlay's U9 Chelsea team and Tommy Retzlaff's U10 Crew team. There are new pictures posted on the blog from YTS action at WRAL on Saturday. With the weather changing and not a lot of warm weather left, we will have Jersey Day and Barefoot Soccer this week. The U10's will be on Tuesday (tomorrow) at WRAl and the U9's will be on Friday. Please pack all soccer gear in case of a change in the schedule.

AC Milan-Coach Andy Truex (Nick Cerullo)
I had the pleasure of filling in for Andy Truex this weekend as his boys visited TU Real Madrid in Chapel Hill. AC Milan is a talent group of soccer players who came out on fire. They seemed to put two goals in almost immediately. One of which was a BLAST by Elliot in the first minute of the game. However their play did fall off a bit at the end of the first half giving Real Madrid the lead at the half. The second half saw Milan find themselves defensively with help from Connor and begin to distribute the ball through the midfield. AC Milan came back in the second half and ended up with a great result and really pulled together as a team.

Juventus-Coach Nick Cerullo
Team Juventus traveled to Chapel Hill this week to take on TU Sevilla. The game opened with Juventus getting amazing offensive pressure from the midfielders and marking backs. Juventus seemed to shoot the ball everywhere but on goal and the Sevilla goalie put on a show turning away shot after shot. Finally Juventus by way of Zack Mason found the back of the net. After not getting scored on in the first half due to some great effort defensively by Garrett Massengill the second half found Juventus not playing sound defensively and giving up some goals. However they found their stride midway through the second half and ended up with a favorable result due to goals by Harry and Daniel . The boys seem to be having fun and getting better week in and week out . Congrats to them on another great result.

Barcelona-Coach Jill Fulton
The U9 Barcelona girls continued to have another great weekend of soccer against TU Red Stars. Our team had a well rounded attack with several different girls scoring some great goals. We then began to focus not only on scoring goals but our passing and movements with and without the ball. The girls did a great job making the field big and passing the ball to feet. Haleigh Pack did a great job in the goal in the second half using only her feet to block some hard shots. Overall, the girls played very well and continue to improve each week.

Arsenal-Coach Fabio Suarez
Arsenal CASL displayed pure excellence on the pitch this weekend. While it was evident that their opponent would not have the fire power to keep up with this special group, Arsenal never lost composure showing great sportsmanship throughout the game. Good stuff this weekend boys!!!

Roma-Coach Fabio Suarez
CASL Roma vs CASL Lazio was hands down the game of the week!!! While defensive leader and Gk John was late due to a fender bender prior to the match Roma realized the show must go on. Volunteering to fill the big shoes in the back was Mikey who played BIG TIME allowing only one goal "Victory"* style with no Gloves!!! Heading up the offensive attack for Roma Kishan who played incredible all game. Cutting up players left and right with absolute brilliance, Keyshawn would proudly be nicknamed "the Butcher" at the end of the match. While Lazio will be credited with the win, this Sundays Classico would be looked as a victory for all CASL YTS players. Keep up the good work fellas!!!

*"Victory" is a soccer movie about a team put together in Nazi-occupied Germany during WWII. It stars Sly Stalone as the Goalkeeper and Pele is, well, Pele. Kids are a little young for the movie but if you haven't seen it, its pretty good.

Lazio-Coach Caleb Norkus (Carson Porter)
Lazio had another good showing this weekend in a great CASL Darby match vs. Roma. The team really plays well together each player brings a good attitude and great workrate. Joey Daly was excellent out on the flank, combining with his teammates to get down to the end line, setting up several scoring chances with his crosses and workrate. Aaron Teal made a difference when he entered the game quickly scoring a great goal after showing off some good skill and dribbling abilities. Colton Howell, Colton Pleasants and Braeden Boshart all played very well in midfield working together with some excellent passing sequences that lead to scoring chances. The game was very well played by both teams and a great showcase for the YTS program.

Galaxy-Liz McNally
It was a hard and physical game against Triangle United Lazio, however, the Galaxy came away with a great 3-1 victory. Kaila Hamm, Brynn Lloyd and Ashley Merritt scored three great goals while Elizabeth Surratt and Savannah Renard kept the ball out of the net during a tough second half in goal. The Galaxy continued to possess the ball through their passing. It was a very physical game, but the girls held their own. I am very proud of their play and their work ethic as it has continued to improve each training and game.

Fire-Coach Tommy Retzlaff
The Fire put on a show for the visiting TU Roma Girls on Sunday at WRAL. The girls were amazing in their group tactics as a result of quality passing, receiving and attacking. They did a good job of supporting and switching the point of attack to find space to work. The girls consistently connected on 4 and 5 pass combinations to create countless shots on goal for every player on the team. All the girls raised their level this weekend and I'm unsure who all scored goals, but it was most of them. Grace Wagner led the way with 3 goals including a bomb from midfield and later and fantastic strike from a rebound at about 20 yards out. We had fantastic midfield play from Kaitlyn Bouck, Anna Bevans and Hannah Atkinston. Most improved play was definitely from Elizabeth Wilson who played a flawless defense with wonderful passing. Brianna Pendergraft and Kendall Augsburg contributed with great attacking, crosses, and goal scoring down the right side while Heather Erlemann and Eliah Tekkote created many chances down the left. Overall, this was a definite highlight in my experience of coaching young players. I'm really proud of them for applying their learning to the match yesterday. Way to go Fire!

Chelsea-Coach Dwight Findlay
"ALL HEART with PROGRESS OCCURING"
What an amazing game for all the boys. The boys gave their all and played with HEART. Many tears followed this game due to the strong desire to win and frustrations from the many chances missed. A true Chelsea, EPL phenomenon.
I was especially impressed with our several decisions to switch the point of attack from the crowded side to the less crowded side of the field. We had some great ball movement but our many opportunities couldn't find the back of the net. Our score ended up 1-2 the opposing team.

Madrid-Coach Kelly Miller
The U9 Madrid girls started the game strong and were able to connect multiple passes. McRae Calhoun did well to put the ball in the back of the net 8 minutes into the game. Madird did very well adjusting to a new system of play. At the beginning of the season we played a "3-2". Today we played with two defenders, one midfielder, and two forwards. It was a great adjustment. Jessica Kreider was a hard-nosed defender today and was able to stop many counter attacks from the other team. Ava Whitlark had two great goals that incorporated both power and finesse. Mackenzie Gower and Caroline Vithalani had two goals each. The girls played with a lot of heart today and I was very proud of their teamwork and sportsmanship. Go CASL!

Manchester United-Caleb Norkus
U-9 Manchester United played hard on Sunday against CASL's very own Everton. The game would be decided based on which team took advantage of defensive mistakes. Tommy Petruccione and Peter Glenn played extremely well at defense for Man U, and also showed their ability to score goals. Tommy capitalized on a free kick from outside the box and then Peter buried a penalty kick. Nick Atkinson showed off his versatility, with some excellent goalkeeping that included an unbelievable "upper ninety" save. He then contributed on the offensive side of the ball in the second half. Nicked turned on the jets, showing his speed with the ball, by exploding through the defense and scoring on a break away. Just moments later he took advantage of another pk by scoring what could have been the game winner. Everton never quit, and scored a beautiful breakaway in the last minute of the game. It was a tough result in the end for Man United, but once again they showed desire, heart, and promise as they continue to improve.

Everton-Coach Eric Bratager
This was a very exciting match
that was not decided until the death.  Everton jumped out to an early 2-0 lead behind Miach Thorp and Jacob Steinberg goals and seemed to be cruising.  However, Man U continued to apply pressure and broke through with a well taken free kick from the top of the 18.  After an Everton handball in the box, Man U converted the penalty to level the halftime score at 2-2.  Man U came out strong in the second half, scoring a quick goal and then converting a second penalty kick to take
a 4-2 lead.  With about 10 minutes remaining, Owen Perez scored to bring Everton within a goal, and then assisted on a James Wiley goal a few minutes later to level the score at 4-4.  Both teams pressed for a winner and just when it looked like the teams were destined for a draw, Daniel Wu took the ball from his own third and dribbled the length of the field on a counterattack to score the game winner with
about a minute remaining.  Both Carter Diehl and Adam Armour played a half in goal for Everton the first time this season and did an excellent job only giving up one goal in the run of play with the other three being well taken set pieces.  Jalen Duran also had a standout defensive effort breaking up a number of dangerous Man U
counterattacks late in the game.

YTS Indoor League Announcement

Winter will be here before we know it and it is time to start planning. In partnership with NetSports and Next Level we are offering the YTS Indoor league to all of our YTS players.

The league will consists of all 13 YTS teams as well as teams from our Champions League Partner clubs. The games will be held on Saturdays beginning the second weekend in November and carrying through January 15th. There will be no practices for this league, allowing the kids to take a break from soccer, but it is a chance to keep your kids active and on the soccer field during the winter months. Personally, I think it has been a great fall season thus far and I would love to see the league carry momentum into the winter and eventually the spring. I am hoping for a full commitment from our teams to participate.

In the past there have been no YTS coaches present at these games. We will work together as a staff so that we can have a coach at each one of the games. It may not be your assigned coach, which is another good opportunity for the kids to learn from other coaches. This indoor commitment does not interfere with players who participate in Next Level Academy.

The cost of the league is $750 per team, obviously doing the math, if we can get 10 players per team this is a $75.00 cost per family. If you are able to commit to this winter league, please contact your team manager who will be collecting the league fee from you. The deadline for league registration is October 19th so please get in touch with your team mangager as soon as possible. I hope that this can be another positive experience for our great group of kids.

YTS Weekly Update 9/28/09

Another great weekend of competitive games on a beautiful day at WRAL. The fields are in really good shape at all of the league sites and the soccer has been really good. Keep an eye out for announcements concerning the winter indoor season and a tournament update coming soon. Here are this week's results...

Barcelona YTS-Coach Jill Fulton
The U9 Barcelona girls continued to play great soccer this weekend against FCC Sol. The team shows a great work rate and continues to do well connecting passes on the field. McKenzie Davis scored the first goal of the game off a free kick after the first 2 minutes of the game. Magen Proudfoot and Hannah Ziegler also found the back of the net to secure a 3-1 victory. All of the girls played extremely well as they take turns rotating through every position.

Juventus-Coach Nick Cerullo
CASL Juventus played host to FCC Aston Villa on Sunday for a very high paced , physical soccer game between two evenly matched teams. Julius McPhun showed some great moves and put some great shots on goal. Daniel Crawford played a great game as well contributing in the goal and winning the loose balls in the middle of the field to help Juventus get forward and create offense. Overall Juventus got a great result, but will continue to work on ball control and passing this week . The boys have grown a great deal and will continue to get even better as we progress through the season.

Fire, Coach Tommy Retzlaff
The Fire played FC Cary Crew on Sunday who had more athleticism than we had seen in the previous opponents. I felt that play was a little sloppy for us during the first 8-10 minutes of the match before we got things settled down. The Crew struck first with an unfortunate handball penalty, but the shot from the spot was well taken. We then started to get into the flow with quality play and passing from Kaitlyn in the midfield and Hannah out of the back. After inserting Brianna into the game we really picked it up. Brianna continuously set up Kendall for shooting and crossing opportunities. Kendall was very good running the ball up the right side against very good defending. Finally Heather was able to score off Kendall's corner kick. Despite have a strong run of play early in the second, the Crew found the net again. We found ourselves a little frustrated, but continuing to compete. Once we showed a little patience, Kendall was able to find Grace on the weakside for an equalizing goal. We pushed it for the final 5 minutes, but the match ended in draw. It was good to see us challenged.

Madrid-Coach Kelly Miller
The game got off to a slow start for the U9 Madrid girls this weekend.
Paige Morrision did a great job of creating good passing angles and was able to create goal scoring opportunities. The girls had a lot of shots on goal, but had trouble finishing them. Brooke Finnessy used her strength this weekend to get in between the ball and the attacker. This helped the team transition from defense to offense. Caroline Vithalani had numerous shots on goal and did well to finish a few. The energy level and work ethic was much improved in the second half.

Everton-Coach Eric Bratager
The fans got a show from both teams in a high scoring game that had a little of everything. Jacob Steinberg opened the scoring about a minute into the game off a great assist from Daniel Wu. Owen Perez also added a goal in the first half showing some great individual skill beating three defenders before calmly slotting the ball past the keeper. In the goal, we got a great first half effort from Carson McCorkle playing in the net for the first time this season. Micah Thorp played a good game up front creating a number of good scoring chances and Adam Armour also created a number of problems for the defense with his pace and tireless work rate. The second half saw goals from Jacob Steinberg on a great defensive effort and shot, and John White followed up a long range Daniel Wu blast to close out the scoring. Defensively in the second half, Ethan Armour did a great job in the goal for the second time this season and Carter Diehl did a good job winning balls and finding open teammates in the midfield. Overall great effort from the entire team as they continue to improve and play better soccer each week.

Chelsea-Coach Dwight Findlay
The boys started suprised by the speed and technical ability of FCC. The first half was all FCC 2nd half we fought back and only got 1 or 2 goals against us. I was proud to see the boys fight to the end.

Arsenal-Coach Fabio Suarez
Out numbered and playing against a tough FC Cary team, this game could easily be predicted to be a blow out or great victory for CASL Arsenal. Even though FC Cary managed to get on board first, Arsenal would not back down. Risking going down by more then one, Arsenal launched a full attack unleashing an offensive pressure that would almost prove to be too much to handle. Getting off shot by shot, it can only by FC Carys GK playing the game of his career that Arsenals advances forward would only produce one goal in the half leaving the score tied at 1-1. Going into the second half Arsenal knew that although they had pushed hard in the first, hard work during the week at practice prepared them to continue they attack. With both teams unwilling to quit, the fans started to get the feeling that this game would come down to the wire. Gabe Meyer found the net for the second time in the match with 6 minutes left, but with just one sub all game, 6 minutes would feel like a lifetime. Cranking it up for the remaining time was FC Cary as Arsenal GK Christian would feel every minute swatting away shot after shot not allowing them to score and tie the game. While Gabe and Jackson will be credited for Arsenals three goals, all who bare witness will tell you this was your classic example of team effort. Arsenal played as a team.

Roma-Fabio Suarez
CASL Roma vs FC Cary proved to an exciting showdown of offensive mastery as both teams put on a clinic Sunday afternoon. With both teams flexing their muscles during warm ups and neither backing down, this was bound to be one for the books. It would not take long for the fans to enjoy some quality goals as the first strike would come in the 7th minute as FC Cary forward smacks a ripper in the corner. The score would not stay in FC Carys favor for long as Robert put Roma on his back while taking on 3 defenders and knocking in the equalizer only a minute later. This would be the storyline of the game as goal after goal both teams would respond almost immediately with a strike of their own keeping the score level or up one. Roma came out victorious in the end with spectacular play from GK John, making big time saves to deny FC Cary a chance in the final minutes, accompanied by a hard fought goal off a rebound from Kishan Patel with just 3 minutes left in the match to make it 7-6!!!

AC Milan-Coach Andy Truex
Coach Carson took the team this weekend and reported a game full of ups and downs. Times when the team really were playing some good soccer, knocking the ball around and making it look easy. Some smart goalkeeping from Anthony Sodano and Combination plays from Ryan Gates, Elliot Guillet, Ryan Kenney, and Connor Hoke created some great chances in the early part of the game. The team made a couple of mistakes and did not finish the first half as strong as they started it and were down to FC Cary. A great response to being down at halftime, the team came out again with some excellent passing and defensive work. Everyone contributed to the effort to tie the game only to come up short on the scoreboard, a great effort overall.

Manchester United-Coach Caleb Norkus
Man U. was up against a nother tough side Sunday, this time from cross town rival FC Cary. The boys played strong, and after going down by 3 in the first half, nearly came back to win. The Reds gained composure, started passing more, and doing a better job of switching the ball in the second half. Although the United out scored their opponents in the second half, it was a tough deficit to come back from, and FC Cary weren't going down without a fight as they continued to press and notched a couple more to spoil the fun. It was an exciting game though, as Colin Coe played very strong transitioning the ball from defense to offense, scoring Man U.'s first, and led the side that never gives up. John Nelson added an absolute stinger from outside the box after beating his defender on the fly. Tommy Petruccione continued to show his skill on the ball as he dribbled past several players in a row, and Nick Atkinson played smart defense coming out from keeper and breaking down several through balls from the opposition. After the whistle blew, although the Reds had come up short on the score board, in a valent effort led by Peter Glenn and Jack Hicks, they showed a lot of promise and live to fight another day.

Lazio-Coach Caleb Norkus
Lazio is showing strong signs of going undefeated as they over-ran a strong side from FC Cary on Sunday. It was a delight to watch them put the ball in the net several times and hold FC Cary to one goal in the first half, which was an upper ninety special to start off the scoring on a sunny and beautiful afternoon. Colton Pleasants equalized on an incredible run from the right side showing his ball control and ability to beat and hold off one defender after the next while finishing from a tough angle to the lower corner. After getting fouled he added his own free kick upper ninety and put the ball in from distance just before a passionate but well deserved celebration. Joey Daly showed his skill up the left side once again and powered a shot just wide of the far post early on in the game. Michael Hoff exemplified his well improved ball skill as he toyed several defenders up the middle of the field. As a whole though, too much dribbling and a lack of ability to see open teammates in the final third led to several wasted opportunities that Lazio will hopefully capitalize on in the coming weeks. Colton Howell tuned in to his coaches request to play the ball to feet, leading his team in a wonderful passing display as he properly weighted several outstanding through balls to set up scoring opportunities for teammates, and meanwhile added to the scoreline on a beautiful first time near post finish off of a cross. The second half only got better as Lazio went on to score four more goals, but defensive break downs allowed two goals against. As the season warms up and the weather cools down, let's hope that the boys' performances stay hot as they have been so far on the pitch!

Crew-Coach Molly Skinner
The Crew won 5-1. The defense played really well and the backs did a great job looking to get forward in the attack, with Sophie notching a goal from her position at right back. The early service from Ashley Skinner led to a lot of great scoring opportunities. Lucy Krueger played great in the goal making a diving save in the first few minutes of the game. We will continue to look to build out of the back and rely on solid mid-field play and movement off the ball.

YTS Weekly Update 9/21/09

It was another great week and weekend of soccer for the CASL YTS program. The weather is cooperating and the games are competitive and fun for everyone who is a part of them. Here is a run down of this week's games!

CASL YTS FIRE-Coach Tommy Retzlaff
Coach Tommy's group had an excellent performance in Chapel Hill at the Rainbow Fields. The team has great team spirit and really enjoys playing together. Brianna Pendergraft had a very good match on both sides of the ball, playing excellent defense and completing passes while also scoring two goals. Kaitlyn Buock had another excellent game scoring a goal and setting her teammates up for great goals. Eliah was much improved from last week getting her first goal of the year. Overall a very impressive performance with everyone contributing and playing well

CASL YTS CREW-Molly Skinner and Lindsey Vera
The CASL Crew continued to play good soccer and improve as they took on Triangle United in Chapel Hill. Grace Densmore led the team with a great workrate and some very smart passing and moving throughout the game. Emma Totten seems to have a nose for goal and got herself another one. Sydney Wilson is getting pretty comfortable in goal and did a great job again yesterday. Lucy Kreuger continues to play well in each position she is put in and did a great job in the back yesterday. Chloe Hasund also had an excellent day with her skill on the ball. Overall a great day for everyone. Coach Molly and Lindsey are hoping to work a little bit on finishing this week. They feel the team is often faster then others but need to work on crossing instead of shooting the ball when they are at bad angels.

YTS Manchester United-Coach Caleb Norkus
The U-9 Manchester United battled it out with a strong side from Triangle this weekend, and put forth a winning effort, though in the end had to settle for a tie. They did well to come back from a goal deficit, having given away a goal from a pk. Jack Hicks tore up the right side with his speed with the ball and put in several crosses that the team will hopefully capitalize on in the future. Nick Atkinson looked strong as usual, as did Peter Glenn who it turns out is very capable of holding down the defense himself, having to break down several counter attacks. The timing of his tackles were fantastic! Tommy Petrutcione skill was always dangerous for the other opponent. The team showed great character throughout the game and eventually had to come from behind to get the tying goal just minutes before the end.

CASL YTS LAZIO-Coach Caleb Norkus
The U10 Lazio team got off to another good start with everyone contributing to their excellent performance. Ben Zahavi showed some great speed and much improved skill out on the flank while Colton Howell added a powerful strike for a top shelf goal. Michael Hoff and Kelvyn Oudjit added some dazzling foot skills and wonderful passes setting up their teammates for goals. Aaron Teal played strong and scored the game's first goal by dribbling through at least two defenders and burying it near post. Joey Daly was outstanding at goal tending saving several shots, including two pk's in a row. Colton Pleasants added a great performance from the back and it was another good performance from Lazio.

CASL YTS BARCELONA-Coach Jill Bradford
Megan Proudfoot played very well on Sunday and helped her team create some great goals. Technically, she looked very comfortable on the ball and did a great job of taking defenders on 1v1 to create goal scoring opportunities. Sierra Lowery also did well and helped contribute to the team success by connecting passes out of the back and finding target forwards. On many occasions, Kristine Lauture was able to switch the point of attack, and that led to goal scoring opportunities.

CASL YTS MADRID-Coach Kelly Miller
McRae used her athleticism and speed to create 1v1 opportunities on the flanks. McRae was able to beat her opponet with her technical skills and this led to multiple goals. Mackenzie Gower was the hardest working player on the field on Sunday, and her hustle and desire was exciting to watch. She brought a lot of energy to the team and her "never say die" attitude was an inspiration to everyone. Lily Peden did well as a front runner and had many good shots on goal.

CASL YTS EVERTON-Coach Eric Bratager
The boys gave up a number of goals very early, but did a good job of working hard and competing to get back in the game and accomplished their goal of winning the second half. Great effort from the whole team against a very good TU side, I thought Jacob Steinberg, Daniel Wu, and Jalen Duran did a good job settling the game down after the rocky start. John White also caused a lot of problems with his work rate and running at defenders and Owen Perez scored a couple of great goals in the second half.

CASL YTS ARSENAL-Coach Fabio Suarez
Arsenal vs Chelsea was an ESPN instant Classic. Arsenal was up 2-0 with Jackson Rhoades, Gabe Meyer and Liam McLaughlin really doing well offensively getting off shot after shot. Josh Brateger played huge in goal and kept Chelsea from giving up a few goals early. Lucas Game up with a monster goal to bring the game to goal and also played a big role in finding the equalizer. Final score 3-3

CASL YTS ROMA-Coach Fabio Suarez
Roma did well from the beginning, obviously due to the guest trainer running the warm up. The boys got on the board in the first 3 minutes and never looked back. It seemed like almost every shot attempt was a goal. Andrew Lee knocked the first 2 in and played monster defense in the 2nd half. John was great in goal in the first half, but save of the day has to go to Jacob Fortner when he saved a pk and did it while obviously psyching out the shooter with face of pure panic. Triangle United managed to find the net in the end but the damaged had been done. Everyone put in great performances for the Roma Squad. Well Done!

CASL YTS JUVENTUS-Coach Nick Cerullo
Team Juventus had a great game against AC Milan that was closely played till the final whistle. Team Juventus with the defensive help of Harry Cooper and Zac Mason kept procession of the ball for the first 5 to 10 minutes of the game showing off some of the passing skills they have been working on so diligently at practice. The boys put in great effort after a rough start last week and came away with a great result.

YTS-Champions League Week 2

We are off to a really good start this year with YTS. Parents, coaches and players are all enjoying the Champions League, and the Mid Week Match Days have allowed the coaches and players to learn in a game environment.

If you have watched training over the past several weeks hopefully you can see a big improvement in the overall quality of the practices. A main goal for the entire program is to create an environment where the kids will learn the game. We are starting to create this. You can tell that the kids are beginning to understand what the coaches are looking for and they are coming with the right attitude and mentality. We are all here to enjoy the game but enjoyment comes with improvement and the kids are definitely improving.

We have spent long warm-up sessions on passing and receiving and are now starting to incorporate individual skill into the warm up. You will see these two skill sets worked on throughout the year. Other ideas and topics will be added but the main priorities for these young players is to learn how to pass the ball properly and how to recieve and dribble the ball properly. When they have both of these skills (some of them already do) then the next goal will be to perform these skills at a faster speed. All of the kids in YTS can pass the ball but they must learn how to do it at a high speed, in a game, with players around them.

I have finally added some additional pictures to the picture site, sorry for the delay on that and keep the pictures coming.

Finally, please take a close look at the schedule for where your games are being played this weekend. We are all spread out this weekend (some in Chapel Hill, some at WRAL, etc) so it is important that everyone knows where they are going. Please arrive at least 30 minutes prior to the start of the game. Enjoy the weekend, good luck to all.

YTS Weekly Update 9/14/09

Week 1 of the Champions League was for the most part a success. We will be posting pictures in the next two days as well as the players of the week so keep an eye on the site. A reminder to U10 YTS that we will make up our Mid Week Match Day on Tuesday. Please plan on meeting in the stadium with both jerseys and we will disperse from there.

Opening Weekend - Champions League

I'm sure, like me, everyone is excited to see the kids play this weekend. Unfortunately for the u10's our mid-week match day got cancelled when WRAL grass fields were closed due to the hard rains the previous day. This made it impossible for us to have enough field space to play the games. Hopefully we can play games on Friday with the U-9's.

Before the opening weekend I wanted to address a few things about the games and our philosophy on competition and games at the YTS level. The first and main point is that RESULTS DO NOT MATTER at this level. Our job at YTS is to introduce competitive soccer to these players, our job at YTS is NOT to win games, in all honesty, we do not care about the results. We do recognize that winning is part of a positive experience for the kids, but ultimately we want our kids to improve and enjoy the experience. As a parent you are very important to this. Your demeanor on the sideline has a huge impact on your kids and the game itself. We ask that you encourage and cheer for your kids in a POSITIVE way, that is all. Please do not yell at your kids in frustration or try to coach your kid from the sideline. Only the coach is to give instructions about the game, your job is to encourage.

Also, be aware that this might not be the philosophy of other clubs and results MAY matter to other parents, coaches, players and teams. If this is the case, do not get involved in any disagreements with other parents. CASL is the largest club in the country and certainly the largest club in our area, all eyes are on us so we need to act accordingly.

Just as YTS is an early stage of soccer for these kids, it is also an early stage of refereeing for our officials. They will make mistakes. Do not complain or yell at the referee. Not only is this something we do out of respect to the referees, but it also has a huge impact on your child. If you yell at the referee he/she will think it is ok to yell at the referee.

Hopefully you have recognized that we are trying to create an environment where these children are not just on teams but are a part of a great YTS program. I encourage any family who has a little spare time on Sunday to come out and support the other teams that are playing.

Thanks and we look forward to seeing all of you this weekend.

FYI: This is the link to the weather hotline for Green Hope.
http://www.fccary.com/fcc_weather.htm

ANNOUNCING 1st Mid-Week Match Days, September 8th and 11th

Hopefully your son or daughter has enjoyed the first few weeks of YTS practice. We also know that, thought the practices and training are fun and have been good, these kids want to play games.

Tuesday, September 8th for the 10's and Friday, September 11th for the 9's will be our first Mid-week Match Day. We ask that you make an effort to be at practice at or before 4:30 so that we can kick off the games by 5:00. These games will be a chance for the players to play with their teams before the kickoff of the Champions League season.

We will announce a schedule and what uniform to wear when we get closer to the games but we do ask that the players bring both jerseys to WRAL stadium and we will send them to the appropriate fields after we meet as a group. These games will be refereed and run by the coaches with little emphasis on results.

YTS Weekly Update 8/24/09

Parents and Players,
We have been lucky with the unpredictable weather thus far and are off to a good start to the season. As you can see the players are working hard on the technique of passing and we are now starting to add some footwork and ideas into their training. Their homework is critical and working with the ball is very important as they move forward this year and beyond. The game of soccer does not become enjoyable, really enjoyable, until they know how to pass and dribble the soccer ball so that is what we will work on in the early stages of this year's training.

JERSEY DAY!
This week we will introduce jersey day to the YTS program. If your son or daughter has a favorite soccer jersey, maybe from a previous team they played on or a European or MLS team that they follow, on Tuesday for the 10's and Friday for the 9's we will have JERSEY DAY. Each player is encouraged to wear their favorite Mia Hamm, Christiano Ronaldo or Caleb Norkus jersey to practice. On Jersey day we will be introducing a fun exercise that is done on the beaches of Brazil and throughout the world...Barefoot Soccer. We will spend a half hour on our warm-up and then the players will take off their shoes, we will put some music on in the stadium and they will play 4 vs. 4 barefoot soccer.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
When we train at Cedar Fork please watch training from the outer perimeter of the fields. Also, please respect the coach and the training session by keeping a proper distance between you and the practice. Finally, Do not cheer, coach or make any comments to your children during practice. If you do such things I will ask you to leave the practice area.

YTS Weekly Update 8/17/09

YTS Players and Parents-
The first week of the YTS season was a success, the coaching staff was very excited to work with the kids for the first time and put faces to names.

Throughout the season these updates will touch on a number of different issues that come up during the season but I will also make an effort to speak about the players and the training that they are getting and why they are doing the things that they are doing...

A main concern with younger players at CASL and in our country is that they are "skipping steps" i.e. moving past skills that haven't been learned and mastered. We will ask your children to spend a lot of time on their personal skills...passing, recieving, dribbling, etc. Each day in the early parts of the season we will spend together as a group working on these skills. As I tell the kids, everyone can pass the ball but how well can they do it and how consistently can they do it. "You cannot play the game if you don't have the tools to play it."

Hopefully the kids have gone home to work on their "homework". I will be giving them challenging but achievable skill tests after each training session for them to go home and work on their own at. You can be an active part of this by passing or juggling with them or you can be a helpful part by sending them out to the backyard before dinner to do their "homework."

If there is one thing that we hope to achieve this year it is for your children to fall in love with the game. If they leave this season feeling this way then we have done our jobs and the skill and soccer work will take care of itself.

All paperwork is in, thanks for being on top of that. There will be a few additions to rosters after some kids have come out to tryout in the last couple of weeks, otherwise, we are looking forward to another great week. See you on the fields.

Carson

YTS Champions League Schedule Announced!

Attached is the link to the North Carolina Champions League Schedule. As you click on the site, look to the left side bar for your age group's schedule, click on this link and you find the details that you need.

We will also be holding additional "in house" games that will be announced in the next few weeks. These will be matches between CASL YTS teams not on the YTS schedule.

Looking forward to seeing the kids this week and getting things started. Remember, Next Monday will be the first "Weekly Update" that will be posted without an email to remind you all. See you on the field.

http://ncchampionsleague.com/

YTS Starts Week of August 10th!

Parents and Players-
Thanks to those who made it out on Tuesday for the training session. We were able to collect birth certificates, US Club Soccer Forms and T-shirt order forms. If you did not submit these forms, please send them to your team manager as soon as possible. Your child will not be able to play in games without the submission of these forms. If you do not know what I am talking about, scroll down and read the previous post concerning the collection of forms.

-We will officially begin practice on Monday, August 10th with your teams. The YTS practice schedule is below. Starting Monday, August 10th I will publish a "WEEKLY UPDATE" that will be posted before 12 Noon each Monday of the season. This will be a summary of the past week, the practice schedule and any important news and notes. This post will also have "homework" for the kids and pictures and info for them as well so I encourage you all to have them read the site as well. The more ownership these kids have in this program the better it will be. Please note that AN EMAIL WILL NOT BE SENT TO LET YOU KNOW OF THE POST. Please make it a point to check the blog each Monday for any information that you all need.

-I met and organized the schedule with the other members of the club and the official schedule will be announced before the first day of practice on Monday, August 10th. As soon as it is official, we will post it on this site and also provide a link to the league site.

-Your T-Shirt order forms are being processed and I will be in touch with the team managers who will pick them up for the respective teams.

Looking forward to seeing everyone in a week. See the schedule below:

YTS U-10: Tuesday, 4:30, WRAL Stadium
YTS U-9: Wednesday, 4:30, Cedar Fork (Cary)
YTS U-10: Thursday, 4:30, Cedar Fork (Cary)
YTS U-9: Friday, 4:30, WRAL Stadium

JULY YTS NEWS...

Greetings everyone, I hope you all are having a good summer. The YTS season is quickly approaching and there is some information I have for you and some things we need to get done.

1. TRAINING FEES

Parents, it is very important that you read over the emails sent by Zana Suggs. Training fees for the first month of August are due by August 1st. CASL has given two convienent options to cover this fee and get it taken care of right now. If you do not choose one of these options a check will be expected each month of the season from you. The options are:

A. Credit Card payment for the entire season:

This can only be done at the CASL office and can only be done from 12 Noon - 5pm, July 13-17th

B. Automatic Bank Draft Payment: This is a monthly deduction in the ammount of the training fees from your personal account. Below is the attached form, a voided check will need to be included to complete the process.

2. YTS PRE-SEASON MINI-CAMP!

We will be holding a two-day mini camp on Monday and Tuesday, July 27th and 28th, from 4:30-6:15 This will be a fun informal chance for the kids to meet each other, do some skill and ball work and PLAY. This will be held at WRAL with a field assignment to be announced at a later date. It is ok if you cannot be there or have vacation plans, this is simply a chance to get together before the season and play.

3. MATERIALS!

Everyone has been great about getting in the uniform order. We will ask for a few more things and then we'll stop bothering you and let you enjoy your kid's soccer experience, here's what we need:

A) Copy of a birth Certificate: we will be collecting birth certificates at the Mini-Camp, if you cannot attend the mini-camp dates, please send the birth certificate to your team manager.

B) Fill out the US Club Medical Waiver form (link below):

http://www.usclubsoccer.org/Files/PLAYER-REGIS_MED%20AUTH%20FORM.doc

Similar to Birth Certificates, we will be collecting this form during the mini-camp and are happy for you to bring it then. Simply, click on the link, fill out the form, print it, sign it and bring it in. If you can't be there, send it to your team manager.

C) Fill out and Turn in your T-shirt order form: You will be recieving a T-shirt order form from your team managers. At YTS practice we will expect the kids to be wearing this t-shirt along with black socks and black shorts. The t-shirts are $9.00 each. If you have t-shirts from past years it is fine to re-use them, you do not have to buy new ones if you already have some. These forms along with a check will be accepted at the Mini-Camp, if you cannot be at the mini-camp, please send them into your team managers

-If you bring these items to Mini-Camp please put all of them in ONE envelope with your child's name and his YTS Team.

4. SCHEDULING:

I have met with the directors of the Champions League and we are beginning to form schedules for the league. To help you with your calendars what I can tell you is that all games of the CHAMPIONS LEAGUE will be played on Sundays throughout the fall with three time slots: 1pm, 2:30 or 4:00.

The league will begin on Sunday, September 13th and run through Sunday, November 15th. The schedule will be released during the 2nd week of August.

That's it for now, as always, thanks.