AC UNITED '97

STATE CUP RESULT: AC United 1-2 Whitpain

2011-04-12T16:56:00.000-07:00

In the end, only the score matters. But we played so well, just could not finish. An old story in soccer. Outshooting a team 20-3 and losing the game 2-1. Two defensive breakdowns on a team that could only counter attack. Five times we are in with no one but the keeper and 4 times we failed to find the net. Three times wide and once to the keeper. But it makes us stronger, it was our best State Cup so far... and good things still are ahead for this group.

Game Report State Cups - AC United 3 - 2 HMMS

2011-04-02T15:03:00.000-07:00

In our second State Cup game, AC United took on a seasoned HMMS FC Eagle ’97 team. From looking at HMMS’s schedule, we knew we were in for a tough game. Their team has been out playing tournaments all spring and was going to pose a challenge. They were well coached and had a very good back line, a big strong center mid and played with three forwards, which is always an extra challenge for our 3 back defense.

The first 5 minutes were played mostly in our end, but nothing particularly dangerous. Then, about 5 minutes in, we struck first on a beautiful cross from Jermaine that found Jose for the finish. 1-0 AC United. We all know how important the next 5 minutes of a game are – after a goal. Of course, what about the next 10 seconds. Off the tap, they played a ball through out wide that was then crossed and walked in. 1-1. Play was then back and forth. We seemed to have the better of opportunities for the next 15 minutes (playing down hill and with the wind at Ardsley Park). On a weak clearance from their box, Westin one timed a shot from about 30 yards and put it into the top of the net. 2-1 AC United. About 5 minutes later, Robby was fouled (one of many fouls he drew) and he finished it from about 25 yards out – just over the keeper’s reach. 3-1 at half.

We knew that the second half would be tough, up wind, up hill, and against a desperate team. HMMS came out strong and most of the half was played in our end. We worked to get 10 behind the ball, and to counter attack. Sam got injured on a save and Jermaine had to sub in at goal, leaving us with only one sub for the last 20 minutes. We had 3 or 4 good opportunities with Sean on pressured break-aways, but simply could not finish. That 4th goal would have put the game away.

Then, with about 10 minutes left, they scored on a corner kick that Jermaine got a hand on but could not catch in the crowd and he was not able to knock it far out. It bounced to the feet of an HMMS player and was finished. 3-2. The last 10 minutes were rough, and it seemed at one point that HMMS had found the equalizer, but it was called back for an offsides. Again, we had a few opportunities to put in another, but failed, and again and again we had to simply defend like mad to prevent them from scoring the tie goal.

In the end, we managed to hold them off for the 3-2 win.

FINAL AC UNITED 3 – 2 HMMS

Notables,

Jermaine for his cross that Jose finished
Jose for opening up the scoring.
Westin for his great shot on a one timer from the outside
Robby for controlling the ball so well and drawing a number of fouls and for making them pay for one of those fouls with the game winning goal.
Sam for a number of great saves in ¾ of the game that he played
Jermaine for stepping in at goal and making a number of very good saves and great punts to clear the ball into the stiff wind.
Jarrod for great and tireless work up top subbing for Jose, who in the second half we dropped into the mid-filed to man mark HMMS’s big midfielder and deny him the ball.
Jose for man-marking #10 on HMMS!

We have Whitpain next week. A familiar foe against whom we have 2 ties and a win last year. We play them on the turf at 8:30AM at Wissahickon High School on Sunday April 10. With a win of next week’s game we will go through to the semi-finals.

STATE CUP RESULT: AC United 6-0 Spirit United

2011-03-26T10:26:00.001-07:00

The U13 Boys began their State Cups this year with a 1-hour drive to Downingtown to face Spirit United. In the first half, we had to play into a stiff wind, and possess the ball. We opened the scoring is a nice left foot shot from about 25 out by Max Monheit about 20 minutes in. We had been dominating play had many opportunities in the box, but ended up scoring from the outside. This was followed by a goal by Jose Cardoso on a lose ball in the box that he was able to toe poke into the back of the net. 2-0 at half. Second half we had the wind and momentum. We did not let up one bit. About 10 minutes in, Max scored again, this time a right footed shot that was just over the keepers reach. A few minutes later Jose had the 4th on another ball bouncing around in the box. Then Jarrod Gibson scored with about ten minutes left on a ball he played through to himself and easily slid it in the far side as the keeper dove near side. Finally, with about 2 minutes left, Robby Durham, who had been getting pummeled all day long as he controlled the ball throughout the midfield, took the ball to the corner, played keep away with the help of Westin and Max. Robby then emerged from the corner with the ball, took it across the top of the box and was taken down about 22 yards out. On the ensuing free kick Robby placed the ball in the top of the net as time ran down. Final AC United 6 – 0 Spirit United.

Great game boys. Your hard work and enduring playing tough competition this winter is now paying dividends. I am so vary proud of how we played today.

Next week, we have HMMS at home on April 2, 2011 at 1PM at Ardsley Park.

-Coach Mike

White v. Maroon 2010

2010-12-06T12:20:00.000-08:00

and

Fall Seasons - Maroon Final Standings Fall 2010 - 1st Place

2010-11-15T04:15:00.000-08:00

Under 13 Boys
Division 2 North
Pts W L T GA GF GD GP GD4
01. ACU Maroon 24 7 0 3 8 32 24 10 21
02. MUSC Fury 20 6 2 2 22 39 17 10 13
03. Whitpain 15 4 3 3 21 23 2 10 1
04. HOR Storm 14 4 3 2 15 27 12 9 7
05. LowerSthmpt 8 2 5 2 27 26 -1 9 -4
06. UDB UDSC Red 0 0 10 0 57 3 -54 10 -38

White Team Photos

2010-11-08T04:50:00.001-08:00

Thanks to Marlon. More great shots can be seen here:

http://flickr.com/gp/54896958@N04/TnK1G2

White Team Photos

2010-11-03T05:06:00.001-07:00

http://flickr.com/gp/54896958@N04/Y484QD

White Team Photos - Hunter Tournament

2010-10-13T05:16:00.000-07:00

Pictures from the U13 white team's 3rd game vs. HVAA, championship game vs. Havorford and receiving the trophy. Again, congrats to both teams!

Tournament Report - Hunter Jack Walsh Memorial 2010

2010-10-11T06:27:00.000-07:00

The boys teams won both divisions of the U13 at the 2010 Jack Walsh Memorial hosted by Hunter Soccer Club.

White opened with a 3-1 win over Fox Chase. Goals by Jose(2), Zach. They followed this with a 1-0 win over Plymouth, with Jose netting the games only score. Then a 1-0 win over HVAA, with Zach scoring the game winner, his second goal of the tournament. Finally, the boys faced off with Haverford (a Delco League Team) and prevailed 1-0 on a goal by Jose (his third of the tournament) with 3 minutes left in regulation.

The Maroon boys opened with a solid 2-0 win over Horsham (who we will face twice more in the next three weeks in ICSL). Goals by Sean from DJ, and Colton.

We then faced a physical and defensive minded Roxboro team that "packed it in" and made it very difficult for us to connect passes within the offensive third of the field. A defensive breakdown lead to us going down 1-0, and Roxboro's defensive approach became even more significant. We had the ball in their end and in their box for most of the game, finally breaking through with a goal by Sean off of a rebound from Dave Pohle's shot. The game ended 1-1. We kept trying to connect passes through the middle and were not successful with this. Despite urging the boys to trail balls back for shots from the outside, or to play them wide for a cross, we kept trying balls through the middle. I think that the boys learned a lot from that game in terms of how they need to adjust their style of play or formation in order to adjust to how the other team (even a far less talented team) has chosen to play the game. In this case, we learned the hard way that sometimes you have to settle for shots from the outside, or crosses from the outside, when you play a team that packs it in defensively.

We then played Cheltenham (a first division ICSL team) whom we have never faced outdoor before. They opened up scoring in the first few minutes off of a cross that we needed to be more aggressive in defending, and the half ended down 0-1. We knew we were "in the game" and had probably the better of play, but Cheltenham had a lot of size, speed, and skill up top and was very dangerous with all of their set plays. So we made some adjustments, sticking with only larger 3 defenders, adding a 6th midfielder and going with only 1 in the attack (rotating 4 players up top for short and intense shifts -- asking a lot of them to pressure all four defenders for 5-6 minutes at a time). This allowed us to play 9v5 in the rest of the field and to control the center of the field from which we could play long balls out wide. In the second half we evened the score on a shot from about 30 out by Colton that found the top of the net. Cheltenham was on their heels and we kept pressing, appearing to put in the game winner on a throw in cross that rebounded around and then out to past the 18 where Davey Pohle hit a laser of a left foot into the back of the net. The goal was called back as the referee considered us to have obstructed their goalie. Trust me, the ball would not have been saved, but perhaps we were in the goalie's way. In any event, the game ended 1-1 and we were going to need some help to reach the finals which would promise a rematch with Cheltenham. That help came when Roxboro managed to score against Horsham, placing us in a tie in points with Horsham but having the head-to-head tiebreaker.

This set up our final. Repeating our previous opponent, Cheltenham. We kept with the same style of play - 6 in the midfield, 3 defenders, and one forward. Again playing only 1 forward pressuring 4 defenders (1v4) and giving us an advantage in the midfield. Cheltenham continued to play in a 4-3-3 formation, and thus we had 6 midfielders to their 3 and could control most of the play. Our defenders had to work hard to keep the 3 attackers to the outside. But our midfield play was too much for Cheltenham and thus nearly every dangerous opportunity was ours! We opened the scoring (a goal by Sean). Then one more by Sean. And we were up 2-0 at half. Second half we were down hill and down wind, so we knew that all we needed to do was keep the ball wide and down at their end where our single forward could pressure their defense and create turnovers back to our midfield from where we could return the ball back deep into the Cheltenham defense third.

This worked well and we got a 3rd goal when Sean crossed a ball and Duane ran onto it and toe poked it past the keeper as I heard the Cheltenham coach yelling “somebody get #15.” Too late! 3-0 AC United. Unfortunately the tide started to turn. First off of a bad call, when the ball hit the backside of DJ, but somehow the referree thought it hit DJ's hand in the box. PK. Sam did his best to make the save but the shot was sure and the score 3-1. We ran our mouths a bit in this and it resulted in a Yellow Card to DJ. And thankfully DJ's teammates were restraining DJ and apologizing for him to the ref. But from that moment on, we did not get one call. Not one. And we were in for a battle with a renewed Cheltenham side. There were 15 minutes left and we knew that they would be intense. Especially if Cheltenham were to put in a second goal, something I feared would turn the momentum and cause us to tighten up.

Things went worse, when Sean, who was ALREADY ON A YELLOW CARD kicked a ball away after the whistle. That resulted in his second yellow and thus a RED CARD and we were playing down a man 11-10, with about 10 minutes to play. It affected our ability to then have even one forward for the rest of the game, as we needed to pack it in a bit and just defend and keep the ball wide. We settled down, our focus seemed to return, and we ground out the last ten minutes with not much danger. Well done.

Game Reports - Fall 2010

2010-09-26T04:11:00.000-07:00

We are 3 games into our Fall season. We tied Whitpain 2-2 and followed up with two strong wins 7-2 over MUSC and 4-0 over Lower Southhampton Inter. Next week we have Upper Dublin. Play has improved dramatically since our first half against Whitpain.

Tournament Results - Ross Haney 2010

2010-09-05T11:45:00.001-07:00

Boys played well this weekend at Ross Haney, nearly winning it all, but likely having to settle for 3rd. Games went as follows:

2-1 win over AFFC (A good team from Western part of the state) (Goals by Nick Gottemoller and Sean Griffin)
5-0 win over Upper Makefield Newton SC (Goals Sean Griffin(2), Robby Durham(2), Dave Pohle(1))
3-1 win over Philly Soccer Club (only goal was an own goal on a miscommunication in the box) (Goals by Sean Griffin(2), DJ Ellis)
0-1 loss to Warrington (now a 4th division Delco Team, was last year 2nd Div ICSL) – a tie would have given us the win of the tournament. We poured it on in the 2nd half but simply could not find the back of the net.

Very proud of how the boys played.

GF 10
GA 3

Game Schedules Fall 2010

2010-09-02T07:40:00.000-07:00

See your roster and then the respective schedule below.

See: http://www.icslsoccer.org/leagueadmin/fall2010/index_E.html

ACU Maroon Roster
C DIGGS
R DURHAM
N GOTTEMOLLER
M KIESER
W LANDAU
M MONHEIT
D POHLE
D REDDIE
Y SONG
S WELLS
B WILLARD
D ELLIS
D QUONG
S GRIFFIN

ACU White Roster
N SYRCABAEV
A BELTZ
B BRODOVSKY
N CHENG
J CURRIE
T FERRY
C GEORGES
J GIBSON
R GREWAL
B HOOVER
Z SCHWARTZ
E RANDAZZO
J CORDOZO
J LUCAS-GREEN
W WHITNEY

BOYS WHITE
September 2010

GAME# Date Time Home Away Location
5350 Sat Sep 11 11:30 am ACU White vs BUC Buckingham United Inferno
A.C. United ACU-1 Ardsley Park

5354 Sat Sep 18 10:20 am HAT Heat
vs ACU White Hatboro Horsham HAT-2 Alden/Church Field

5358 Sat Sep 25 1:00 pm ACU White vs HVAA Phoenix
A.C. United ACU-1 Ardsley Park

October 2010

GAME# Date Time Home Away Location
5362 Sat Oct 2 10:10 am ACU White vs Palisades Rage
A.C. United ACU-1 Ardsley Park

5366 Sat Oct 16 11:30 am ACU White vs FOX FCSC FLAMES
A.C. United ACU-1 Ardsley Park

~~5372 Sat Oct 23 10:10 am BUC Buckingham United Inferno~~
~~vs ACU White Buckingham BUC-1 Holicong Park Upper~~
NEW DATE AND TIME:

Inter-County Soccer League Fall 2010 - Under 13 Boys Division 4 - Game #5372 has been rescheduled as follows:
BUC Buckingham United Inferno vs ACU White
Changed from: Saturday, Oct 23, 10:10 am
To new date/time: Sunday, Oct 24, 1:00 pm
Changed from: Buckingham BUC-1 Holicong Park Upper
To new field: Buckingham BUC Herbst Field 1
Remark: Emergency Reschedule Buckingham

5376 Sat Oct 30 11:30 am ACU White vs HAT Heat
A.C. United ACU-1 Ardsley Park

November 2010

GAME# Date Time Home Away Location
5379 Sat Nov 6 9:00 am Torresdale Boys Club Hornets
vs ACU White Torresdale permits TOR-1 Jacobs Playground

5385 Sat Nov 13 12:30 pm Upper Moreland LAZERS
vs ACU White Upper Moreland UMR-1 Pileggi Park Field One

5388 Sat Nov 20 12:50 pm FOX FCSC FLAMES
vs ACU White Fox Chase FOX-1 Fox Chase #1 (UPPER)

BOYS MAROON
September 2010

GAME# Date Time Home Away Location
5100 Sat Sep 11 10:10 am ACU Maroon vs WHP Rockets
A.C. United ACU-1 Ardsley Park

5103 Sat Sep 18 1:00 pm ACU Maroon vs MUSC Fury
A.C. United ACU-1 Ardsley Park

5106 Sat Sep 25 11:40 am ACU Maroon vs Lower Southampton INTER
A.C. United ACU-1 Ardsley Park

October 2010

GAME# Date Time Home Away Location
5111 Sat Oct 2 3:00 pm UDB UDSC Red Storm
vs ACU Maroon Upper Dublin UDB-10 Edwards Field (One)

5113 Sat Oct 16 2:30 pm HOR Storm
vs ACU Maroon Horsham HOR-1 Kohler #1

5115 Sat Oct 23 12:50 pm WHP Rockets
vs ACU Maroon Whitpain WHI-2 Wentz Run Park #2

5119 Sat Oct 30 10:10 am ACU Maroon vs HOR Storm
A.C. United ACU-1 Ardsley Park

November 2010

GAME# Date Time Home Away Location
5123 Sat Nov 6 11:40 am ACU Maroon vs UDB UDSC Red Storm
A.C. United ACU-1 Ardsley Park

5124 Sat Nov 13 12:20 pm Lower Southampton INTER
vs ACU Maroon Lower Southampton LSA-4 Dolpin Swim Club

5127 Sat Nov 20 9:00 am MUSC Fury
vs ACU Maroon Montgomery MTG-11 Kenas 2

Scrimmage Sep 8, 2010

2010-09-02T07:37:00.001-07:00

On Sep 8, at the end of practice we will scrimmage U14 White Boys

So our Sep 8 schedule is as follows:

7:15 – 7:35 Fitness and Stretch
7:35 – 7:50 Small Sided Skill Work
8:00 – 9:00 Scrimmage

Assuming we have good numbers or players, I plan to play Maroon Team for most of the first half, and a few White Team players as subs. In the 2nd half I will flip that around and play mostly White Team players with a few Maroon as subs.

Scrimmage Sep 9, 2010 at 6:15 PM

2010-09-01T08:46:00.001-07:00

We will scrimmage the U14 girls (Heintz/Tompkins) on Thursday, Sep 9 at 6:15PM at Ardsley. Please let me know if you will attend so that I can be certain we will have sufficient ## (and not too many either).

Tournament Schedule - Ross Haney - Boys 13 Primier

2010-08-29T13:38:00.000-07:00

9/4/2010
#189 8:00 AM AFFC BOYS 97/98 (PAW) AC UNITED MAROON (PAE) Parkwood Youth Organization PYO1

#191 12:00 PM UMNSC WHITE 2 (PAE) AC UNITED MAROON (PAE) Parkwood Youth Organization PYO1

9/5/2010
#195 8:00 AM PSC FIRE (PAE) AC UNITED MAROON (PAE) Parkwood Youth Organization PYO2

#196 1:20 PM WARRINGTON SC UNITED (PAE) AC UNITED MAROON (PAE) Parkwood Youth Organization PYO1

Best Skills of 2010

2010-08-11T12:22:00.001-07:00

Max Juggling 82 times, covering 40 yards going forward from 18 to 8 yards past midfield

2010-08-09T16:53:00.000-07:00

Tips for Progress in Juggling to get to #20

2010-08-03T04:43:00.000-07:00

Here are the steps I suggest you follow for learning how to juggle to 20. Don't skip any of the steps as they all are important to do until you can get to 20 in a row. I find that getting to 5, 10, and 20 are the most frustrating. Once a player is getting to 20, the frustration is gone, and all that is left is developing the concentration to get to what ever number you want!!

Step One - Footwork. It is important that you move both feet and be active on your feet while juggling. So I begin with this warm up.

When you are juggling, you are going to need to hit the ball with your foot, then land on that foot, and then move the other foot so you can stay square on the ball. So I begin by having my players hold the ball and while holding it do a two step. Right-Left. Right Left. These are like little hops. You go side to side. Right-Left. The idea is to build a rhythm of going right-left in rapid succession. Right-Left. Then do the same exercise, but go Left-Right. Do this about 20 times on each side so that you feel like you are getting a rhythm with it. It is a back and forth two step (bopping or hopping side to side). Pause between each two-step.

Exercise #1: Right-Left -or- Left-RightStep Three - Improve Your Footwork.
Most people struggle with juggling because they don't get their feet back to the ground after each touch. Instead they tend to chase the ball with the foot that is in the air. As a result, as soon as they make their first bad touch, they are not in a position to move their body to be square with the ball or to move their body to even get to the ball.

Step Two - Juggling the Ball Once, Under Control.

In order to juggle to higher numbers, you need your second juggle to be as good as your first. And for that to happen, the ball needs to be directly in front of you.

Exercise #2: Juggle-Catch

The best way to do develop that skill is to juggle the ball once and catch it. Keep doing this until you are catching the ball right in front of you and belly height. If you are having to chase the ball with you hands, then you are not keeping it under control with your first touch. Keep doing this one touch at a time. Do one with the right foot, then one with the left foot. You need to develop both feet equally if you are going to reach our magic # of 20.

Step 3 - Multiple Touches and moving the feet
We are now going to introduce repeated movements. So instead of it being one at a time, we are going to try to do the same thing multiple times. Once you get this down, you are very close to being ready to juggle.

Exercise #3: Juggle-Catch-Right-Left
The exercise puts exercises #1 and #2 together. I like it best for developing the proper footwork and rhythm that is need for you to do one juggle and then move each feet one to get set for the next juggle. So it goes like this (assuming you are going to juggle first with the right foot): juggle-catch-right-left. So what you just did was juggle the ball once with your right foot, than land on your right, while catching the ball, and then also making a step to the side (like stomping your foot, but not that hard) with your left foot. So I would be coaching you to even say, "juggle catch right left". Again, you need to do the exercise an equal number of times for each foot. So I would do something like 5 on the right foot first, and then 5 on the left foot first. And so on. Stay with this until you can do 5 in a row on each side, where you only pause for a moment between each turn on that side. That is, "juggle catch right left" [pause] ""juggle catch right left" [pause] "juggle catch right left" [pause] "juggle catch right left" [pause] "juggle catch right left." As you get better, try to shorten the length of the pause between each juggle.

Step 4 - Using Both Feet
When you are getting 5 in a row on each foot, I want you to work on alternating feet with each touch. This is the same as step 3, but you go right foot juggle, then a left foot juggle. As you get better, try to shorten the length of the pause between each juggle.

Exercise #4: Juggle-Catch-Right-Left then Juggle-Catch-Left-Right
So now the pattern is "juggle catch right left" [pause] ""juggle catch left right" [pause] "juggle catch right left" [pause] "juggle catch left right" [pause] "juggle catch right left."

Step 5 - Moving Forward
You want to repeat step 4, but now you want to be moving forwards with each catch. So you are now introducing movement in a direction to the exercise. And you want to try to speed up the steps and short the length of the pause between each juggle.

Step 6 - Bounce-Touch
This is often best done on a hard surface (or very short grass). The idea is to have the ball bounce one time between each juggle. The key is to not kick the ball to high and to get BOTH FEET back to the ground each time. So it is bounce-touch-right-left -or- bounce-touch-left-right.

Step 7 - Juggling
The only difference between bounce-touch and juggling is the speed at which you need to make the next touch.

Correctable Problems
There are three problems I see that often need attention.

PROBLEM #1 - Foot Position: Often players keep there foot flexed (or flick their toe) when they juggle. While this can be a useful skill at times on the soccer field, and even juggling, it is not going to develop their shot and the sort of touch we want to develop with juggling. You can tell that the toe is being flicked or that the foot is too flexed (opposite of ballet toe - pointing the toe) because the soccer ball will be spinning back towards the player. When the ball is spinning, it is sign that the player is not striking the ball with the flat part of the laces or instep.

Foot Position Exercise: Try juggling using your shin. Then gradually move down towards the ankle. Then finally to the laces. You know you are doing it right if the contact feels very solid and the ball is not spinning.

PROBLEM #2 - Feet not getting back to the ground: This is probably the most common mistake. Players start to chase the ball with their feet, without the striking foot getting back to the ground.

Exercise: Go back to Exercise #3 above. It forces you to do the correct foot work.

PROBLEM #3 - Chasing the ball: Again, players try to juggle the ball when it is at their chest, stomach, or thigh. That means that they need to lift their performing foot very far off the ground, which means that to regain their balance they need to move it a long distance back down to the ground. No wonder they feel like they don't have time to get to the next touch. No wonder they are tiring. Rather, they need to let the ball get down to knee height or below before taking their next touch. This means the foot only needs to travel a short distance to get to the ball and then a short distance to get back to the ground and be balanced again.

Exercise: Go back to Exercise #3 above. It forces you to do the correct foot work and make sure you are being patient for the ball to get back below knee height before striking the ball.

Summer Break

2010-06-30T11:12:00.000-07:00

Next week marks the end of our training until August 16. So we will have practice tonight (Crestmont), street soccer (Conway) on Saturday and then next Monday (Crestmont) and Wednesday (Crestmont) next week(July 5 & 7).

After that, stay cool... and keep up with your juggling... which we will test upon our return to the pitch on August 16.

Street soccer will continue through the summer for those of you who just can't stop. Saturdays 9-10:30 at Conway.

-Mike

Tournament Report - UJSL

2010-06-14T03:47:00.001-07:00

We started slow but finished strong. Our first half against UJSL in the first game was poor, as the speed of play required us to adjust our level of effort – especially when defending. But the second half of the first game was much better… and the second time around when we faced UJSL in the finals, we showed that we can play against a larger, faster, and very talented team when we bring an organized, dedicated and disciplined effort to defending. In that second game, the first 30 minutes of defending were fantastic – the best I have ever seen from us. UJSL simply could not generate any opportunities in our box, and was only able to score on a very good shot from 25+ out. I expect our players to be able to look back on that level of effort from the first half of the last game and to draw on it in the future. I am sure that soon we will be able to sustain that level of organization and effort for an entire game. And keep in mind that it was not at the expense of sacrificing all offense. We had a number of good opportunities in that game including Jermaine’s shot on goal that nearly went in, Ryan’s near opportunity to head a ball in, and 2 or 3 fouls that we drew from about 35 yards out that produced good scoring opportunities.

The only negatives from the weekend that I could see were (1) the taking unnecessary fouls deep our end – leading to a goal on a PK and the other leading to a very dangerous opportunity just above the box; and (2) playing down to the level of the weaker teams in the bracket.

We also, for the first time, introduced a different tactical mindset in the 2nd UJSL game – when we “sat in” and picked them up near midfield. On the short field, this created a very tight space between our 18 and the midfield line. Essentially putting 20 players into a 30x50 space. With hard work, we were able to make it very difficult for UJSL to come through that space and most of their offense in the first half ended with balls played over the top to Sam. More importantly, we showed an understanding of the difference between sitting in and backing off. We never backed off against UJSL when we sat in and picked up defending at midfield. This weekend, what we learned is that the key to defending is a TEAM effort – working hard, communicating about who has ball and who is supporting, keeping our shape as a team, staying compact and connected, and cutting off the passing lanes wit 3rd and 4th defenders. We have focused in the last few weeks (since the Ukie tournament) on our defensive work ethic and positioning. Understanding what it means to “cycle all the way back” so you put our goal at your back, and we began to implement good 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th defender technique and effort. The improvement in this area of our play is quite remarkable.

Being a finalist in this tournament was quite an accomplishment and I am very proud of how we are improving. I have the Finalist Trophy for the team and Finalist Medals for each of the boys. I will bring them to practice tonight.

Video Featuring the AC United Team over the past couple years

2010-05-09T05:00:00.001-07:00

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Game Report State Cupus - AC United (0)-(0) Solebury Storm

2010-04-17T12:29:00.000-07:00

We played Solebury to a 0-0 tie. We outplayed them for most of the game and had the better of opportunities. We nearly won the game later with a shot in the second half that hit the cross bar. About 3 inches less and we would have had the goal. This was the best game our boys have ever played. We played smart, worked hard, and won a majority of the 50-50 battles. Solebury will move through in the cups, going 2-0-1. We finished with a 1-1-1 record.

This Solebury team had finished in 1st place of the 1st Division of ICSL last fall and will be moving up to the Elite division. Our boys have taken a big step this spring towards being able to compete with any team we will face. Keep up the good work!

We were without Sean, Jermaine, and only had Ethan for a half. DJ had the games only card, a Yellow card.

I am very proud of how well the team responded today and how everyone contributed to this accomplishment. We had a very good state cup tournament, even though we did not move on.

P.S. A win here would have put us into the Quarter Finals!!

Tryouts

2010-04-16T06:55:00.001-07:00

Here are the tryout dates for AC United for Fall 2010 (will be U13 next Fall). You need to attend at least one of the two tryouts to be considered for the teams. You also need to have your registration submitted (even if not yet paid) in advance of (or at) the tryout.

U13 Boys – Monday May 17 at 6:30 PM - Marsden
U13 Boys – Sunday May 23 at 7:15 PM - Marsden

Please pass this on to anyone who may be interested. We intend to field two competitive teams next Fall.

Juggling Testing Results

2010-04-13T04:18:00.000-07:00

Recent and prior totals...

POHLE 162 54 72 49
MONHEIT 53 45 25 21
DURHAM 44 33 40 24
SONG 25 14 21 13
BELTZ 24 0
ELLIS 22 0 19 17
WELLS 16 18 15 11

Game Report - Maroon (0)-(0) Plymouth Meeting

2010-04-12T04:25:00.001-07:00

We played pretty well in our first Rock League game. It ended up at 0-0 but we could have easliy won the game with a dozen solid opportunties to score. Sam might have faced two or three shots total. I am not sure they even got off thatmany. It looked to me like Plymouth brought everyone on both the Gladiators and the Red Bulls. Not sure but at one point I think they subbed for all ten field players at once.

We controlled the pace of play for 75% of the game. We defended well and played solidly against their better players. We had a tendancy to lose our shape between the stoppers and mids. Partly due to a few players in some new positions. Overall we need to remeber to release the ball to the corners quicker, look to play through balls morequickly and we need to look for crosses at the 18 and 12 when we get the ball in control in the corners.

Solid first game and a good follow up to the State Cup win.