The U15 Garnet Valley Soccer Club EVOLUTION boys won the FINALIST trophy in the EPYSA PA State Challenge Cup championship game game May 16th after loosing to the HMMS Eagles from Mechanicsburg/Harrisburg 0-3 at the Delacy West Chester fields. There were 17 travel select teams who were entered across Pennsylvania. 

 

On May 30th, The U15 Garnet Valley soccer club EVOLUTION also won the FINALIST trophy in the Regional MSSL/MAPS Explosion soccer tournament at Fort Dix, NJ with regional teams from New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maryland, Delaware, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.  

 

This was the third Garnet Valley Soccer team to play for either the EPYSA Outdoor or Indoor State championship in 4 years. The EVOLUTION is the second boys Garnet Valley Soccer team to play for the EPYSA State Outdoor Championship. The Garnet Valley U13 girls played and received the finalist EPYSA Indoor State Cup trophy in 2010 in Scranton, PA.

 

In the preliminary State Challenge Cup games, the EVOLUTION team played and won their bracket of 4 teams including a tough 1-0 win versus North Union ( a select team from north west of  Williamsport, PA) at GVHS and 2 draws versus away games at Warrington 3-3 and Spirit "A" Phoenix 1-1. After winning the bracket, the EVOLUTION moved into the Challenge Cup Semi-finals and won over Lehigh Select 1-0. With the semi-final win, they had advanced to the championship game.

 

The Evolution team for 2009/2010 and for the State Cups (stats in parenthesis) has been anchored by Ricky Blair GK and defensive flat back four of Josh Ruggieri, Michael Coyle (1 goal, 1 assist goal), Jason Bush, and Evan Jardine ( 1 goal) . Center midfielders are Tom McDevitt, Christopher Champagne ( 2 assist goals)  and Michael Gannon . Right / left midfielders are Zach Donchez, Zach Shaffer, Jason Andrechak, and Matt Cioeta ( 2 goals, 1 assist goals) with forwards Ernie Pitone ( 1 assist goal ), Max Cislo, Onur D. ( 1 goal) , Brian Krieg ( 1 goal)  and Jason Cavanaugh.   The Evolution team witnessed its first lost since November, 2009 in outdoor leagues ( 6-4-1) after the championship Challenge Cup game.

 

However, after this Challenge State Championship Cup loss, they continued winning again on May 28th when Evolution played in the MAPS/MSSL Memorial Day Explosion Tournament. In their first game of the bracket of 4, with EVOLUTION being the lowest ranked, played the #1 seed of the bracket -Washington United, NJ Bonecrushers in a 0-0 draw. Both teams evenly played with 7 quality shots on goal for Evolution and 10 shots on goal for Washington. The closest open shot for either team was with 5 minutes left in the game, the Washington Goalkeeper had come out his goal to recover a loose ball to the far right of the box and the Evolution forward attacked the GK and won the ball and shot on goal about 25 yards out to the far left and missed the goal by inches. Goalkeeping for Evolution was tremendous with 9 excellent saves by Ricky Blair.

 

After the draw, the Evolution played the #2 seed Hillsbough , NY who were highest ranked nationally in this bracket of 4. In the first half, EVOLUTION played their best half of soccer all year in dominating this skilled team with 10 shots on goal and converting these shots into 5 goals. In this first half, 3 of these goals were scored by Brian Krieg- Forward /Midfielder with 2 assists by Zach Donchez, 1 assist by Ernie Pitone. Other goals were contributed to Zach Shaffer with a header into the back of the net with assist by Matt Cioeta placing the corner kick at the far post and header assist by Michael Coyle and Jake Sullivan finishing up on a shot by Zach Donchez with the GK dropping the ball in the box.  In the second half, Evolution played conservatively allowing Hillsborough to score 2 goals with a PK and a corner kick while Brian Krieg scored again as he charged the ball while the GK was running to recover the ball and won the ball and placed it into the back of the net to take the 6-2 win.

 

In the third game, Evolution was playing to enter the championship game only if they earned a win over Monmouth Elite, NJ. Monmouth initially was giving Evolution problems defensively with the 3-4-3 formation vs. Evolution 4-4-2 in the first half. Monmouth was breaking free with balls placed from the defensive backs into the forwards and midfielders ( 6-7 ) players taking it into the goal and with 15 th minute, Monmouth was able to score a goal 16 yards out running onto a nicely placed ball and Evolution was down 0-1. Evolution was able to slow down their attack utilizing their centermidfielders to create their won counter attacks and with 10 minutes left and a ball placed to the right side of the goal with the GK loosing the ball and Ernie Pitone finished the goal to even up the game 1-1. After some attacking changes in the second half, EVOLUTION was able to possess the ball and attack from midfield and with a ball placed from centermid into the forward and far left midfield coming onto a ball with the 2 Monmouth defenders attempting to win the ball, Matt Cioeta nailed a 15 yard strike on the run to place the Evolution on top finally. Evolution had 11 quality shots on goal vs Monmouth 's 10 shots. Evolution Goalkeeper had 10 quality saves.

 

The win allowed Evolution to move into the Championship MSSL/MAPS game vs #1 seed Greater Flemington Galaxy Elite from Princton, NJ.

Greater Flemington in the qualifying 4  games scored 16 goals and only allowed 3 goals. Evolution had scored 8 goals and allowed 3 goals in their qualifying 3 games.

 

The Championship game was evenly played in the first 15 minutes but Evolution started to possess and attack with 9 good shots on goal while Flemington only had 3 quality shots in the first half. Evolution was able to attack from the centermidfield and on the far left and right sides effectively playing against a 2-5-3 Greater Flemington possessing/attacking formation. Second half was evenly played with Evolution almost finishing with a winning goal on a high projectile 30 yard shot on goal which came out of the GK reach and was rolling out to the 18 yard with a shot by Evolution forward but hit the far post, The second half was 7 shots on goal for both Flemington and Evolution and resulted in a 0-0 draw at regulation.

 

The championship was determined by penalty kicks with Greater Flemington winning 4-2 with one heroic save by Goalkeeper Ricky Blair,

Evolution proudly finished with the FINALIST MSSL/MAPS TROPHY.

 

U15 Evolution players who contributed to the winning MSSL event were Ernie Pitone ( 1 assist, 1 goal), Brian Krieg ( 4 goals) , Matt Ciota( 1 goal, 1 assist),Zach Donchez ( 3 assists), Zach Shaffer (1 goal), Michael Coyle ( 1 assist), Evan Jardine, Josh Ruggieri, Jason Bush, Christopher Champagne (1 assist), Ricky Blair, Jason Cavanaugh with players from the Garnet Valley U15 Revolution providing tremendous team play support with a goal by Jake Sullivan in midfield, Tim Watts in centermidfield/Forward and defensive back Billy Lockfeld.

 

As Evolution soccer trainer Ally Speirs added "the boy's showed a great quality and determination throughout this spring PA State Challenge Cup and MSSL/MAPS tournament campaign with each and every one stepping up to a new level in the game. There were some individual standout performances throughout and the experience will only enhance each players' passion and credentials in the game. This is just the first step in what will surely become a very successful journey for every member of the squad throughout their club and college careers"

 

The U16 2010-2011 Boys Evolution and Revolution teams at Garnet Valley Club ( 2 full rostered teams for 2010/2011) are considering players through weekly try-outs in June. If interested, please contact Martin Champagne ( Evolution) at 610-588-4132 or email crazydrum@aol.com or Kevin OBrecht  email- kka_obrecht@hotmail.com. U16 Rosters will be decided by July 1.