Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 31, 1993 TAG: 9305310082
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B9 EDITION: HOLIDAY
SOURCE: CHRIS BACHELDER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The leather missile clanked high off the right post, fell to the parched turf and sealed the fate of Roanoke's not-so-lucky Star.
For the third consecutive festival tournament, the 19-under Roanoke Star club team lost its division championship in an overtime penalty kick shootout. Sunday, Lynchburg United won 2-1 for the U19 title.
The tournament completes a 22-3 season for Roanoke's U19 squad, which whipped Lynchburg 3-0 in pool play Saturday.
"We're definitely the more skillful and tactically knowledgeable team," said Star coach Danny Beamer. "I guess it was just hard for us to get up for it after beating them yesterday. But we should have been motivated for a championship game."
Roanoke took a 1-0 lead 12 minutes into the first half on a penalty kick by Stewart Baucom, who recently completed his freshman year at the University of North Carolina. Baucom played on the U19 team last year as a senior at North Cross and rejoined the squad for the tournament.
After Baucom's goal, Lynchburg's Sabres tied the score five minutes later on a goal by Joey Coles, a Liberty High School senior.
Roanoke dominated the second half. The Star was on the attack for nearly all of the 40 minutes but couldn't break the tie. Lynchburg keeper Charles Holbrook, a Heritage senior, played solidly.
"We started playing our game in the second half, but we just couldn't finish," Beamer said. "We were unlucky. And we've been very unlucky in the penalty-kick department."
There are no overtime periods in the Crestar tournament. The game went straight from regulation play to a shootout, where it ended on Warnick's close miss, the 10th and final kick of the round.
Holbrook smothered two shots and Star goalie John Critzer saved one as the Sabres led the shootout 3-2 after four kicks each. Lynchburg then missed the potential clincher, but Warnick's shot to tie smacked the post.
Warnick was one of several wounded Stars. The Roanoke Valley District player of the year played through a hip pointer - which he treated with sideline electrotherapy when he was out of the game - and North Cross senior A.J. Esguerra missed the tournament with a separated shoulder.
The Sabres were elated with the championship.
"It's one of the few times Lynchburg has beaten Roanoke over a number of years," said coach John Gunnoe. "And they stuck it to us [Saturday], so we're glad to get it.
"Over the last few minutes, when they were putting a lot of pressure on us, we thought it would be best to just play it long and get it to a shootout. We knew we had one of the best keepers in the area."
Some Star teams fared a bit better than the senior bunch. In boys' play, the U9 White, the U13 White and the U14 Green teams each took first place, and the U12 girls finished on top of the U13 Blue division.
In the 16-under boys' division, Beamer declared Roanoke's U16 White and U15 White teams co-champions to avert a heated grudge match. The teams have played a half-dozen times this season and recent ties have been a bit too fiercely contested.
At a post-tournament party Sunday night, the Roanoke Valley Youth Soccer Club awarded its yearly scholarship to Critzer, a Lord Botetourt senior headed to William and Mary. Critzer, the fourth winner, will receive $1,000 a year for the next four years.
by CNB