Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, November 21, 1994                   TAG: 9411220061
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JIMMY ROBERTSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SOCCER STEPS ON STAGE DURING ROANOKE TOURNAMENT

Two hundred twenty-five teams from 11 states gathered to participate in the largest soccer tournament ever held in the Roanoke Valley. Nine thousand visitors and 4,000 players ranging from the ages of under nine to 19 came from as far north as Michigan and as far south as Atlanta.

For the third consecutive year, the Roanoke Valley Youth Soccer club has organized the tournament under the leadership of executive director Danny Beamer. This club holds three tournaments each year - the Crestar Soccer Classic, the First Virginia Bank Fall Classic and the Soccer Stop Indoor Classic.

``Basically, we have three reasons for putting on these tournaments,'' Beamer said. ``We want to promote soccer in the Roanoke Valley. We want our kids to get better by bringing teams here and playing against better competition. And then, we want to raise money for our fields and to support our club.''

Beamer said the club's goal for this tournament was to raise more than $40,000, of which some will be used to build the new soccer field complex called The Vineyard at Berkeley's Bottom. The club will not know how much money it has raised for a couple of weeks.

``Most clubs have their members sell candy bars or something else,'' Beamer said. ``We only ask the parents and members to work three tournaments - three weekends - a year. A lot of people volunteer and we could not do this without our volunteers.''

There are more than 400 players in the club, many of whom played on the 25 local teams that were in the tournament. Both the competition and the organization of the tournament have drawn the interest of teams far beyond Virginia.

``We were looking for something different,'' said Steve Hutton, a native Roanoker who brought two teams from Atlanta. ``It's not an elite tournament, but they [the organizers] don't pretend that it is. In Atlanta, there is a larger pool of players, and therefore, more good players, but this tournament still is very competitive and always well-organized.''

Hutton's women's team, the Atlanta Lightning, played in one of the weekend's most exciting games, against the Roanoke Star in the under-18 championship game at the River's Edge Sports Complex. The Star beat the Lightning 4-3 on penalty kicks after the two teams were tied 1-1 in regulation.

Erin D'Alesandro scored in the first half on an assist from Margaret Hunter Turner to give Roanoke a 1-0 lead, but the Lightning tied it on a goal early in the second half. Atlanta took a 3-1 lead on penalty kicks, but D'Alesandro, Turner and Christy Hinman connected on penalty kicks, and goalkeeper Kristen Winterich stopped Atlanta's last two attempts to preserve a thrilling victory.

``In July, no one would have thought this team [the Star] would win,'' said coach John Everett, who also guides the Martinsville High School girls' team. ``I don't think I've got a player who's ever played in a championship game. We had players in tears before the penalty kicks. We've come along way, though, because we've played against good competition in other tournaments.''