ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, May 27, 1996 TAG: 9605280136
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: HOLIDAY
SOURCE: JOHN A. MONTGOMERY SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES
In spite of two days of threatening weather conditions and a passel of overworked volunteers, the Roanoke Star emerged as the big winner at the Crestar Festival Soccer Tournament that concluded Sunday afternoon, after more than 320 games.
The Star, as the Roanoke Valley Youth Soccer Club is known, served as hosts for the 193-team competition, and will apply the proceeds from the tournament to its new five-field Berglund Soccer Complex located near Vinton. But just as important, the Star claimed seven of the 25 division titles awarded, five more than clubs from Lynchburg, Kernersville, N.C., Winston-Salem, N.C., and Hagerstown, Md.
Winning Roanoke squads were the under-16 red and the U-18 white girls' teams, the U-11 white (gold division), the U-12 white (gold division), the U-13 white (gold division), the U-13 red (blue division), and the U-18 red boys' teams.
Four other Roanoke teams finished second, as did four teams from the New River area. Championship games were played on soccer fields at Green Hill, Vinyard and River's Edge parks. Muddy terrain and concern for field damage forced the movement of several title games originally scheduled to be played at Berglund.
Penalty kick shootouts determined the outcome of seven championships, including three on adjacent fields at River's Edge.
In the U-12 boys' blue division, for example, the Lynchburg United Red Storm and the Salem Sabres were tied 1-1 after regulation. Overtimes were not played in this tournament because of time constraints, so the teams immediately went to penalty kicks, shooting from a spot 12 yards from the goal. Each team was given five kicks, alternating from team to team.
Anthony Catalano, Danny Engel, Daniel George, and Carter Ladd converted the first four attempts for Lynchburg, and as goalkeeper Jonathan Virkler stopped two of Salem's first four shots, Ladd's kick clinched the win.
Was Lynchburg confident it could win a shootout? ``My players are; but I'm not,'' said coach Mark Journell, a Roanoke native who played soccer for Roanoke Valley Christian. ``I'm a wreck when it comes to shootouts.''
On the next field, the Winston-Salem 79 Strikers and the Roanoke Star U-16 white played to a scoreless tie. Although neither team could score in regulation, it appeared for a period that neither team would miss its penalty kicks. The Strikers made four in a row, and the Star made its first three.
Strikers goalie Drew Barber stopped Roanoke's Wally Kern, and when Chad Hayden scored on Winston-Salem's fifth kick, the match was over.
``We outshot 'em in regulation,'' Star coach and assistant director Dustin Fonder said. ``We demonstrated better play. But a shootout is a 50-50 situation.''
Fonder's boss in the Star program, executive director Danny Beamer, is no fan of the shootout either, especially Sunday. Ten minutes after Fonder's team lost, Beamer's Roanoke Star U-18 white team lost on the next field via the same route to the Roanoke Star U-18 red team.
``A shootout is definitely not my favorite thing,'' Beamer said. ``But it's FIFA [Federated International Football Association] regulations. In most games you have two 10-minute overtimes before the shootout, but in this tournament, we just didn't have the time for that.''
The Roanoke Star U-18 boys' red team had played their counterparts for the First Virginia Bank tournament championship last fall, losing 1-0.
``These are two good teams,'' Star U-18 red coach Dean Jones said. ``This is the best senior class our club has ever had.''
The impetus behind Jones' victory Sunday was Khai Duong, one of two juniors on the team.
Duong put his team up 1-0 midway through the second half on a 35-yard direct kick that eluded keeper Joe Nelson. Chris Hewitt tied the score late in the game, setting the stage for the tie-breaker.
The red team won the penalty kick competition 4-2, with Duong providing the game-winner.
LENGTH: Medium: 74 linesby CNB