DATE: Sunday, May 25, 1997                  TAG: 9705230226

SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON   PAGE: 16   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: THE EDITOR'S COLUMN 

SOURCE: Lee Tolliver 

                                            LENGTH:   48 lines

SOCCER IN BEACH DISTRICT IS STILL HEAD AND SHOULDERS ABOVE REGION

Proven theories sometimes still need positive reinforcement.

The notion that the Beach District is one of the strongest soccer leagues in the state received just that Wednesday night when four Beach entries swept the Eastern Region boys and girls semifinals and took all four berths to the Group AAA quarterfinals.

The Cox and Kempsville boys and the Princess Anne and Kempsville girls were to battle it out Friday night in the region championships for the right to host Tuesday's quarters against the Central Region runnersup. Friday's losers have to travel to Richmond to face the Central winners.

In Wednesday's four region semifinals, Beach teams totaled 14 goals, their opponents just one.

So dominant were the Beach teams that two opponents didn't even get any shots on goal. One team didn't get a shot, period.

Why is Beach soccer so strong? There are a number of reasons.

Among them, there are more players to choose from, Beach kids have been playing soccer for a little longer than most of their opponents and they receive better overall coaching.

Beach FC and Atlantic are arguably the two strongest club teams in the area from top to bottom, and that works to feed the high school programs.

Even so, to so totally overwhelm the other four teams in the semifinals? I mean, the other teams aren't that bad. Not by any stretch.

But there is was, the Kempsville girls crushing the Southeastern's best - Great Bridge - 4-0. The Beach winners - Princess Anne - nailing the door shut on the Eastern's top team in Maury 4-1. And the Cox boys beating Maury 2-0 and then Kempsville devastating the Eastern's best in Churchland 4-0 in a game that saw the Chiefs out-shoot the Truckers 33-0. Landon Moore, the big Churchland midfielder who led the area in scoring, rarely even touched the ball, except for a desperation attempt at a shot with a bicycle kick in which he was lucky he didn't break his neck.

Kempsville's Joey Moriarty unknowingly summed it up for all four teams when he talked about the way his team moved the ball with crisp, one- and two-touch passes - a style of play reflective of most Beach teams.

Now, things get considerably tougher. One of the boys teams could possibly face Hylton, the No. 2 team in the country, and Northern Virginia girls programs are always strong as well.

You see, while the Beach is better than the rest of the region, there are strong districts around the state.

And this week, we get to see who the best really is.

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