Published: May 20, 2008 12:03 am            

KELLY: Mavericks up to the Challenge

Over 500 teams participated in the Indiana Youth Soccer State and Challenge Cups at various venues at the weekend.

The State Cup, for U13 to U19 teams, is the first step in the US Youth Soccer National Championship Series, the nation’s premier youth soccer tournament, while the Challenge Cup — for teams from U11 to U18 — is just as competitive.

It was in the Challenge Cup where success was found for Southern Indiana United’s U14 Mavericks and Net-Surfers’ U13 girls, both of which won their brackets and now move onto the finals at the Hefner Complex in Fort Wayne from May 29-June 1.

Mavericks will attempt to retain the Challenge Cup title won by SIU’s Rampage last year after going unbeaten through the preliminaries at Westfield.

Mike Vejar’s boys got off to a good start, with victory over Indiana Invaders 2-0 on Saturday, before disposing of Lawrence SC 5-0 on Sunday morning. They then rounded out a perfect three for three against main bracket rivals Pumas by 3-1, a game in which they were losing 1-0 at one point.

Their 10 goals were scored by Kameron Jenkins (3), Cray Trimble (3), Vincent Straight (2), and Brian Fisher and Andrew Wimp (1 each).

Coach Mike Vejar said: “My compliments go to the entire team for focusing and implementing what we’ve trained with in practice for weeks. Our defense was solid all weekend, our midfielders controlled the tempo and the flow of the game, and our forwards took advantage of plenty of opportunities to give us the cushions we needed to lock down defensively on opponents.”

He said Mavericks have “as good a chance as any of the teams” in the finals if they play the way they did this weekend.

“We’ll likely see Columbus Orange Crush (last year’s U13 Challenge Cup winners) in the semifinal. We lost to them the first game of this season 0-1, but we were missing our starting striker and I suspended one of my top players in the first half for arriving late. We want to see them again.”

Net-Surfers’ U13 girls traveled to Fort Wayne, where they opened with a scoreless tie with Tippco Fire from Lafayette. They then went on to beat Fishers 3-0 and St. Francis Lady Dragons 2-0.

After three games, Net-Surfers and Tippco could not be separated, with the same points, the same goals difference and the same goals scored, so it boiled down to the toss of a coin for a place in the finals.

Net-Surfers’ director of coaching, Dave Smith, said: “It’s always good to win the bracket and advance, but there’s much to be said for competing with class and representing our area well. This weekend we certainly did both.”

Meanwhile, Southern Indiana United was represented by two teams — U15 and U17 boys — at this year’s top-level Indiana State Cup.

Under the guidance of Bruce Rigsby, U15 Rampage held its own at the highest level after their impressive Indiana State Challenge Cup victory last year.

They put up a good fight against eventual group winners Cutters from Bloomington on Saturday, losing narrowly by a 2-1 scoreline. Rampage then tied its two remaining games 1-1, first against Westside United later in the day, and then against Fort Wayne Sport Club on Sunday.

SIU’s U17 boys’ team — with D.J. Barksdale at the helm — tied its first game against FC Pride 3-3 in Columbas on Thursday. On Sunday, they lost 4-1 to Fort Wayne Fever before losing to bracket winners Northern Indiana Futbol Academy by another 4-1 scoreline.

Other teams from the area to take part in the Challenge Cup included SIU’s U11 and U16 boys; Net-Surfers’ U12 and U16 girls; and SIU’s U14 girls.

Other results:  Challenge Cup Boys: U11 SIU Strikers — Lost 3-2 to SWISA Storm; lost 2-1 to Center Grove Utd; lost 6-0 to Carmel Utd. U16 SIU; beat FC Indiana 2-1; lost 8-0 to Fort Wayne Sport Club; lost 2-1 to Columbus Express Phoenix.

Challenge Cup Girls: U14 SIU - Lost 2-1 to SWISA Surge; lost 3-0 to St Francis Blue Angels; lost 1-0 to Center Grove Red Storm. U12 Net-Surfers Purple - Lost 2-0 to Carmel United; lost 3-0 to Indiana Invaders; beat FC Evansville Lady Lions 1-0. U16 Net-Surfers —1-1 versus FC Indiana; beat NWI United 3-2. FC Indiana wins bracket on goal difference.



Jaime learns from English experience

You might remember our features last year on Jaime Halas, a Floyd Central and Bellarmine University graduate who was about to travel to England to play soccer professionally.

Halas, Bellarmine’s all-time highest career goal scorer with 39, became Southern Indiana’s first professional female soccer player — and the first from her old club Javanon — when she joined FA Women’s Premier League outfit Keynsham Town in southwest England last August.

Having decided that she wasn’t quite ready to quit soccer in her last year at college — a year that was going extremely well — Halas sent out about 80 e-mails to various clubs affiliated to the Football Association asking for a trial.

She received 10 responses, three showed further interest, and one — Keynsham — provided what she thought was a decent offer after a stint of tryouts.

Although Halas started off well among a cosmopolitan squad that included three Brazilians, two Bosnians, a Serbian and a Romanian, it wasn’t long before she realized the difference in attitudes and commitment compared to her college days.

“It was an excellent experience in general,” said the Floyds Knobs resident. “I learned loads about myself, the world, and how cultures interact, but from a footballing perspective, it left a lot to be desired.”

Arsenal — a team which includes four former US W-League players on its roster — may be head and shoulders above every team in England’s Women’s Premier League, but Halas still believes the overall standard there is “not even close” to that of what she experienced collegiately in the US.

“Not to sound pretentious, but I felt like an amateur,” she says. “There was no professionalism in training; people were always joking around and never taking it seriously. The way that England felt about women’s football was enough to make one sick.”

The situation came to a head after just four months, when Halas — who had been playing regularly as a striker and weighed in with seven goals — was dropped from the first team after a dispute with manager Barrie Newton.

“My advice for players wanting to do what I did — research, research, research,” she said. “Seeing them play, I wish I would have asked for a video or watched some matches. That would have been another indication of what type of team they were and how things worked.”

Halas says she is on “a serious break” from the game, not having played organized soccer since January.

“I haven’t put on a proper pair of boots since I left,” she says. “But I do have some coaching things in the mix and hopefully I can rediscover why I started playing this game in the first place. I am kind of sour right now, but I know with time it will pass.”

Despite her feelings, Halas still has no regrets, meeting some great people and enjoying her time at the pub where she worked part time (The Volley).

“I wouldn’t trade the experience for the world,” she admits. “If it was all about the football — meaning politics aside and nationalities aside - I would probably still be there playing now, but sometimes that is just not how it works.”

        

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