Sunday, November 22, 2009
LAND O’LAKES, FLORIDA – The MPS Bulldogs came into the final day of group play at the U16 Boys SYL North American Finals with an opportunity to advance to the semifinals. Ahead of PDA, who the Bulldogs downed 3-2 yesterday, by a single point in the table – MPS needed three points from Kendall SC today to claim the Group C title.
Kendall did not oblige.
The Miami-based club got first half goals from Christian Cabrera and Jeronimo Iraldo to spoil MPS’s day. Kendall’s 2-0 win reopened a window for PDA, who beat the Northern Virginia Royals, 5-0 to earn six points and claim the group. Alpharetta, Coastal WFC and Mountain WFC’s U16 boys also claimed a spot in tomorrow’s semifinals by winning their respective groups.
From the start, Kendall had the better half of the ball against a visibly tied MPS side. The Bulldogs did well to sit in early and counter-attack, but two failed scoring opportunities cost the New Englanders dearly.Kendall capitalized in the 20th minute, taking a 1-0 lead on the goal by Cabrera.
“Near midfield, I saw Christian making a good run up front,” said Kendall’s Kevin Schwartman. “I couldn’t get him the ball from where I was. But I put a ball into Adam Yepez who picked him out.”
Cabrera received the pass near the top left corner of the box and struck a hard shot towards MPS goalkeeper, Derek Levigne. The netminder blocked the shot initially, but mishandled the rebound, which popped free to Cabrera. The striker finished calmly into the empty net for the score.
MPS had another opportunity to even the score in the 15 minutes that followed, but those chances also failed to find the back of the net, setting the stage for Kendall to take a two-goal lead just before the half ended.
In the 37th minute, Gabriel Rafols utilized some nice footwork along the right flank to purchase some space on the touch line. With the room, Rafols loosed a tall cross to the back post. Kendall’s Iraldo was alone in space, but needed only one nod of his head to knock the ball into the far corner of the goal for a 2-0 Kendall lead.
MPS pushed players forward in search of offense beginning the second half, but Kendall’s flat back four and solid defensive midfielders weathered every attack. The 40-minute midfield warfare led to an anticlimatic finish to two top-quality team’s 2009 Super Y-League season.
“PDA was probably the strongest team we faced in the last three days,” said MPS Bulldogs Head Coach Andrew Moir. “Kendall was very good as well but we were tired today and it showed. Regardless, I am very proud of my boys’ effort. They played hard in three very difficult matches.”
“Kyle Volpe was our top player here,” added Moir. “A tall center midfielder – his workrate was impressive. He scored both of our goals yesterday against PDA in a 3-2 win.”
