Youth soccer teams come away with convincing wins
BY LINDAWILLIAMS CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Only six Nantucket Student Soccer Association teams were in action this past Saturday in weather that felt like it was mid-January, though if recollection is accurate, January was warmer! All six traveled off island into soccer strongholds that proved daunting for two of the teams.

The U8 #2 boys team won, 6-2, in a tense battle until late in the second half with Nantucket maintaining a slim lead, 3-2, against Swansea- Somerset. Coach Mark Dawson was concerned because the top offensive player for the team was not able to make the trip resulting in only one sub on a 6 v 6 format against four for Swansea- Somerset on a tiring and cold spongy field.

Swansea-Somerset jumped on the board within the first two minutes. Subbing in, Ethan Fey then scored within 60 seconds of taking the field to tie the match. Keepers Ethan Parker and Delly Jones combined for five saves to shut the opponent down until they slipped one by and went up 2-1. Nantucket came back with another from Fey, then Andrew Dawson put the team up at the half 3-2 capitalizing off a deflection from a defender's shoulder.

This team, like the other U8 #1 boys squad, has two girls playing on the team against all-boy teams. It made no difference as Nantucket's most aggressive player was Marin Churns, the smallest and the quietest off the field. According to Dawson, Fey made the difference in the end. "He became such a scoring machine that the other coach came over and asked about who the player was that scored the last three goals." Dawson reported that the whole team gave a proud response. "His name is Ethan Fey." Fey ended up with five goals with five Dawson assists.

In other action, the U9 boys team also came home victorious from Mashpee, winning their contest, 4-2. Gus Day broke the game open with the first goal and Jack Sylvia put Nantucket up, 2-0, at the half. Sylvia ended up with the hat trick scoring the go a head goal after Mashpee had fought back to tie the game at 2-2. Sylvia put Nantucket up, 3-2, on a rare penalty kick for this age group when he was tripped in the box with less than five to go. Like the U8 team, Nantucket had just one sub on the bench against a larger Mashpee squad and had to dig deep to stay in the game. Chris Tran, normally a field player, took over in the cage for an absent regular keeper, and was outstanding.

In a runaway, the young U10 girls squad found themselves up 1-0 within the first three minutes and up 3-0 in the first seven. They never looked back, taking a Taunton team to the mat 10-2. Undefeated last year, Nantucket has scored 14 points in their first two games this season to their opponents' 3. Though nine of the girls are true U9 team players, it was decided to keep the team together with the five U10 players as "the team has learned to work together very well on and off the field," according to Coach George MacLellan. The younger players, at times giving up over 6 inches and a few dozen pounds to their opponents, out played and out-ran the other team, accounting for seven of the goals on Saturday.

Scoring was spread out among five different players assisted by several others. Kate Daniels ended her day with four goals and two assists. MacLellan added that "Kate was unstoppable." Renee Perkins, coming out of the net in the second half, wracked up two. Julia Campese, in a fine show of ball control, took two down the side line in quick succession on a feed from Perkins that sailed past midfield. Olivia Slade and Nora MacLellan tallied two each. Kelli Molloy was strong in goal in the second half. "It did not matter where we put them on the field, everyone scored and assisted everyone else," praised Coach George MacLellan. "We were switching players in and out and front line to back line just to keep from running up the score. It did not seem to matter what we did," added coach Linda Williams.

After having a bye in the opening weekend of the season, the U10 boys team traveled to Falmouth for their first Division 1 game and came away with a 3-0 win. After 17 minutes of tentative, back and forth play, Nantucket's midfielder Leon Lefebvre received the pass from Ben Zieff at the top of the goal box, beat the last defender and buried a shot in the left hand corner. Goalie Carter Kuhl and the defense turned away several furious charges from Falmouth, allowing Nantucket to take a slim, 1-0, lead into half time.

In the second half Zieff added an insurance goal with under 10 minutes to go, bending a free kick around the three-man Falmouth wall. Second half keeper Zach Goddard repelled several good shots to maintain the shutout. Striker Noah Davidson put the game out of reach with an unassisted goal just before the whistle. "The team was very pleased to start the season on a good note with a strong showing against a team which beat them 3-1 last season" Coach Schuyler Kuhl stated. The team faces last year's league champions Oceana at home next weekend.

U12 boys Division 1 team, ran into a tough team losing 8-2 to a very rough Norton team that seemed to be more interested in taking out Nantucket players than actually playing good soccer. However, Ben Daniels managed to score in the first half and Jo Jo Zieff got around an aggressive defense to tap one in during the second. Despite the disappointing loss, Coach Maurice Daniels was supportive of his team. "I'm proud of all our kids for hanging in there; they tried to play real soccer right to the end without lowering themselves to dirty play." He had high praise for "Man of the Match" Tavio Goncalves on both sides of the ball. "We saw a new Tavio Saturday."

The U14 boys, comprised mostly of U13 players, had trouble with another tough Division 1 Norton team losing 8-1. Coach Matt Parker felt that "the game was closer than that reflected in the final score." Keeper Alex Perkins made several great saves including a diving deflection on a Norton breakaway in the first half. Shut out after the first half, Nantucket scored in the second after some nice combination passing by Caio Gomes, Sam Earle and Henry Fee with a pretty finish by Caleb Gomes, who deftly placed one into the right corner of the Norton net. Despite the loss, Parker singled out the defensive play of Matt Kopp and Josue Figueroa, who stayed strong despite the constant

Norton attack. I