Scorpions Bowl -- Part I

This past weekend, Len's U-12s took part in the first ever large outdoor tournament held in New England in March. Traditionally, outdoor play on a large scale in March has been impossible because snow is often on the ground or the ground is too wet and soft from snow melt or drenching late winter rains. With the growth in modern turf fields in the area, things have changed. It took the Scorpions to figure out that if you combine Progin Park in Lancaster and the Thayer Academy fields, with an area high school field here and there, you could host a serious tournament.

March 8 & 9 were the first two days of the tournament and it was a success despite heavy rains on Saturday afternoon and cold wind on Sunday. The fields were good and it was great to be outdoors against good teams. With the cancellation of the Nike Rush Cup in Norfolk, Virginia on the same weekend, it would appear that the days of New England teams being forced to Virginia tournaments in March may be a thing of the past. Props to the Scorpions for pulling it off.

As for the U-12s, they had a quality start to their spring campaign. The girls posted a 1-0-2 record over Saturday and Sunday and were edged out on goal differential from advancing to the semis and, who knows, maybe the finals. The first game against the Scorpions "B" squad kicked off in a cold fog at 9:00 am. From the outset, Len's girls were in command of the pitch. The midfield and back line controlled the game and generated nice sustained build up play that found our wide players and strikers in threatening positions over and over. The girls potted three unanswered goals and, had they been more clinical in front of the net, no doubt they would have put two or three more goals past the Scorps. Later that night, the girls would come to regret their profligacy.

The second game against FC Puma kicked off at 12:00 in cold and steady rain that picked up in pace as the game went on. FC Puma and the COE are well acquainted with each other having played three times over the past year. The girls know that if they do not concentrate from whistle to whistle the quick, technical Puma players are very capable of opening a 2 goal deficit in minutes. Despite the tough conditions, the girls buckled down and played a disciplined game. The center midfielders broke down most attacks. The defenders were calm and composed in dealing with the rest and distributed the ball forward with purpose and in a way that assured continued posession. The wing players got forward nicely and linked well with the strikers and other mids. The girls scored in the first ten minutes and threatened to do so several more times during the match. The second half performance was quite dominant and FC Puma rarely broke the COE down in the defending third. Alas, with a few minutes to go an errant goal kick and a little lapse in positional concentration allowed the ball to fall to a Puma player who cracked a nice shot from outside the box -- a cruel 1-1 draw was the result.

The girls came to rue the draw that night when they learned that FC Puma beat the Scorpions later in the day 4-0, allowing FC Puma to advance to the semis on goal differential.

Sunday came and the girls travelled to Thayer Academy to play a consolation match against Explosion FC -- another team that the COE girls know well. Like all of the matches played by these two teams, the game was very sharply contested. Again, the COE girls went up early 1-0. In the second half, Explosion threw numbers forward and put the COE flanks under progressively growing pressure. The girls' defensive shape suffered in the onslought and Explosion looked more and more dangerous. Eventually, Explosion found the net which resulted in a 1-1 tie.

All in all, a good weekend of play which highlighted some things for Len and the girls to work on. And unlike those teams that chose to attend the Nike Rush Cup in Virginia Beach, we got our games in!

Winter Hibernation, Hardly!

Historically, the chief impediment to maximizing soccer development in New Hampshire has been the weather. We are usually snowbound from late December or early January until mid to late March, with a two week, post melt mud season that further delays outdoor play on natural turf. Global warming seemed to be giving us more time on the front and back end but the middle has been as persistent as ever. This winter, its as if mother nature has decided it wants to strike back at the warming trend. Our field has been under a foot of snow since early December and a look at it on Sunday afternoon showed over a foot of the crustiest, toughest, multi metomorphosed snow clinging stubbornly to every inch of the pitch. We have yet to have a period of sustained warm temperatures so there has been no perceptible melting of the boilerplate that clings to the field.

Despite all of this, the COE teams have not traded in their cleats for skis (although we do have a number of skiers and boarders scattered across the teams) and we are not in a deep sleep someplace warm. The teams have all been training once a week at the NH Sportsplex. Many club members are doing weekly supplementary skills work and fitness sessions. The younger teams have been playing in indoor leagues and Len's U-12s, Steve's U-15s and Gary's U-17s have been hosting or attending 11 v11 tournaments throughout January and February. The level of commitment and training intensity has been good and we are hopeful that it will translate into results outdoors now that the season is upon us.

And the outdoor season is upon us, notwithstanding the snow still laying around the "Corp." Just to the south over the border and certainly south of Rt. 495, the snow is gone. The Scorpions' Bowl is upon us with Len's U-12s playing on March 8 & 9 and the U-15s playing on March 15 & 16. The Western United Spring Friendlies follow two weeks later for Len's U-12s, the U-14s and the U-15s. The U-17s will follow in quick succession with appearances at the MAPS/MSSL College Showcase and the PDA Spring College Showcase. MAPLE play commences the beginning of April for Len's U-12s and the U-10s, Region I subregional play begins for the U-17s and the U-15s the end of March and Ryan's U-12s will be picking up friendlies and GSYSL play in early April. The holy grail of youth soccer -- the State Cup -- beckons thereafter in the beginning of May.

So, its not easy to run a strong youth soccer program in New Hampshire from December through March but it can be done and it must be done to keep up the developmental pace set by our neighbors to the south and to develop to the highest levels possible. Good luck to all of the teams and players this month and into the Spring!

U-15s Go 1-1-1 in Texas

Megan Grass Winning in the Air

Hailey Kunkel Putting Dana On Notice that There Will be

Some Slide Tackling Competition in the Back Line

Aubrey Ouellet Setting Her Wall

McHale Perkins Making a Trademark Recovering Run

McHale Perkins Shielding After a Great Recovering Run

Amanda Roberts Flashing a Nice Stepover to Beat a Texas Spirit Defender

U-15s Styling the New COE Uniforms from LEGEA

We await full game reports from Texas, but this much we know -- the U-15 girls had a solid 1-1-1 outing in Dallas. They opened witha 1-0 win over the Texas Football Club, a very organized team that eventually went on to win the tournament. They fell 3-1 to the Texas Spirit and rallied for the thrid game on Saturday taking with a 2-2 draw against Blackwatch Texas.

Until we get more here are some photos from last Saturday's action in Dallas.

U-15s Prepare for Texas Football Club Blue Cup

Steve's Hetherington's rising U-15s have been busy over the last few weeks, training indoors and out and fitting in a handful of chilly friendlies, all in an effort to get ready for competitive play in Dallas, Texas the weekend of December 7 & 8. The team for '07-'08 will consist of 9 of the original 17 from last year with five new additions from last year's U-14 Phantoms team and four new additions coming from the Classics. In a lot of respects the team is an entirely new team and, given the technical ability, athleticism and ambition of the new players, it should be noticeably stronger on the field. It will take some time, however, for the girls to realize their full potential as a group. A lot of tactical work will be needed and the girls need to develop an understanding of each other and their styles of play.

To assure that this is achieved, the players and their families have committed to an ambitious schedule that has included three friendly matches over the past two weekends and a challenging tournament in Dallas in one week's time. The girls hosted the Sachem FC U-16s and FC Vikings U-17s on November 18. Both of these teams are division 1 MAPLE teams that display athleticism, technical ability and the cohesion that one would expect from teams that have battled their way through the MAPLE system to the point that they are playing in division 1.

The girls split the matches beating Sachem FC 2-0 and losing to the Vikings 0-2. There were nice passages of attacking build up and some very solid individual defensive efforts. the new keeper, Aubrey Ouellet looked quick and fearless.

Dana Sailor Battling one of the Vikings' Tough and Fast Strikers

New Girl, Haley Kunkel, Breaking Up a Cross

Astrid Alvarado, Holding off and Laying Off

Shawna Trunca, Attacking the Box

The next weekend, two days after digesting their Thanksgiving feast, the girls took on the Gary Karibian's COE U-17s (last year's state cup winners). The U-15s took a 5-0 thumping but the score line is not entirely fair to the girls. They had good passages of play in which they possessed well, linking up and breaking down the U-17s in the midfield. For all the attractive effort, the girls could not devise ways to get good looks at the U-17s' goal and, when chances did fall to the U-15s, they were not very economical with those opportunities. The U-17s, on the other hand, did not waste their opportunities in the final 18. That's why they are state cup champions and that's why they won 5-0. The U-17s' poise and efficiency was a great example and something to aspire for as the u-15s come together over the coming months.

The U-15s work will continue this weekend and on Monday night. The girls' will travel to Dallas next Friday for a weekend of challenging soccer against teams ranked from #16 to #35 in Texas. It will be the first real chance for the girls to start putting it together for their own state cup campaign coming this spring. The entire club is excited and optimistic about their prospects.

End of Fall Season Wrap Up

Len's U-12s After the Berkshire United Game

The season ended with two home MAPLE games this Sunday at the Nashua Corp Field. The U-10s closed the season with a hard fought battle against the Greater Boston Bolts and Len's U-12s dominated possession and had the great bulk of the attacking chances against Berkshire United but could not break onto the score sheet and had to settle for a 0-0 draw. Both games demonstrated the developmental strides that the girls have been making and highlighted issues that we will need to work on as we go indoors.

The U-10s defended well and alternated between periods of nice link up and possession and long balls played out of the back in hope that someone would get onto one and score. Len's U-12s played a very nice first half. The girls moved the ball in the back and across the midfield from one side to the other. When pressing hard in the final attacking third of the field and with lots of Berkshire United bodies jammed inside the box and behind the ball, our strikers began to lay the ball off to midfielders making nice runs. For the first time in awhile the girls had real width and depth when they got forward and it resulted in some nice chances which the Wanderers were a little unlucky to finish.

The previous weekend, the U-14s and Ryan's U-12s travelled to the Seacoast facility to play in the semi final matches for the GSYSL championship. Ryan's U-12s, a group with a majority of players playing up an age, fell to a strong Classics team 4-0 which ultimately won the championship. The girls had difficulty getting forward but they defended bravely and had good stretches of play in the defensive half. The U-14s fell to Seacoast in a pulsing 3-2 game marked by wide open play and end to end action.

Although the Fall season has ended, COE soccer does not. Len's U-12s and the U-14s are already training indoors at the NH Sportsplex and Ryan's U-12 s and the U-10s will follow them to the NH Sportsplex in January. Plans are afoot organizing indoor tournament play as well as the late winter/early spring outdoor season. Two senior teams have also come together -- the U-15s under Steve Hetherington and the U-17s under Gary Karibian. The U-15s will be travelling to Dallas, Texas in early December for their first serious play and the U-17s, along with the U-15s are now training indoors at the NH Sportsplex as well as outdoors at the Nashua Corp field.

C.O.E. Senior Tryouts

Tryout time is truly the "silly season" for a club like ours. Its "silly" because the movement of players, the players' uncertainties, and the inter club competition always generates some of the most remarkable, often-times comical statements, conversations and interpersonal dealings. Misinformation is everywhere and, sadly, outright defamation rears its ugly head from time to time. The prevailing practice in the New Hampshire club scene compounds all of this by breaking tryout time into two distinct time frames. June for teams U-14 and below and early November for high school age teams (U-15 to U-19). This year's high school age tryout phase is even crazier because of the recent announcement of an "alliance" between the Bedford Classics and the Phantoms. Senior Phantoms and Classics players face the uncertain prospects of what the new merged "A" team will look like, who will be coaching them and whether they will be on that team or some other "B" level "premier " team.

In the midst of all of this, the COE is, of course, holding its senior team tryouts. Which raises the good question that we get asked over and over again during this time of year -- what's so great about the C.O.E.? Why should a girl consider the C.O.E. over the Classics, the Phantoms, Seacoast or a top club in Massachusetts? In some respects, we can't answer the question. None of us has been directly involved in these programs as administrators, coaches or trainers. We certainly know many of the coaches, trainers, players and teams. They are good to excellent and they've been at it here in NH longer than we have. You can't debate the results that the Seacoast teams have achieved in the NH State Cup over the past few years.

And yet, in all of this, Granite FC is closing hard. Why is that? We can certainly speak to what we do and why we believe that, from a developmental perspective, we maximize what our players have to offer. Granite FC has superb trainers and coaches and they are focused intently on structured, year-round training in a team environment. We begin immediately in November and we continue into July. Throughout this time we strive for a 3 to 1 ratio between training time and game time which is optimal for maximizing development of older youth players. We provide each team full-field, non boarded training and playing opportunities even in the coldest and snowiest parts of winter. Each team works together to develop a thorough and disciplined understanding of each other and the systems of play that their coaches want to achieve. The coaches are in control of all important decisions about the players and their teams without interference from the other club officials or parents. The club is not large which means that players do not fall between the cracks. We know each player, as a person and as a player, and training focus is not dissipated through impersonal and diffused pool training.

All of this has created an environment in which our players have made some remarkable achievements. The rising U-18s, our original group, came together a mere four years ago. The group consisted of a group of girls who had been passed over or never noticed by the name programs. Within a year the girls made their way to the State Cup finals climbing over a couple of the programs that had overlooked the girls, in the past. Other teams more newly formed have advanced to the highest levels of the Massachusetts Area Premier League and have achieved notable successes in high level tournaments around the east coast and in Canada. We are optimistic that the growth and achievements will continue. Coming to the C.O.E. will give each player not only great training and playing opportunities but also the chance to be part of achieving results that no one would have thought possible only a couple of years ago. We hope to see lots of new faces at the tryouts that will start in November.

Senior Girls Tryouts for Granite FC Center of Excellence Teams

U-15 (born on or after 8/1/92)11/3 at 10:00 am -- 11/4 at 2:30 pm -- 11/11 at 3:00 pm
U-17 (born on or after 8/1/90)11/1 at 4:15 pm -- 11/3 at 8:00 am -- 11/4 at 1:00 pm
U-18 (born on or after 8/1/89)11/3 at 8:00 am -- 11/4 at 1:00 pm -- 11/11 at 3:00 pm

All tryouts will be held outdoors at the the Nashua Corp field in Merrimack, NH

Questions can be answered by Steve Hetherington at 603.204.9003

Five Year Anniversary -- A Salute to the Original Wanderers

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The First Wanderers at the First of Many

Seaside Classic Visits

The Club is on the cusp of a significant milestone in 2008-- the five year anniversary of the Center of Excellence teams. It all began with in the Fall of 2003 at the old Soccer Dojo facility in the old Best Ford dealership in downtown Nashua. Steve Hetherington brought a group of eleven U-14 girls together from a number of different town clubs to train and play more intensively.The girls first wore their trademark sky blue and black uniforms and played their first games together in session 1 at Rising Stars and in the Rising Stars 2003 Christmas tournament. From these modest beginnings, Steve's original girls developed to the point that they made two consecutive state cup finals appearances and competed in high level tournaments across the Northeast and eastern Canada.

These girls have always been a happy bunch that, despite their occasional loopiness, showed a real commitment to raising the level of their game from town travel play to premier play. They trained three and four times a week each summer and sacrificed many a nice summer weekend to travel to garden spots like Poughkeepsie, NY and Guilford, CT all in an effort to make a big leap forward in their play. Together, with the help of Steve Hetherington, the girls showed that they had pulled it off when, in their first state cup run, they went to the finals and only there succumbed to Seacoast in a 1-0 loss that was marked by end to end action and wide open play. Never again would the girls walk on the field with everyone asking, "who are they and where did they come from?"

This Spring will be the last run out in club soccer for many of the original Wanderers. Of last year's U-17 team, 10 are high school seniors and U-18 players. Hopefully, they will come together one last time as U-18 players to play together the game they first fell in love with as little girls. Tryouts are in three or four weeks and we will see what we have.

Whatever happens, however, every single COE player -- all 100 of them -- owes the original Wanderers a large debt of thanks. These girls showed us how, through a sense of fun and hard work combined with a love for the game and the undivided attention of a coach like Steve Hetherington, local players' level of play can be elevated considerably. Each group of Wanderers since has reaped the benefits that the original eleven sowed back in 2003.