2008 Summer tournament schedule:
August 17 - KOP Memorial - Second place winners!
King of Prussia Tournament (8/17/08)
The Pride is starting to make a habit of winning hardware. For the second straight week they brought home the bling. That’s right more dust collectors for those of you that dust your rooms.
The Pride started off the day against a very difficult Lower Merion squad. This was the same team that we played in the Delco League last year. They have also moved up to Division 2 with the Pride. The boys really took the play to them all game but did not have any goals to show for it. After two 20 minute halves the scored ended at 0-0. The goal tending was fantastic. The fans are starting to get a bit spoiled.
Our next game pitted us against the Rose Tree team that had beaten us 4-1 in the West Chester Tournament. This is a Division 1 team. The boys had very short memories of their recent loss and took the play to Rose Tree immediately. Flash scored about two minutes into the game. This tally was followed by a blast from our European giant. This was followed by a pretty goal by M & M and the kid from Downingtown was not to be denied. Finally, our fine Pride Silver guest player buried one in the back of the net. Final score: Pride 5, Rose Tree 0.
The third game was to determine the championship. It pitted the Pride against the Lionville Scorpions. This is another team that we played last weekend to a 1-1 tie. They also will be played during league play so we will have a lot of experience against them. Unfortunately, after having to play back to back games the boys came up a bit flat. The first half was played mostly in the Pride end and at halftime we had a 1-0 deficit. Play was much more spirited in the second half. However, Lionville tallied once again and the score ended 2-0.
Due to the fine goaltending and point differential the Pride still managed to bring home the second place trophy. This was second place with six teams in our bracket.
Next week brings a tune-up scrimmage and then on to League play.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
August 9 - Ridley Invitational - Second place winners!
What a difference a week makes!
Our Pride took second place honors at the Ridley Tournament this weekend. Under a wonderful summer sky the boys took the field for three games and came out of them undefeated. Though they did not take 1st place honors they played their hearts out.
The first game pitted the Pride against the Bucs of Interboro. The Pride took it to the Bucs early and often. They tallied four goals in the first half and another three in the second. El Grande making a guest appearance had the first and third goals of the game. The kid from Downington added one as well another fine guest player who was lent to us by the Pride Silver. M & M also got his scoring shoes on. The second half was followed by two goals by the Little Bull who played a fine defensive position as well. The final score was 7-1.
The second game pitted us against a Lionville team that we will be seeing plenty of during the year. They are also a Division 2 team and we were very evenly matched. The scoring was all Lionville in the first half. Going into the second half the score was 1-0. The Pride took advantage of a kick out of the corner about a third of the way into the second half. It was decidedly Moore fun to score using our head and that is what we did. Goaltending was outstanding all afternoon and hopefully the Pride will being see a lot more of this goaltender. The score ended in a 1-1 tie.
The third game was against the Hulmeville Hawks. This is a team that plays out of Bucks County and we knew very little about them. The Pride needed a shutout in order to take the first place trophy. Unfortunately, Hulmeville did not cooperate and the final score was 4-2. The scoring was evenly distributed. Once again our friend from the Pride Silver rose to the occasion to score. He was joined by M & M, the Z attack as well as A to Z.
A special thanks should go out to Samson for once again guest appearing for the Pride as well as all of our wonderful guest players. Let’s hope the momentum keeps us going into the King of Prussia Tournament next Sunday.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
August 2 & 3 - WCUSC Summer Classic
West Chester Tournament
Panthers take the field under a new name: Pride
Pride Breaks the Ice
In the concluding game of the West Chester Tournament our Pride was able to do something they had not in their previous two games. They scored. Unfortunately, the Rose Tree Metrostars scored 4 for themeselves and the Pride lost a hard fought game 4-1.
The boys need to build on their early game success. Passes were crisper than the previous games this weekend. Spacing appeared to be a bit of the problem all weekend but these are areas where the boys can and will proceed. Last year the team was successful bringing the ball down the sidelines (feeding the flags) and during the tournament they were in the middle of the field all to often.
For those of you who do not know the boys will be playing in a Division 2 rather than Division 3 of last year. Play will be faster and more physical. They need to pass to the open men and move towards the ball. Sometimes starting off slow helps us see where we’ve been and where we need to go.
Pride Doused by Buckingham
The dog days of summer arrived at Delacy on Saturday afternoon. The Buckingham United Fire faced off against our Pride. The outcome was one sided yet the boys put forth a very good effort. The final tally was 6-0 and could have been worse if not for the play of our fearless keeper.
The team will need to improve on going back to the ball, winning the 50/50’s and being more aggressive. All of these skills will be gone over during camp and I would imagine we will see a different team emerge as we play in our next two tournaments at Ridley and King of Prussia.
The effort was there but the Pride ran into a more talented team. This sets our sights to strive higher. With one more game to play in the West Chester Tournament let’s hope we see continued improvement.
