With the final whistle on Saturday, May 18, the GSC Premier 93 Boy’s team were crowned Arizona State Champions for the third time in four years. In a classic match against Santos 93, the play and precision of the team shown through with a 2-1 win.
Unlike their previous meeting against Santos in the semi-final round, the first half of the match did not give us any goals. The flow was even but cautious with both sides manufacturing shots on goal but only stopped by the two excellent goal keepers. At half time, the scored was knotted at 0-0. The second half, though, was very different. Arsenal came out and slowly established their dominance. Shots began to come a little quicker and the Santos goalie found himself having to make a couple sensational saves.
With about 15 minutes into the second half, one of the shots found the back on the net. Sean Ayres took the ball in the middle of the field, made a few moves and unleashed a rocket that found the upper right hand corner of the net, 1-0 Arsenal.
Unlike earlier in the year, the goal ignited the team and they continued to pressure Santos. With shots from Angel Luna, Pasha Brown and Alex LaPose, the team looked to score the knock out goal. That chance came 8 minutes later.
A simple pass to Alex found him up against the last defender. Both players went in hard on the ball causing the ball to slip pass the defender. However, the tackle found Alex with his back to the goalie, the goalie coming out to collect the loose ball and the ball bouncing. With one little flick, Alex flipped the ball over the goalies head and into the goal, 2-0 Arsenal. The smell of the tropics was in the air.
The rest of the match Santos threw everything at the Arsenal defense and like much of the season, it stood the test. Adam Rodriguez, Daniel Berzins, Tanner Clay, Ryan Holt, and Chris Webb stood to stop the charge. With 10 minutes left in the game, however, a Santos player found himself free and launched a shot to bring the score to 2-1. This attempt, though, was blocked by Kyle Jarvis as he headed the ball off of the goal line.
The defense continued to hold until five minutes left when a Santos player took a pass and launched an excellent shot into the goal, 2-1 with under five minutes to play. That would be Santos last real chance as Arsenal was able to control the remaining five minutes and the added three minutes of time
With the final whistle, the boys poured on to the field to celebrate, coaches hugged and parents cheered as the boys accomplished the goal set before them at the beginning of the tournament. The team knew they had defeated an excellent team in Santos. The skills of both teams made the finals an enjoyment to watch and may have proved a taste of the future of these two teams.
The team now prepares for the Region IV Tournament in Hawaii. They, along with the 90 Premier Boys and 91 Premier Boys, will be excellent ambassadors for the club. What an exciting way to cap off the year for the team, Turkey Shootout Champions, Sereno Classic Champions, President Day Champions and now 2008 State Champions.
Aloha!!!
