Lansdowne's U-13 Team Wins the Ridley Tournament
On Saturday, August 8, the Lansdowne Lightning U13 boy’s soccer team traveled to Ridley Park to participate in Ridley United’s annual tournament. It is the third consecutive year that the boys have participated in the tournament. The team finished in second place in each of the last two tournaments. On Saturday they won each of their three games and won the tournament. The first game started at 9AM, and the opponent was Interboro Soccer Club. Although our players looked a bit sleepy at the start, they scored a couple of goals in the first half to lead at the break. The second half was all Lansdowne, and the final score was 8 – 0. Kevin Gilligan played in goal, and was rarely challenged. Malcolm Burton, Vincent Biche, and AB Winter played up front, and spent most of the game in Interboro’s box, peppering their goalkeeper with shots. Brandon Hall, Joe D’Imperio, and Bach Clifton were very strong in mid-field, keeping the ball in the Interboro half of the field for long stretches. Joe also scored. The second game started at 1PM, and the opponent was Brandywine Youth Club. Brandywine plays at a higher level than Lansdowne during the Delco Soccer season, and is a talented team. Our players were fired up after their initial win, and started the second game very strongly. In the first half AB chipped a nice pass over a defender’s head to Matt Kelly in the box, and Matt chipped the ball over the BYC goalkeeper and into the net. Kenyat Green, who returned to the team this year after a one-season absence, provided key relief for our midfielders as the day grew warmer. Lansdowne led at the break, 3 – 0. BYC showed signs of coming alive during the second half. They applied pressure on our defense, but the back line of Josh Kozloski, Tyler Madden, Zack Nelson, and Colin Moran stuck together and kept them away from our goal. Our secret weapon on defense was Miles Burton, who played like a bulldog at both right and left fullback. What little action did get through our defense was handled flawlessly by Kevin. We scored once more in the second half to record a 4 – 0 victory.
The final game was played at 4PM against Methacton Soccer Club. As the day had progressed, the anticipation of this match-up had grown. Methacton, like us, had won their first two games. And Methacton had defeated us last year in the Delco championship game. That was a 1 – 0 loss on a cold, swampy field. By contrast, Saturday afternoon was warm and muggy, but dry. The first half was a tough battle. Methacton plays a very physical style, and they challenged our players for every loose ball. Our players responded to the challenge with great confidence. We had some chances, but the first half ended scoreless. The second half started well, and we had an early penalty kick. Missing a penalty kick can deflate a team, and we missed this one. But the miss did not deflate our players. On two successive counter-attacks midway through the second half, our forward line swept down the field. On both instances Vincent fought past the Methacton defense on long runs down the right side, and then crossed the ball into the box. On the first occasion AB slotted the cross into the net, and Malcolm did the same on the second occasion. As impressive as Vincent’s runs were, against good defensemen, the supporting runs by AB and Malcolm to be ready for the crossing ball were fantastic. This was at the very end of a long, hot day. Our players kept running hard right until the end of the game, and it resulted in a great win. Methacton didn’t quit, and they scored a goal to make it 2 – 1. But Kevin and the defense stayed strong, and when the final whistle blew the score was Lansdowne Lightning 2 – Methacton Warriors 1.
