Boys Under-16: Soccer State-Wide Champions

Malden Youth Soccer's Boys U16 team's run for the state-wide championship is one for the story books. It was the team that almost wasn't, that was pulled together at the last minute by dedicated coaches and parents and the support of two town soccer leagues, that fought through the seemingly small but actually critical challenges of getting players to practices and games.  It is a story that ends with a heart-stopping shoot-out at the Massachusetts Tournament of Champions in which their goalie made a save and Malden made all of its penalty shots to win the game.

[Submitted by Susan Morales]

Two Cities Unite for Soccer Goals

The Middlesex Youth Soccer League Spring Season had already finished making the schedule for the season, beginning with the first game on April 10.  Then, at the last minute on April 2, Ken Antonucci (President, Malden Youth Soccer) contacted the city of Melrose asking if there were any under-16 year old players who might be interested in playing Spring Soccer. In that one week left before the start of the season, we began focusing our efforts on informing former players of this fantastic opportunity to join a BU-16 team that would represent the collaboration of two cities united for soccer goals.

By the end of the week all former players from Melrose and Malden who were eligible for this age group had received multiple notifications regarding the urgency needed to form this team. Antonnucci was very perseverant with his mission to put it all together. The players from Melrose responded, as they understood that Melrose was being given the opportunity to include a coaching role. After reaching out to parents, responses began to coming in, and suddenly the team came to realization.

Our first practice was faced with adversity: rain, snow and cold temperature. Yet a total of 26 players reported for try-outs despite the weather. The appointed head coach, Foster Morales, turned to Leonard David and whispered "this is great," as he began fielding players in groups of 7 v. 7. The great surprise was finding that most had similar skill levels, thus making the selection of players a bit more challenging, especially since 60 percent of these players were not duly registered or affiliated with the Middlesex Youth Soccer League (MYSL). At this point, Ken Antonnucci went to get a camera to take individual pictures of all players present. Another challenge emerged: while taking the pictures, the camera battery died and he had to run to purchase another, enabling us to complete the acquisition of all pictures needed for players IDs.

It was imperative to have everyone registered for Malden Youth Soccer ASAP. Leonard David took on the responsibility of ensuring that all registered players would have IDs by April 10, our first game. Coach Morales assured Antonucci it would be his responsibility to ensure that each player chosen would have their signed applications and fees in as timely a manner as possible

We scheduled our first official practices for Tuesday and Thursday, April 5 and 8, with the first game scheduled for April 10th.  It's important to mention that there was a 99 percent attendance for each practice and every game.  

The team did not have any "home" games; all games were on the road. Here is where the challenge really began. There were 20 players that we had to get to all of the games, many in need of transportation. The logistics of getting everyone to each game was a weekly struggle that we somehow managed through. We made phone calls, emails and more phone calls trying to ensure that everyone had the necessary information for each game and then getting everyone to the game on time.

The dedication of every player was one of the most important requirements of being a part of this team. Some of the boys walked a few miles just to get to each practice or to get to the meeting place to pick up their carpool ride to a game.  The commitment of these players reflected a tireless perseverance to the sport and the team.   

Each week brought a new challenge but somehow we managed to overcome all every adversity as it arose.

This team represents of a broad diversity of cultures, from Morocco, Jordan, Haiti, Central and South America, and our own local communities. This brought cohesion and a high level of respect for each other.  

We opened our season by successfully winning our first game and ended our regular season undefeated. This is attributed to the players unselfishly working as a team with their coach as the leader. The players displayed a great deal of respect for their coach and each other and grew as a team because of it. 

Because the team came in first place in the U16-2 group, we moved on to the next challenge: the Commissioner's Cup for the right to represent the Middlesex League at the Massachusetts Tournament of Champions- (MOTC).  The team won both games at the Cup, and as a result were crowned the Middlesex U16-2 Champions, and were off to the States (MOTC) in Lancaster, Massachusetts to meet the next challenge.  

Beginning June 24 and into June 25, we had to play three teams in our group: Danvers, East Bridgewater and Arlington. Again, we finished this round robin undefeated, in first place again, earning the right to play in the semi-finals. Our first opponent was Sutton, scheduled for Sunday at 8 a.m., which required the team to be in full uniform and checked in by 7:30 a.m. (not to mention awake also). After beating Sutton 4-0, we were now in poised to take on our final objective—to win the state championship. But first we had to beat Arlington.  

This final game was scheduled for 1 p.m.  On a hot and muggy day (made warmer by the fact that they were playing on turf and after already having played a full game earlier that morning) the game began. Tension was high on both sides. Players were fatigued, coaches were focused and fans held their breath. After completing regulation time, the game was tied, 0-0, leading to overtime. After two five minute OT periods, we were still at a stalemate: 0-0. Players were suffering leg cramps, exhaustion and mental fatigue. But there was still one more step, a penalty kick shoot-out. The head coach identified the order of the shooters. The goalie took his place in the net.  

The first shooter for our team, David Mendelssohn took his place and scored. The team went wild. Then Arlington shot, scoring, tied 1-1. The next shooter was Edson Anicette, again scoring. The crowd went wild. The Arlington player took his spot, shot and the goalie, Vance Gates made the save of his life. The team, the coaches, and the fans went wild again. So, one for one the shoot out continued: Frantdzy Pierrot, Michel Pierre-Giles and Lucas Silva, each one putting the ball in the net. Arlington had no chance to catch us since Vance had made that game-altering save.  The team burst onto the field, hugging and cheering each other. The fans on the side-lines did the same. The victory was ours.  We did it: we won the MOTC State Championship!

The winning plaque was accepted by the team and delivered by the head coach to the President of the Malden Youth Soccer, with unselfish pride. What a season!