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Valrico Wins Florida Cup Title
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Published: October 1, 2008
Jake van der Luit and Marc Lozada each scored as the Valrico Dawgs won the boys Under-12 Super Group title at the US Club Soccer Florida Cup in Delray Beach.
The team, which drew players from three different clubs, defeated Pinecrest FC 2-1 in the championship final. Coach Jeff Fuller said he was impressed how the players became a tight-knit unit despite not having any formal training sessions before the tournament began.
"When you have a collection of players that are very good, you don't always get players that mesh," Fuller said. "A lot of personalities sometimes, but these guys, they were all on the same team."
Fuller's Valrico Soccer Club team provided the base for the team, but players from the New Tampa Comets and Hillsborough County United were also incorporated into the squad. After the squad secured its place in the final with a pair of wins on the opening day of the tournament - 2-1 against the South Florida Elite and 4-1 against Boca United - the Dawgs lost to Pinecrest 2-0 in what was a meaningless game with both sides already having advanced to the final.
Valrico took the lead in the final on van der Luit's goal, only for Pinecrest to tie the game, but Lozada won the game for Valrico with five minutes to go in the game. With its win, Valrico advanced to the regional round of the 2009 US Club Soccer National Cup. They will play in either the tournament held in Jacksonville in May, or in Winston-Salem, N.C., next June.
Sullivan Edges Miller In Lakeland Final
No. 2 seed Kelly Sullivan defeated No. 1 seed Jennifer Miller in the girls under-18 final of the Ledger Junior Super Series 6-3, 6-2 in Lakeland.
Tampa's Sullivan, who had lost in the final of the North Florida Junior Designated championship in July, didn't drop a set on her way to the title, and moved up to No. 46 in the latest state rankings.
Miller, also from Tampa, hadn't been tested on her way to the final, dropping only three games in six sets against Ashleigh Boos, Linda Winter and Tampa's Meghan Sullivan.
Garrett Betsarakis of St. Petersburg reached the final of the boys under-18 championship, but there he fell to No. 1 seed Michael Basile of Lakeland 6-3, 7-5.
Betsarakis had defeated No. 2 seed Tunc Kiymaz of Orlando 6-3, 6-4 in the round of 16. He then defeated Liam Gomez of Wesley Chapel and No. 4 seed Terence Weigand in straight sets to reach the final.
Elsewhere, Michael Alford of Tampa won the under-18 championship at the D.B. Racquet Fall Junior Super Series in Gainesville with a 6-4, 6-0 win against Jonathan Vesely of Gainesville in the final.
It was Alford's second under-18 title this year after he won the Saddlebrook Junior Super Series in May.
Screening Benefits Local Rugby Players
Channelside Cinemas and the Tampa Krewe Rugby club recently hosted a special preview screening of the new movie "Forever Strong", with two local rugby clubs standing to benefit from the night.
The movie, which stars Sean Faris, Sean Astin and Gary Cole, opened nationally Friday. The Tampa Pelicans, who won the state championship earlier this year, and the Tampa Barbarians are going to be the primary recipients of the proceeds, with the Barbarians looking for equipment for their new field and funding for an upcoming trip.
Pelicans coach Dave McFadden said the night went really well.
"It was a lot of fun," McFadden said. "The Krewe guys did a great job of putting together a fun night, and I thought the movie was very good, had a very good message to it. It's the sort of message we try to bring to players who play rugby in Florida every day, that character matters in rugby, it's not like other sports where they only care how you play the sport."
McFadden adds that the movie could help draw people to the sport if it gets a broader viewing than just the local rugby community.
"I'm looking forward to finding out how many kids are going to see this movie that aren't already involved with rugby," McFadden said. "If it turns out to be a good draw for that age group, then it could be really helpful to this area and for a sport that is really growing to have more people poured into it would be wonderful."
Local rugby teams are starting to convene, with under-20 representative teams being selected for a North vs. South All-Star Game on Oct. 11, and under-18 trials being held currently to make up a Florida representative team to face a team from Pembrokeshire in South Wales on Oct. 25.
McFadden is involved with the trials process, and is hoping to put together a strong team.
"We're really excited about it," he said. "The team that's coming over from Wales is a formidable team. Some of the players they have are on or stand to be on the Welsh under-19 squad, so we're excited to take on such good high-quality players."
Local Rider Headed To National Event
Plant City horse rider Kelsey Thomas has earned a place at the 2008 Grand National & World Championship Morgan Horse Show in Oklahoma City later this month after winning the American Morgan Horse Association's Hunter Seat on the Flat title at the Summer's End Morgan Horse Show in Ocala.
Riding CBMF Danger Zone, Thomas earned a silver medal as she edged Madelyn Bell, and will have a chance at gold in Oklahoma City.
Keyword: youth sports, for more news, notes and live game stories. Nicholas J.E. Murray can be reached at (813) 259-8243 or at nmurray@tampatrib.com.
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