The Garden City Raiders U-12 boys soccer team Over the Columbus Day weekend, the Garden City Raiders U-12 boys soccer team played five games and came away with a victory in each one. Both the offense and defense of the Raiders were formidable opponents for the competition. Goalkeepers Jack Rogers and John Schlichte were very tough to beat, allowing only 3 points to be scored against the Raiders during the entire tournament. Midfielder Kevin McDougal was on the disabled list and missed the tournament, but the rest of the team compensated for his absence.

The tournament started off Saturday at Windsor High School on a field that was a bit smaller than the Raiders are accustomed to. The players had to compensate for being squeezed together into a smaller space than normal by communicating with each other more than might normally be the case. This proved to be a good preparation for the subsequent games on a larger field where the players had more room to run.

Saturday’s first game was against a West Hartford team that was dispatched 2-0. Brian Haeffner and Scott Kiley both displayed their typical speed and prowess in this match. Bobby McLoughlin scored one of the Raider goals by receiving a crossing pass and being in exactly the right position to support his teammate. The Raiders’ next opponent was the Garden City Titans, who were in top form and made for a tough match that the Raiders won 2-1 on a last moment goal by James DeSousa. Up until that point the game was tied from goals scored on penalty shots during the game.

Sunday’s action began with a game against Cromwell, on a larger field. The Raiders prevailed 3-1 in a game where they dominated much of the action and could use their speed and ball handling skills to control their opponents. Forwards Timmy Dehler, Matt Lisoski, James DeSousa, and Tommy Asfar typically outran the defenders and outmaneuvered them in getting the ball to the right place. Our players did a phenomenal job of pushing the ball to the corner where a teammate could pass it back into the middle for a striker or midfielder to put into the net. Raider defenders Jack Riceman and Jack Roscoe, along with John Schlichte, Conor Lehan, and Michael DeSimone made it nearly impossible for Cromwell to put together any sort of momentum on offense, consistently shutting off any attempts to penetrate the Raiders’ end of the field.

The second Sunday game was against Vernon, and the Raiders rolled over Vernon 7-1. The Vernon goalkeeper had the unfortunate habit of playing too far out on the pitch, and this made it easy for Raider players to lob the ball past him on several occasions. Midfielders Dylan Laderoute, Mark Luglio, Garrett Morgan, and Bobby McLaughin were very effective at stopping Vernon’s attempts to even get the ball past midfield, and did a great job at containing the ball in their opponents end. The Raiders played more aggressively as the tournament progressed, shutting down many goal kicks by not even letting them bounce and heading them right back towards their opponents.

By Monday’s last game against Glastonbury Hartwell, the Raiders were unbeatable and used the prior days’ learnings to come ready to play hard. The Raiders won the game 3-0 in a physical game that the Raiders simply dominated. The Raiders played more agressively and won the vast majority of 50/50 balls during the game, running harder and faster than the other team. Conor Lehan and Dylan Laderoute were tough at midfield, giving absolutely no ground to whomever took them on, and moving the ball down the field to their teammates on numerous occasions. Timmy Dehler, Matt Lisoski and James DeSousa worked the ball around in front of Glastonbury’s goal time and again until they had the right shot, but Glastonbury’s goalkeeper did a good job stopping a number of shots we took on their goal. Tommy Asfar served up a number of textbook crossing passes in front of the goal to his teammates. Garrett Morgan scored on a header from a Mark Luglio corner kick that was right out of an ESPN highlights video. Defenders Jack Roscoe and Jack Riceman, along with stopper Michael DeSimone, did their best to make sure that keeper Jack Rogers saw little action during the game.

During the three-day tournament, the Raiders matured as a team and learned to play better together, whether passing the ball into space ahead of a teammate, heading those goal kicks back into their opponents’ end of the field, or simply communicating with each other out on the pitch. The team kept the pressure on the other team in a consistent and unforgiving fashion, and their desire to work hard and win carried the day.