Sometimes heart can drive a team well beyond training, conditioning and coaching.
Sometimes heart can drive a team well beyond training, conditioning and coaching.
The Newtown Samba TTP U13 team proved that on Monday night with a stunning 1-0 win over South Central in the Snickers State Cup championship. With the win, the Sambas advance into the Regional 1 tournament to be held in Rhode Island over the July 4th weekend.
The regional competition will consist of State Cup winners from Virginia and Maryland north to Maine.
The Snickers Championship for Samba has been a goal of the program since beginning play in the fall of 2002. Brian Neumeyer and Nick Boothâs Samba program, still in its early years of development, have proven to the other top clubs within the premier division that team play and heart can prevail. Coach Neumeyerâs U13 squad consists of 11 Newtown players with 6 additional players from neighboring towns, a ratio not found on many top premier clubs.
Sambas road to the final was paved with wins over Cheshire, Danbury and Bristol. Samba, during the cup, scored 10 goals while giving up only two.
The Sambas, never having faced the South Central team, were quickly taken aback when keeper Danny Smith handled an inadvertent pass back in the box. That awarded an indirect kick to South Central 18 yards from the net, but a poor touch by Central allowed Samba to charge and a deflected ball was quickly cleared by the Samba defense.
Soon after, Samba settled down and began to play its style of soccer. After Samba missed on a few long ball chances at the net SC quickly countered and laced a rocket towards the upper corner, but Smithâs alert and agile reaction tapped the ball wide.
The near missed rallied Samba and again they fought back with control of the game but could not find the net.
The half ended 0-0, with Samba feeling confident that it could control the pace and style of the game. In the 23rd minute of the second half, James Cersonsky netted a Justin Miller corner kick to put Samba up, 1-0.
The group then rallied behind Mike Vontobel, Sean Weir, Chris Meier, DeBrantes and Brett Lehnerâs defensive efforts. Kenneth Lombardi, Tomi Homonnay, and Alex Bowen all helped the midfield with both defensive and offensive efforts. Paul Andras, Anthony Florez and Patrick Houston all created the Samba attacking force.
The Samba U-13âs are the first Newtown sponsored premier team to ever have reached the State Open Cup finals and the victory boasts of the strength of the growing Samba program and the Newtown Soccer Club.
Regional tournament information can be obtained by visiting the (region1.com) web site.