U13 Amherst Argonauts win Niagara Pioneer tourney

The U13 Amherst Argonauts won the Niagara Pioneer Soccer Tournament held July 7-8. Members of the team, pictured from left, are: Alex Kuvinshoff, Alex Quinlivan, Alex Vienne, Christian Jones, Steve Weinheime r, Matt Krajacic, Jake Dadswell, Tim Balkin, Jamie Floss, Luke Service, Evan Lang, James Sweeney, David Arthur, John White, and coach Dave Grant; missing from photo - Alex Miller and assistant coach Mike Arthur.

The U13 Amherst Argonauts won the Niagara Pioneer Soccer Tournament at Fort Niagara State Park on July 7-8.

The team displayed a great combination of stout defense, skilled play, exhausting effort and stellar goaltending by Luke Service as they went undefeated in four games to claim the championship. Jake Dadswell was named tournament MVP.

The Argonauts' first opponent was the Irondequoit Flash which could not keep up with the talented and Argonauts. Irondequoit managed only four shots on goal.

Dadswell started the scoring in the 26th minute, using a tipped pass from Alex Vienne to break through two players and send a left-footed shot through the far left side past the Flash goalie.

It was 12 minutes later that Evan Lang used his speed to dribble past three Irondequoit defenders and sent a low curving shot past a dumfounded Flash goalie. The play was started by a precise throw-in by Alex Miller, who was part of the suffocating defensive team, up to Alex Quinlivan, who found Lang open on the other side of the field.

The Darlington Fusion, a team from Ontario, Canada, was the Argonauts' next opponent. The outcome was familiar as the Argonauts took the second game, 2-0.

The game was very physical and the first half showed excellent stops by the Fusion goalie and the Argos' Service, who tipped a rising shot over the net to preserve a scoreless halftime tie.

It was in the 42nd minute that Dadswell drilled an 18-yard shot past the goalie. The setup was initiated by John White in the defensive end after Jamie Floss and Christian Jones blocked two successive shots by Fusion forwards. Tim Balkin took the initial pass and sent Dadswell on a run through the midfield zone on his way to scoring.

Miller, Matt Krajacic and Steve Weinheimer used a dazzling set of soccer skills to find an open David Arthur on the left side, who in turn laced a high shot to the goalie's left in the 60th minute to secure the win.

The Greece Buccaneers were the next team to realize that speed and soccer skill against Alex Kuvinshoff, Alex Vienne in the offensive zone, and James Sweeney, John White and Jamie Floss in the defensive zone, were not going to be a combination for success against the Argonauts. This was realized in Amherst's 3-1 win which included goals by Lang, Dadswell, and Arthur.

Krajacic and Balkin continued their stellar tournament play with effective transition play while Sweeney let no Buccaneer past him. The second goal was a highlight to see as pinpoint passing set up a Dadswell goal. It started deep in the Argos end by White, who in turn passed to Jones, then up to Krajacic who saw Dadswell pushing past three Buccaneer defenders to send a left-footed shot past an outstretched Greece goalie. The win set up the championship game against the Brockport Blizzard.

The championship game started quick for the Amherst team as Lang used a Weinheimer crossing pass to run through a defender after he was taken off the ball to make the score 1-0 in the fourth minute. Krajacic and Arthur found Lang open again on the left side to give Amherst a two-goal lead five minutes later.

Brockport scored only two minutes later on a ten-yard crossing shot, and tied it six minutes later on a penalty kick. Amherst was determined to make quick amends as four minutes later a goal kick by Service was picked up on one bounce by Dadswell, who ran past two defenders to drill a left foot shot in the upper left hand corner.

The 3-2 halftime score led to Amherst controlling play for much of the second half. However, a couple of close chances were foiled by Floss and Arthur eventually found Dadswell cutting to his right and sent a shot over the right shoulder of the Blizzard goalie.

In the 60th minute, Alex Quinlivan sent a 20-yard shot in the upper left hand corner after a quick pass back from Vienne to make the final 5-2 for the Amherst Argonauts.

The full team effort showed in this game as Brockport sent only four outside shots to the Amherst net in the final ten minutes.