International tour
Williamsville soccer players among WNY's best invited to Ireland
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

2007 Williamsville East graduate Christa Morgante, far left, Williamsville South junior-to-be Emily Novak and Allie Doro, a recent Ellicottville grad and former East JV player, joined 12 other girls and another team of 22 boys as part of Soccer Ventures' European Soccer Tour 2007 held July 9-17 in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Receiving all-star status for a high school sport is a great honor, but for 37 soccer players it also meant a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to tour and play against teams from a foreign country.

Williamsville South's Emily Novak, Williamsville East's Christa Morgante and Ellicottville's Allie Doro, a former member of the East JV team, traveled with 12 other girls and another team of 22 boys to the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland from July 9 to 17 through Soccer Ventures' European Soccer Tour 2007.

Soccer Ventures regional director/ coach Nick Christou, a former goalie for Sweet Home High School who coached the Ventures' boys team, said all Section VI soccer players who achieved first- or second-team all-league honors last fall received a letter of invitation.

The Cliffs of Moher was one of several places the Soccer Ventures teams visited on their eight-day trip to Ireland.

"It's a great idea," said Christou, who went on to play goalie for the Canisius College men's team and professionally in the Eastern Indoor Soccer League. "To give local kids a reward for achieving all-star status in high school is priceless."

"It's a good experience for the kids," he added. "Soccer has become global, so this trip helps kids understand different cultures better. For a lot of them, they'll never experience something like it again."

Among the sightseeing trips the teams went on were St. Patrick's Cathedral, the largest church in Ireland; St. Stephen's Green, an inner city park in Dublin; and a Guinness factory tour. They also visited Malahide Castle, an 800-year-old castle in the town of Malahide, nine miles north of Ireland; Carlingford, a costal village overlooking the Irish Sea; and the Cliffs of Moher, a famous set of cliffs located on the western seaboard of County Clare in the Republic of Ireland.

"That (Cliffs of Moher) was amazing," said Morgante, who will attend and play soccer at Fredonia State College in the fall. "Even though it took forever to get to and we only stayed for two hours, it was definitely worth it."

"It took seven hours to get there, but you could see the entire countryside," added Doro, a 2007 Ellicottville grad who played on the East JV team her freshman and sophomore years. "All of the castles and cliffs were gorgeous. You could walk right to the edge of the cliffs. It was cool."

The Soccer Ventures' girls team also made time to post a 2-1 record in friendly scrimmages against Ireland-based teams. They defeated a team from Balbriggan, 3-0, in Drogheda, 45 minutes away from their dorms at Dundalk Institute of Technology, lost 3-0 versus a team of girls attending Dundalk and shut out North Dublin, 5-0. Morgante and Doro, both center midfielders, each tallied a goal against Balbriggan. Morgante recorded a hat trick in the North Dublin game. Novak, a forward/outside midfielder, recorded an assist.

The boys team tied one opponent, 2-2, and lost to another, 6-1. Their opponents' names were unavailable before The Bee went to press.

When one of the girls' scheduled games was cancelled, they learned how to play Gaelic football and hurling, two traditional Gaelic sports. The team conducted several drills before scrimmaging against each other.

"(In Gaelic football), both goals look like soccer goals but they have two posts sticking up like football (goal posts)," Doro explained. "You run around with a ball and you have only two to three steps to kick it to yourself to keep (possession). You must also hand-pass it to your teammate. If you make it between the posts above the goal, you get a point. If you get it in the goal, you get three points."

Hurling is similar to Gaelic football, although a wooden axe-shaped stick called a hurl is used to hit a ball. Doro compared it to field hockey.

The Soccer Ventures' girls team ranged in age from 15 to 18, but their opponents' rosters had players as young as 12 and old as 27.

"The girls were pretty friendly," said Novak, who will be a junior this fall at South. "The last two games we played, most of the girls were in their 20s. In the first game, a girl from another team asked me how old I was. I said 16 and she said 'I'm only 13.'"

"We weren't expecting to play different ages, but it turned out fine," added Morgante. "We probably could have been a lot better because we didn't have many practices together, and the times we did practice, not everyone could make it. But I thought we played well."

It's the second year Soccer Ventures has toured in a foreign country. Last year, the group went to Germany during the World Cup. Italy and Austria are scheduled for 2008.

Novak, who is of Irish and Italian descent, is looking forward to the trip.

"To play soccer there would be great," said Novak. "(Going to) Italy is my dream come true."

"I would recommend this to anyone," said Doro, who will attend Boston University in the fall. "Everyone who is graduating has said, 'We're coming back as chaperones.' It was a lot of fun. All of the kids that went were so cool. We all got along."

Another result of the trip was the new friendships made. Morgante and Doro are scheduled to play in a tournament in Jamestown with fellow Ventures' teammates Morgan Richards, Ashliegh and Ameilia Rough, and Gabriella Wilson.

The rest of the girls team was comprised of Jeanette Rondon, Lindsey Pietras, Darcie Rosinski, Katie Bassanello, Brooke Kolber, Jennelle Scutt, Theresa Smith and Leah Woodword.

The boys roster had James Quinn, Nick Griffin, Dave Sachenik, Matt Tomasik, Kevin Meegan, Josh Kaczor, Josh Bak-Sklener, Kelby Kraft, Steve Salcedo, John Tucker, Justin Krauter, Doug Margarucci, Claudio Perrella, Nick Dillabough, Tony Judd, Nathan Stern, Tim Dorshmeier, Travis O'Dell, John Metzler, Alex Schoilard-Dinino, Cody Marr-Sexton and Greg Zitnick.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com