ANNA MARIA – The Florida rains could not stop the action on the indoor soccer pitch. Last week brought an end to the youth indoor season with two action-packed games.
After 40 minutes of play, Moss Builders took the championship medals in a close match-up against Ugly Grouper in the Intermediate League made up of the community’s youngest players.
G&G Yardscaping ran away with the win against an enthusiastic Ugly Grouper squad, giving it the championship honors for the Advanced League.
To start the first game the referee determined possession with a friendly battle of rock, paper, scissors, with Ugly Grouper winning the offensive position.
The game featured an excellent passing game by Moss Builders’ Dylan Sato and his teammates.
Mason Moss was awarded with the first scoring statistic in the game on a free kick, after an initial tap of the ball by Sato. Moss’ free kick went untouched past the Ugly Grouper defenders at the goal.
Ahead by a goal, Jackson Titen found the net for the first time in the game after four minutes of play, giving his team a two-point lead.
Less than a minute later, Sato scored his own goal, taking the score to 3-0, with plenty of time left in the league’s final game of the season.
In an effort to stop the scoring, the Ugly Grouper defense started to clump together near the net, eventually gaining possession of the soccer ball.
Hunter Titen made a nice defensive block of an Ugly Grouper strike. Jack Zaccagnino took a shot on goal that went just wide, right of the post.
Miles Moss, younger brother of Mason, showed tenacity at the wall to take back the soccer ball for Moss Builders. Meanwhile Mason Moss, essentially serving as the goalie protecting his net without the use of his hands, made huge stops preventing a score by Ugly Grouper.
J. Titen put the soccer ball through the legs of the last defender for the fourth goal for Moss Builders.
Ugly Grouper got on the scoreboard after 12 minutes of action with a spirit-sparking goal by Jackson Rosas. Rosas got the audience and his team excited with a second goal less than a minute later, tightening the score to 4-2.
Rosas played alongside Joseph Rosas during the season along with Brady Thompson, bringing the Ugly Grouper team to the big game.
With fearless play, Ugly Grouper’s Jasmine Sparks lit up the court with her defensive battles against the boys of Moss Builders.
Scoring the last goal for his team, Jesse Zaccagnino took a beastly shot that flew by Mason Moss.
After several three-line violation calls for both teams, the first half of the game ended with the score 4-3.
Both teams struggled to make anything happen on the indoor court. Moss Builders’ offense looked flat until the 31st minute of the game with a beautiful shot by Brandon Sato that went just right of the post.
Jesse Zaccagnino took the soccer ball down the floor, making a textbook cross-court pass to Sparks, who was just slightly out of position in front of the Moss Builders’ net.
Another three-line violation gave Mason Moss his second free kick scoring opportunity. In a repeat move, Dylan Sato tapped the yellow ball, giving Moss the freedom to take the scoring kick right into the Ugly Grouper net.
With the score 5-3, J. Titen got his hat trick with less than three minutes left on the clock, once again giving Moss Builders a three-point lead.
The Ugly Grouper team never called it quits, playing hard until the final buzzer. In the final seconds of the game, Jesse Zaccagnino’s shot was stopped by Mason Moss, ending the game with the score of 6-3.
In the second championship game of the night for the Advanced League, G&G Yardscaping handily earned the win against AMI Locals. The Locals squad put up a good fight and made their opponent work for the W.
Late team add-on Elek Brisson protected his team’s net for the majority of the game, forcing the G&G team to make excellent shots.
AMI Local’s Mary Harrison played tough defense, using her speed and toughness on the pitch to force the G&G offense to pass the soccer ball around the court.
G&G Yardscaping’s Cale Rudacille made great passes at midcourt to give his team scoring position on the AMI Local’s side of the line.
Rudacille’s teammate, Kate Stembridge, was a force to be reckoned with in front of the goal on defense. G&G’s squad with Payton and Ava Harlan and Hudson Green fought hard in the final game, just as they did throughout season.
Throughout the game, G&G’s Ryan Joseph played an unselfish game, despite his immense experience and soccer talent. Time and time again Joseph maneuvered his way down the court looking for Connor Samblis to take the shot.
With the exception of one, Samblis’ strikes sailed the ball missing the net.
Joseph scored the first of his four goals in the game after more than 17 minutes of action, giving his team a 1-0 lead. His second score came with just 30 seconds left on the scoreboard clock to end the half.
Leading by two points, G&G worked soundly on offense with a great pass by Rudacille to Samblis. The shot went to the side of the net for no score.
Samblis found his groove for his solo score in the 27th minute of the championship game, taking the score to 3-0.
One minute later, Brisson scored his team’s only goal, giving his team hope with only a two-point deficit. Throughout the season, Evan Talucci worked hard on the pitch along with AMI Locals teammates Dalton Fox, Jack and Jay Harrison, and standout visitor Carsyn Deligans.
AMI Locals’ Savana Coba took her shot that went just right of the post 28 minutes into the game and followed up with a heads up defensive stop a minute later.
In the last seven minutes of the game, G&G Yardscaping went on a scoring spree starting with a goal by Samblis. Rudacille ripped the ball for a shot attempt that was just right of the goal.
Joseph hit his team’s fifth and sixth goals in less than 30 seconds, leading G&G Yardscaping to the championship win with the score 6-1 to end the youth indoor play for the season.
