Aiden Tucker – Page 2

Grande Sports Academy At A Snowy Desert Diamond Cup

Grande News, Soccer Academy, Soccer News, soccer tryouts

TUCSON, Ariz. – Arizona has become an attractive destination for Major League Soccer’s preseason. Earlier this year, the Grande Sports World played host to the first portion of preseason for Real Salt Lake, Seattle Sounders, New England Revolution and Vancouver Whitecaps.

Three of the teams – New York Red Bulls replace Vancouver Whitecaps – have returned to Arizona to participate in the Desert Diamond Cup hosted by FC Tucson.

The annual preseason tournament pits four MLS teams against each other in round-robin play. Grande Sports Academy players braved the bizarre snowfall in Arizona for a chance to see some of their favorite players.

NOTE: Academy players go crazy for Thierry Henry at the 8 second mark.

Radu Marcu made the most of his time by dancing in the snow.

RSL Elite U16 & U18 Recap From Presidents’ Day Cup

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The U16 and U18 RSL Elite teams had impressive showings at the Presidents’ Day Cup hosted by SC del Sol over this past weekend. Even though both teams failed to win the championship for their age group the players and teams looked impressive throughout the tournament. Below are recaps for each team

RSL U18 Elite

Check out the U18 picture gallery from the tournament

Going into the tournament RSL knew their opening game was going to be tough. SC del Sol, one of the strongest teams in the tournament, defeated them 3-1, with two goals coming from set pieces. Based of the way the tournament is set up the loss to SC del Sol eliminated RSL from advancing to the next round. The team responded to this by winning their next three games and were so dominant in their final game against Colorado United the opposing teams Head Coach asked the referee to end the game ’18 minutes early.

Quotes from the tournament:

Martin Vasquez – What do you take away from the tournament? “We were disappointed when we went to Surf Cup because we did not take the opportunity to do well in a very prestigious tournament. This tournament is very prestigious coming in and one of the goals was we need to show better because there are a lot of college coaches here along with good teams. Obviously we wanted to go to the final and the first game was against the best team in the tournament. A tie would have been great because that gives us an opportunity to advance but we lost and it essentially eliminated us. The approach we took after this game was make the best of it in the next three games. Three wins when they obviously were the best team, no doubt. Individually some of them had a great tournament and our forwards scored a lot of goals it was a big plus. We take away a big plus from this tournament and knowing the next tournament is even tougher Dallas Cup we know that we’re heading in the right progression that we are taking.

Eric Gonzalez – You’re thoughts on the tournament. “It was a little disappointing in the end for us but the tournament itself wasn’t too bad. We played a couple of decent teams and in the first game we were unlucky that we couldn’t get a better result. It cost us the tournament but the team put a good effort and were happy with that.”

Aiden Tucker – You scored 5 goals, how does this feel and what are your thoughts? “It feels good. We played well this whole tournament especially the last three games we played as a team. Together we kept possession and this is the way we played and we did a really good job and if we keep doing it in practice we can do it in Dallas Cup as well.”

Friday, February 15th, 2013
U18 RSL Elite vs SC del Sol 98 Boys Armstrong (AZ) – 6:00pm, 1-3

Saturday, February 16th, 2013
U18 RSL Elite vs MN Thunder Academy Elite 94/95 (MN) – 1:45pm, 5-0

Sunday, February 17th, 2013
U18 RSL Elite vs Calgary Foothills 95s (CND) – 8:30am, 4-1
U18 RSL Elite vs Colorado United White 6005 (CO) – 1:45pm, 4-0

RSL U16 Elite

Check out the U16 picture gallery from the tournament

RSL U16 Elite wanted to build on their previous tournament championship victory last week. In the first game the team losing came back from a Duncan Storey strike and a Miles Stary header. After this RSL cruised to victories in their next two games winning their group and securing a place in the quarterfinals. Playing against SC del Sol in the QF’s, RSL looked strong throughout the games. A finesse shot by Tevin Lowe just outside of the 18 with his left foot gave RSL a 1-0 lead. They held on for the rest of the match advancing to the semifinals. This matchup was against Colorado Rush. After a nail-biting first half controlled by Rush, RSL started to pick up the pace in the second half. Tired legs ultimately doomed them as Rush scored the game winning goal with 10 minutes left. RSL sent everything they had forward and a last second header by Tevin Lowe was blocked by the Rush GK.

Quotes from the tournament:

Assistant Coach Michael Kraus – How do you some up the tournament and how has this team grown? “It was positive. It was physically exhausting playing 5 games in three days and it took a toll on them but mentally they battled last night. Today they battled for a good part of the game. when we still got behind we had the energy and mental toughness to push at the end and try to even it out. Over the last 6 months they have been getting better and playing much better soccer. The results weren’t there in the beginning but now they are playing good soccer and have combined the mental toughness and mental fortitude to go with it and now the results are coming.

Miles Stray – What is your take on the tournament? “It’s positive because in the beginning of the year we played a lot of these teams and didn’t do very well, tying or losing. We came back and it kinda summed up the fact that we have progressed over the 6 months that we have been here. It is about winning and we want to win. But the main point is to become better and get to that next level.

Miguel Martinez – Tough loss, how do you feel the team did? “We had really good games did what we could. We played our best after all but we were just tired and they were more mentally tough than us.”

Friday, February 15th, 2013
U16 RSL Elite vs Real Colorado National (CO) – 7:45pm, 2-1

Saturday, February 16th, 2013
U16 RSL Elite vs Ballistic SC U16 Boys (ID) – 8:45pm, 2-0

Sunday, February 17th, 2013
U16 RSL Elite vs LV Premier ’97B White (NV) – 12:00pm, 6-2
U16 Quarterfinals – U16 RSL Elite vs SC del Sol 97 – 7:oopm, 1-0

Monday, February 18th, 2013
U16 Semifinals – RSL U16 Elite vs Rush Colorado – 10:15am, 0-1

Picture Gallery & Game Recap – RSL-AZ U18 Defeat Strikers FC 4-2

Grande News, Real Salt Lake, Soccer Academy, Soccer News

Casa Grande, AZ (Saturday, February 9th, 2013) – Real Salt Lake-Arizona Under 18 defeated Strikers FC 4-2, with Marquette University signee Coco Navarro leading all scorers with his second hat-trick of the season against Strikers FC.

Navarro has been on fire over his past four games scoring 8 total goals. After the game he spoke about the victory saying, “It feels great, because the last time we played against them I got a hat-trick, but we tied. This time we came out with a victory so it’s a great feeling.”

In the previous game between these two teams RSL-AZ jumped out to a quick three goal lead but squandered the lead on the second half. Coaches during the week set the goal for RSL-AZ to start off the way they did last game against Strikers FC and to keep the consistency throughout the game.

But as was the case in the last matchup RSL-AZ learned it’s hard to pull away from Strikers.

“We came into the game knowing it was going to be hard, Navarro said. “We did what the coaches told us and this time we were able to manage the game. We kept the lead the whole game that was the game plan.”

Jose Hernandez opened up the scoring with a shot just outside of the 18 that tailed right. Immediately after the goal Strikers FC started to attack with more urgency and pace. Five minutes later their efforts paid off when they earned a free kick from about 30 yards out. The ball was served into the box and punched out by RSL-AZ GK Ceaser Cobos. The ball unfortunately found the boot of a Strikers player who scored an easy open net goal.

“Same in every game you have your good times and bad times,” said defender Santi Carrillo. “We were playing pretty good but we just had a lack of thinking in a way. We kind have calmed down when we should have stayed up but again Cesar had a great game anyways and that was the important part.”

RSL-AZ turned up the pressure and took back the lead two minutes later when a ball from the wing was played into Andrew Brody who was inside the box. A quick pass to Navarro who then curved the ball around the outstretched arms of the Strikers GK. The rest of the half was forgettable as RSL-AZ missed three golden opportunities in front of net and the lone Strikers FC attempt was blocked by Cobos.

Six minutes into the second half Navaro scored his second goal giving RSL-AZ a 3-1 lead.

Strikers FC answered back when they scored in the 71st minute from a screaming line-drive free kick from 25 yards out that went low left. Not wanting to squander the lead again, RSL-AZ started to commit more players forward. Second half substitute Trevor Hyman from about 40 yards out crossed the ball from the left-wing that took a bounce on the 18. At first it looked like the ball would harmlessly go out of play but Navarro hustled to the ball beating the last defender. The Strikers FC GK came out and with a small touch to the right Navarro scored his third goal into an empty net.

The goal scored in the 85th minute left Strikers FC with little time for a comeback losing, 2-4.

Head Coach Martin Vasquez spoke about Navarro’s performance saying, “For us it’s important for players like him to show that consistency and continue to be a difference maker. We were happy with his performance and overall the team.”

RSL-AZ is now 7 points ahead of second place LA Galaxy, who have played three fewer games.

Next game for RSL-AZ is on Saturday, February 16th when they host San Jose Earthquakes. Game time is 11:00am.

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