It was a rare occasion that saw the U15 Thunderbirds host two home games last weekend.
On Saturday, KLM Milan proved to be a good test in a very sporting 3-1 win for the Thunderbirds.
Showing strong play and leadership, Cole Schutz opened the scoring with a penalty kick before Milan tied it up before the half.
The second half saw the Thunderbirds start to show their dominance with nice possession play and some outstanding performances from midfielders Sean Pletz, Julian Miles and Henry Larsen, who was so unlucky when his fantastic strike was kept out with an even more impressive save by the KLM keeper.
Kai Hansen broke the deadlock when he ran onto a long ball from keeper Isaac Oka, broke in on goal holding off a pair of defenders and expertly feathered the ball past the onrushing keeper and into the corner of the net.
Jake Benner then wowed the crowd and ensured the two-goal win when he rushed up from his centre defence spot to smash in a laser of a goal from 35 yards out.
On Sunday, North Van-couver Torrent came to the Coast in a cup match to decide the North Shore rep in the Coastal Cup.
Torrent seemed to have come with more intent and got on the board first with a skilled dribble that evaded several Thunderbirds before hitting the bottom corner.
The Thunderbirds soon responded with another goal from one of the big centre defenders when Quin Huibers crashed the box and evened it up before the break.
In the second half, despite the fantastic effort and smart play of Simeon Campbell and several attempts by Noah Woodin and Cole, the Thunderbirds could not find a way to break ahead before Angelo Pinsonnault, having a great game, was harshly judged to have fowled his opponent in the box while most observers seemed to see him win the ball. The resulting penalty put Torrent ahead and they quickly went up by two when they hit a cannon top corner from 25 yards out.
With 10 minutes to go, the Thunderbirds stormed the NV goal and were finally rewarded when Casey Baines, who had terrorized the Torrents defenders all game, scored from close range. The home team grabbed the ball and sprinted back to restart play before crashing the net again, only to see Kai’s shot painfully hit the post with seconds to go. The T-Birds ultimately lost 3-2.
U11 boys
United came out hard and fast in its game last weekend with ICFS Roma.
Roma had the first chance at a goal, but the chance was called off side. Just a short time later, Roma was able to capitalize, taking a 1-0 lead before the end of the first half.
Roma came out strong at the start of the second half and kept United on their toes. United, not willing to back down, picked up the pace and with a large crowd in front of the net, a Roma player cleared the ball, which landed right in front of Alex Hart, who with a great power shot sent the ball low and hard past the Roma goalie, for the equalizer.
United’s Colby Elson had another great chance with a penalty shot, which Roma’s goalie was able to smother. Roma scored a late goal to come away with the 2-1 win.
