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Youth Soccer News: Nott’s Forest Teams win at Carlsbad Cup Tournament

Over the weekend of July 23 and 24, the Nott’s Forest BU10 Black and BU11 Red teams participated in the 2011Carlsbad Cup. Capping off a successful weekend, both teams won their respective bracket championships, to bring home the hardware for the club.

Nott’s Forest BU10 Black Carlsbad Cup Champions

The Notts’ Forest BU12 Red team won their first trophy of the season, taking on stiff competition and showing just what they could do. In their bracket, Nott's Forest FC was matched up in group play with Carlsbad Lightning, the Del Mar Sharks and La Jolla Impact.

The boys went undefeated in group play, with only two goals scored against them after three games, and met the Cobras FC (Nevada) in the Semi-finals. In a physical match, Nott's Forest defeated the Cobras 5-0 and moved on to meet the TVSA Hawks in the finals.

The championship game was played on a much larger field than the previous games and tested the endurance of both teams.

Nott's Forest was able to make the necessary adjustments and came out victorious with a 3-0 win.

At the same time the BU11 Red team was taking top honors in their bracket, the Nott's Forest BU10 Black team was on their way to collecting their second trophy in only their second tournament of the season.

During group play, Nott’s Forest matched up with Carlsbad Lightning White, Temecula Hawks Red, and Albion Blue, a strong and challenging pool. The first game of group play had Nott's Forest up against Carlsbad Lightning White, a team that they would eventually see in the championship match.

Nott's Forest had a very sloppy start and played a very sluggish game against a very aggressive Carlsbad Lightning team, losing 5-2. The second match of group play had Nott's Forest up against Temecula Hawks Red.

Nott’s Forest Coach Marvin Tarroja demanded that his team rebound from the sluggish start in the morning game against Carlsbad and told the players to be more aggressive. The players responded, coming out on fire and beating the Hawks 7-1.

The final match of group play had Nott's Forest taking on Albion Blue. Similar to the game against the Hawks, Nott's Forest started well and dominated play, reaching halftime with the score 2-0. Nott's Forest continued to create more chances in the second half, only to have 2 goals disallowed for being offside. The game ended 2-0 and Nott's Forest finished group play with 2 wins and 1 loss, which was enough for them to advance to the final against Carlsbad Lightning.

Nott’s Forest BU12 Red Carlsbad Cup Champions

Carlsbad Lightning White went undefeated in group play beating Nott's Forest 5-2, Albion 1-0 and Hawks 1-0, and they would be a strong team for the Nott's Forest Black team to play in the final. Before the final, Coach Tarroja told his players to match the aggressiveness of the Carlsbad players and to be much sharper than when they played in group. The final match was very competitive and exciting. Nott's Forest matched Carlsbad aggressiveness in the match, but had trouble with Lightning’s powerful runs off the dribble from midfield. Eventually, Carlsbad scored first when their center midfielder fired a rocket of a shot from midfield, far outside the penalty box, which looped over the Nott's Forest goalkeeper. Nott's Forest seemed shocked, but they kept fighting.

Eventually, their pressure on the Carlsbad defense paid off when the Nott's Forest’s forward won the ball off a sloppy Carlsbad goal kick and scored, putting the score at 1-1 at halftime. Both teams kept fighting for the go-ahead goal in the second half.

Carlsbad continued with their game plan of having hard runs from their center midfielders to push through the Nott's Forest midfield, and Nott's Forest continued to pass the ball looking for openings. Both teams were playing evenly after the half when Nott's Forest scored off a beautiful diagonal cross from their forward to their right midfielder, who finished on the back post.

With the score 2-1, Carlsbad kept fighting and eventually scored off a rebound from a corner kick from the right hand side to tie the game at 2-2. Nott's Forest had been able to clear the corner kick, but unfortunately, the ball landed at the top of the box for one of Carlsbad’s defenders to shoot and score. The game would end 2-2 and the championship would have to be decided on penalty kicks.

Nott's Forest missed their first two penalty kicks, with the initial shot going straight to the keeper and the second one hitting the post. Nott's Forest went on to make their last 3 penalty shots while Carlsbad missed some of their chances, allowing Nott's Forest to win the Carlsbad Cup 3-2 in PK’s. Congratulations to Nott's Forest BU10 Black and BU11 Red, bracket champions, and to all of the teams that participated in the 2011 Carlsbad Cup.