By DAVID ERSOFF, Journal Sports
Shreveport United’s 2008 girls blue and 2009 boys blue soccer teams both won the Louisiana State Cup last weekend and will represent Louisiana in the regionals this month in Tennessee, with the winners there heading to nationals.
The 08 girls won their semifinal match over LA Fire Red 1-0. The loan goal was scored by Maddie Penwell, with the assist provided by Isabella Baltov. Goalkeeper Peyton Lewis had three saves to preserve the win.
“This Fire team gave us the most trouble during the season, the team we feared the most,” said coach Nick Flowers
The finals, played Saturday in Gonzalez, pitted the United girls against rival Baton Rouge Black. Shreveport United prevailed 3-0. The game went scoreless through the first half with United having the lions’ share of possession and chances.
Shortly after the second half started, there was a mad scramble for the ball in Baton Rouge’s box when Eryn Flowers passed the ball to Baltov, who shot it left-footed and scored just before a defender was poised to clear the ball away.
As time was starting to get short, Avery Aubrey passed the ball across the Baton Rouge box to a waiting Ryleigh Cram just outside the box. Cram hit a left-footed shot into the far right corner, in soccer terms an upper 90 shot, to make it 2-0. Three minutes later, Cram scored on another upper 90 shot, this one with her dominant right foot, assisted by Baltov.
Keeper Lewis had one save while the Baton Rouge keeper had 11, a stat that shows the overall dominance Shreveport United had in the game.
The Shreveport United 09 boys played their semifinal game Saturday in Gonzalez, resulting in a 1-0 United win over LA Fire Red.
In the first half, Whit Sample scored the game’s only goal. Goalkeeper Brady Quinlan had three saves, including a high-level, high-stress shot after a pass along the backline was intercepted. Shreveport United dominated in all areas of the game including possession, shots and corner kicks.
“The 1-0 score line did not accurately reflect the flow of the game,” coach Radi Baltov said. “We were just not able to finish most of our opportunities, but 1-0 still gets you into the final.”
The United boys took the State Cup title on Sunday against the New Orleans Spartans, prevailing 2-1 with goals from Graham Kyle and Stefan Cosse.
Midway through the first half, left back Kyle took the ball forward and shot a low screamer that put United up 1-0. This half was again dominated by the Shreveport team, with the match heading to another nailbiting finish.
Shortly after the second half started, Cosse had the ball. Showing his skilled footwork, he dribbled around three defenders and took a left-footed shot past the outstretched arms of the Spartans keeper. The United team took a defensive posture to ride the clock to the end, while still getting a few good chances to add to the lead.
In the final minute, the Spartans were able to cut the lead in half after a cross found a wide open forward in front of the net, where he calmly passed the ball into the net. As slow as it seemed to fans that time evaporated, the final whistle was soon blown and Shreveport United stood as state champs.
