ECNL Sides Find Success in Arizona

Wednesday, November 24, 2021

The trio of older Spokane Sounders ECNL sides returned from Arizona this week proud of their performances down in Tucson as all three came away with some positive results, including a 1-1-1 run from the B2005 squad.

“We were competitive all weekend,” said Boys Director Jay Vela. “We showed well overall and I am very pleased with how the boys did at the event.”

The B2005s kicked things off Friday with an impressive 1-1 draw against LA Breakers FC and followed that up Saturday with a 2-1 result against De Anza Force. The event capped off with a close contest against Phoenix Rising in which they unfortunately came out on the wrong side of a 3-2 scoreline.

Adrien Ferrasse scored the goal against Breakers to kick things off. Zac Olson tallied tallied in the victory against Force on a ball from Jorge Nunez with Isaac Lopez providing the game-winner. Olson also set up a goal against local side Phoenix. He found Cam Kreider for one tally with Jesus Garcia tallying the other.

The B2003/04 group, which also got the chance to tour the University of Arizona campus while down there, got to a slow start in a loss to Solar SC on the first day but rebounded with a fantastic 3-0 result against New Mexico Rush on the second. Facing an MLS development side on the final day, the squad put up a good fight in a narrow 2-1 loss to a Houston Dynamo side that was 3-0-0 in the event.

Alex Reyes scored two goals on the weekend with Marcos Bravo and Rudy Malloy providing the others along with excellent support from Maze Mitchell.

After a pair of losses on the first two days, the youngest group of the three responded well and posted a 2-2 result against an Arizona Arsenal side that finished the event unbeaten (1-0-2). Santiago Gonzalez Guerrero scored all three goals in the three matches for the B2006 group.

“We had good games overall from our goalkeepers,” said coach goalkeepers coach Bryan Hernandez. “Noah Jordan had a fantastic double-penalty save in the last minute of the game against Breakers to preserve the draw, and then over weekend had two top-hand saves at the end of the game as he continued to excel.

“Oliver Hart had some very good clean saves over the weekend to keep scores low for the 2006 team. Michael Kot was playin on pulled quad during the weekend, but just gritted out with some good distribution and some nice saves. Very impressed with how he grinded through the adversity.”

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