Six Valley teams compete in state soccer tournament

Although none of the six Valley teams that competed over the weekend in the Alaska State Youth Soccer Cup tournament in Anchorage made it to the championships, they all went away with smiles.

"It's been a great time," tournament organizer Sandy Bolz said. "The atmosphere has been so relaxed."

Bolz, who has been organizing the event with her husband, Dennis, for about 15 years, said the reason for the relaxed atmosphere was a change in the format. Instead of playing two games a day, teams played just once.

"We extended it a day this year," she said. "We heard from coaches last year that to play two games a day was a little too much for the kids."

Seventy-one teams in all entered the six-day tourney. Teams ranged in ages from under 12 to under 17.

Bolz said next year the under-12 age group will be phased out of the tournament.

"We'd rather see those kids have fun and experience the positive," she said.

She said it wasn't that the tournament was a negative experience, it was the level of competition. That was considered too rough for them.

She said they will have opportunities to play non-competitive "fun games."

Two of the six Valley teams that went to the tourney made it to the semifinals. The under-12 girls were defeated 2-0 in the single elimination semis by the Eclipse 90 of Fairbanks, and the under-16 boys lost to the Alaska Goldstrikers, 7-0.

Travis Rapp, coach of the under-13 boys Revolution team, said his team started out the season slow and then gradually improved.

"They were playing well," he said, "until this tournament."

The boys had to come from the losers' bracket and beat the undefeated Juneau Jaguars by three goals to make it to the semifinals. They were confident before the game, but as Juneau scored one goal after another in the first half, the team's confidence wavered.

However, the players' smiles never faded.

Juneau scored five times in the first half. The team got two goals by Jamaal Bailey, two by David Wrightston and one by Daryl Lew. The Jaguars scored two more in the second half, beating the Revolution by 7-0.

But through it all the Mat-Su players joked with one another and had a good time, maybe too good, Rapp said.

He said his team didn't really show up for the tourney and it seemed as if they didn't really want a victory. He said the players needed to understand the time they put in to practice and the desire they feel to win would equal what they got out of a game.

He also said he was short on players. Eleven turned out for the team. Gradually that number increased to 14.

"We call it iron man soccer," said Rapp, a high school player himself who graduated last year from Palmer. "There are no subs, so you have to go the distance. I think the players that had to do it are better for it. They learned a lot."

Rapp is going to play ball for Division III Pacific Lutheran University in the fall, but he says he'll be back coaching next summer.

"As long as they want me (here), I'll keep coaching," he said.

Scott Lawrence, a referee for the Revolution/Jaguar game, said this was the second year he flew from Washington for the tourney.

"I can see progression in Alaska soccer in just one year," he said. "They're not competitive yet with California and Washington teams, but they're getting there."

Lawrence, who has been flying the western United States as a referee for six years, said part of his job was to try and improve Alaska soccer, and that included teaching local refs how to become better at what they do.

"In order for the play on the field to improve, refereeing has to improve," he said.

He also said the Alaska state tournament was a favorite because of the people and the atmosphere. Host families put up the refs and an annual barbecue is held for them.

Bolz said organizing the tournament is a lot of work, but it's rewarding work. She said soccer in Alaska is gaining more and more interest.

"It's been growing every year," she said.

Location of the state tourney rotates between Anchorage, Fairbanks and the Mat-Valley. Next year it will be in Fairbanks.

The winning teams go on to the Region IV tournament in Salt Lake City in mid-June of 2002. After that, it's on to the Nationals in July.

Bolz said Alaska is the only state that holds the tournament so early. Most states hold it in the spring.

"But because of our harsh weather, that's just impossible," she said.