The Crew Juniors U19s, coached by Crew technical director Brian Bliss, defeated Georgia’s Gwinnett Soccer Association Phoenix 2-1 on Saturday night at the United States Youth Soccer National Championships in Rock Hill, S.C. The U19s came from behind with goals by Jordan Tyler and Wil Trapp to win their second McGuire Cup in the last three years.
Trapp, a native of Gahanna, Ohio, and a standout with both the University of Akron and the United States Under-20 teams, played the full match just 48 hours after contributing an assist in the 4-3 U.S. U20 loss to Chile on Thursday, July 26, at the Milk Cup in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
The Crew Juniors controlled most of the play creating scoring chances early on and keeping possession in the offensive half of the field. A 9th minute shot by Chandler Gagnon was deflected into corner and a Chris Davis header in the 12th sailed high above the crossbar.
In the 13th minute Trapp whipped a ball into the box finding Cole Denormandie but the young forward’s point blank shot went straight into GSA goalkeeper Jack Falle’s arms.
The first chance for GSA Phoenix came in the 15th minute when forward Iain Smith took a shot from distance only to see the ball go high.
The match took a turning point in the 36th minute when Crew Juniors keeper Jeffrey Gal cleared a corner kick back to GSA’s Walker Zimmerman; the Furman College product kicked the ball back to Hugh Pringle who slotted it past Gal for the temporary 1-0 lead.
The Crew did not let up and continued to search for the equalizer and finally found it 10 minutes into the second half. Crew midfielder Fatai Alashe sent a ball through to Jordan who beat his defender and sent a shot down the middle to beat Falle.
The U19s did not let up and continued on the attack almost doubling up in the 57th minute with Luke Blades sending a ball into the box to an oncoming Denormandie who was not able to connect in time.
The game winner came in the 67th minute when Trapp picked up a poor clearance by GSA’s Adnan Junuzovic. The United States U20 standout one-timed a blast from about 25 yards out to beat Falle and give the Crew the 2-1 lead.
Just two minutes later Trapp tried the same shot again only to see it deflected by the GSA defense towards Tyler who then sent his shot wide.
The Crew Juniors came close to scoring again in the 84th minute after Alashe sprung John Macias forward who took the ball all the way into the box and sent a diagonal shot towards Falle, only to see the ball narrowly miss the goal mouth.
GSA mounted a final effort in stoppage time with a free kick from Chase Park but Gal easily punched it back out into the midfield fixing the result at 2-1.
NOTES:
- This was the second James P. McGuire Cup for the U19s in the last three years. They had previously won on July 23, 2010, beating Pennsylvania’s FC Delco Hammerheads 1-0 behind a goal by Tyler Pollock.
- The Crew Juniors also won the Fair Play award which is a testament to how they play and conduct themselves on the field.
- Each national championship match features the awarding of the Golden Ball and Golden Glove award for outstanding play and goalkeeper, respectively. The Golden Glove went to Crew Juniors Jeffrey Gal this year.
- Wil Trapp played the full 90 minutes just 48 hours after contributing an assist in the United States U20 4-3 loss to Chile in the Milk Cup in Northern Ireland.
- Four Crew players were named to the tournament best XI: Gal, Matt Walker, Will Walker and Kofi Agyapong.
- Grand Rapids Crew Juniors U18s as well as CUP Crew Juniors and Challenger Crew Juniors U15s were also at the USYS National Championships, with the GRCJ U18s and Challenger U15s reaching their respective finals but finishing as national runner-ups.
Crew Juniors U19 2 – GSA Phoenix 1
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Scoring Summary:
GSA – Hugh Pringle (Walker Zimmerman) 36
CRJ – Jordan Tyler (Fatai Alashe) 55
CRJ – Wil Trapp (unassisted) 67
Misconduct Summary:
CRJ – Fatai Alashe (caution) 37
CRJ – David Abidor (caution) 64
Lineups:
Crew Juniors U19 starters – Jeffrey Gal; David Abidor, Matthew Gardner, Chandler Gagnon, Luke Blades; Chris Davis, Wil Trapp, Fatai Alashe, John Macias; Matt Walker, Cole Denormandie
Crew Juniors bench: Kofi Agyapong, Will Walker, Matthew Hill, Maxwell Riehemann, Jacob Rice, Jordan Tyler.
GSA Phoenix starters – Jack Falle; Connor Yeaney, Walker Zimmerman, Tucker Coons, Chase Park; Tyler Peoples, Ammon Lakip, Darvin Ebanks, Dominic Bonilla; Iain Smith, Adnan Junuzovic.
GSA Phoenix bench: Mitchell Kupstas, Matt Shreiner, Ehiosasele Aburime, Tyler Happ, Josimar Olmos, Robby Greenfield, Hugh Pringle, Milton Sangabriel, Jon Skinner, Tyler Hilliard
