This weekend wrapped up league play for a majority of our teams.  Once again, our players had great seasons in both the BRSL and the Skyline leagues.  Success didn’t end there as most of our teams had fantastic results in mid season tournaments all over the state of Virginia.  Great job to all of the players, coaches, parents and volunteers that continue to make our seasons a success!

The U-11 boys won the league title in style on Saturday vs Valley AFC. Needing one point to win the league, the boys started well and Daniel Salom opened the scoring with a great strike from an acute angle. Playing good passing soccer, the boys added goals from Daniel, Firas Dalioul and Champ Humpreys  for a 4-0 halftime lead. In the second half, the boys played possession soccer and finished off the scoring with two goals in the last few minutes from Sture Forsman and Vedat Dilek. The boys now face their hardest challenge of the season when they play in Richmond on the 12/13th, before finishing with a trip to SOCA. Many congratulations to the players who got better and better as the season progressed.

The u-11 girls had a tough match this weekend losing 4-3. The got off to a slow start but finally settled down near the end of the first half.  There was one brilliant flash when they connected a couple of passes to switch the field and changed the point of attack.   Also, the girls finally had about 3 give and gos during a game!  Goals came from Maddie and Emma Kennedy, with Emma scoring twice. 

The U12 boys Skyline team capped off another great season in the Skyline league by going 1-1 this weekend, and 7-1-2 overall, winning their division.  They played a great game on Saturday beating Valley AFC 4-3, an early lead was opened up after Addision Flack received a pass from Jack Kleiber and beat the outside defender on the dribble and finished off a 1 v 1 with the keeper by burying it in the lower right corner.  Two more quick goals were scored when Bailey Prosser finished a ball off of a beautiful switch from Justin Mecham,  and Noah Clark finished a PK after being taken down from behind in the box, putting the boys up 3-0 at half.  To start the second half, Brady Buchannan finished off a ball crossed in from Noah Clark giving NRU a 4-0 lead.  From this point forward the boys were challenged by being put in different positions to continue to learn the whole game of soccer, and Valley AFC made a late run scoring 3 goals at the end of the second half, but NRU was able to hold on for the win.  Great season boys.

On Sunday, the boys played SOCA and lost 4-2, marking their first loss this season since the finals of the Twin City Classic.  The U12 boys played with two new players Zach Dalton and Sean Roeschke, who stepped up and help provide depth to a short bench for the day.  SOCA played a dominate first half, maintaining possession and gaining a 3-0 lead while NRU played on their heels as but still created a few chances.  To start the second half, Noah Clark finished off a beautiful 25 yard shot that went straight into the right upper 90 past an extended keeper.  This was followed up with an second goal that was created when Noah Clark looked for Zach Dalton making a far post run, as the ball was played across the 18 yard boxed and deflected off a SOCA defender causing an own goal bringing NRU within 1 goal of a tie.  The boys hung tough and created several chances to tie the game, but in the closing minutes a SOCA player played a long 30 yard shot that fell perfectly under the crossbar making the final 4-2.  Austin Bissel made a great play on the shot attempting to slap it over the crossbar, unfortunately he had to fight off an early morning sun that was directly behind the ball into his eyes, making any play on the ball extremely difficult.

The u-12 girls put together a great effort against Valley AFC this weekend.  Maintaining possession for much of the first half, the girls went down 1-0 after a trip in the box led to a penalty kick converted nicely by Valley.  The girls continued to play with energy and deservedly tied the score just before halftime on a well-placed 15-yard shot by Emily Southern.  In the second half, the NRU girls dominated play and kept the ball mostly on Valley's half of the field, using combinations to get around and past the Valley defense.  Ashlen Burch broke the tie on an 18 yard bomb that just snuck under the crossbar, and Georgia Halkidis iced the game with a shot taken just outside the box and driven low just inside the far post.  The defense played extremely well and did not allow many scoring opportunities in either half.  In addition to the goals, special play was offered by Shaida Campbell, earning "Header of the Game" for heading a high Valley punt before the bounce, and Anna Dresser, who displayed fantastic technique with her first touch turning away from pressure and into open space to keep possession for her team.  Tori Shimozono and Eliza Stowe offered great leadership in goal and were there to make the plays when needed.  With the win, the NRU girls have secured at least a tie for 2nd place for the season, after having finished in last place in Fall 2010 and second-to-last in Spring 2011.  Great job, ladies!

The U13 Skyline team had a successful weekend with 2 wins against Valley AFC and SOCA respectively.  In particular, the defensive backline played really well, conceding no goals in both matches. In a new formation, Ian Znorowski played two fine games in defensive midfield, as he controlled the tempo of the game from deep positions and gave good cover and support to the defensive line. He played two excellent games.  They handled Valley 5-0 and SOCA 6-0 finishing the season 8-1-1.  Great job out of the group once again!

The U13 girls team had a tough weekend losing to SOCA  4-1.  At times the girls put together some great play, however SOCA was just too much for them for the majority of the match.

The U13 Boys BRSL team had two games against Radford this weekend, and although they fell short tying the first, they continued to dominate possession and created chances throughout both matches.  Ethan was great in the first match being extremely reliable on defensive plays and his increasing leadership on field.  Once again in the second match, the boys had more shots on goal, or more precisely, more shots on their goalie, and managed to increase the overall ball possession from the day before.  The second half was very much like the first, a lot of scoring chances but poor finishing.  Joey Gabbard was great with his tireless work on defense that completely eliminated the counter-attack designs of their better players.  His desire to step up and challenge the ball proved to be a great factor in the lopsided possession during the game as they were never able to really get anything going offensively.  The times that he controlled the ball and pushed up with it under control were always seen as potentially dangerous and just fell short of producing the much needed and sought after goal(s).  Unlucky boys.  Keep up the good work!

The U14 Boys played a back and forth game with Valley AFC this weekend.   In the first half, the boys struggled with field conditions but were still able to control possession.  28 minutes into the first half Beau Houchins made a run down the left side, made a move to get in on the Valley keeper, took a shot which the keeper deflected right back to Beau who gladly finished the second chance.  The defense was holding Valley’s attack at bay, but at 35 minutes a shot was sent in which was deflected to the side by the NRU keeper, Michael Sampson.  In the scramble for the ball, the referee called a very soft foul on Michael which set a PK and the tying goal right at half time.  In the second half Valley came out strong and scored a quick goal to go up 2 to 1 as several NRU defenders lost their footing.  The team recovered quickly on a beautifully orchestrated goal set up from the back line to Harris Salom, who played a great ball to Lucas Tuosto on the right.  Lucas fired a shot from 25 yards out that sailed across the face of the goal over the outstretched hands of the keeper and into the upper 90.  From there both defenses held firm and the game ended in a 2 to 2 draw.  Overall a good back and forth match.

The U16 boys went up against a strong Valley squad this Saturday. The first half was full of brilliance out of the NRU boys, becoming dangerous on almost every offensive possession. Unfortunately, they were unable to put one of those threatening opportunities in the back of the net. The second started with a few more scares and finally Valley was able to break the stalemate. Our boys gave a valiant effort, but the attack of Valley was too much for the full 80 minutes.

The NRU U18 Girls ended the Skyline League with a first place finish for the second year in a row losing only one game in two seasons. The team had a memorable last game coming back from being down 2-1. Late in the game, Morgan Evans scored two goals that were virtually unstoppable shots for an NRU 3-2 victory over Roanoke Star. The team will end the season by competing in Raleigh's CASL college showcase November 18th-20th.

Congrats to all of our teams this year.   Most of our groups will be traveling this weekend for tournament play in Richmond and then will pick up play again in the National Bank Futsal Classic the first two weekends of December.  Good luck to all!