December 2006 Sponsored by Smith Barney

Nordic News

To: Coaches, Players, and Parents of Nordic Soccer Club.

Welcome to the December 2006 edition of Nordic News. We would like to wish all of our families a happy, safe and enjoyable holiday period. This month’s edition includes a wrap up of the High School soccer season with a list of the awards that Nordic players received either through the Burlington Free Press or with the National Soccer Coaches of America Association (NSCAA). Both of the NSCAA nominations for Vermont All American‘s were Nordic players. Congratulations to CVU’s Emily Milbank (18 Premier Girls) and Burlington’s Ben Green (19 Premier Boys) on their prestigious awards.

With the school holidays coming up, there will inevitably be some dates when The Soccer Center is closed and team practices and Pool Training sessions will not happen. There will be no Nordic team practices, Pool Training or Goal keeper practice from Sunday December 24^th until Tuesday January 2^nd. There will be Pool Training on Saturday December 23^rd and Tuesday January 2^nd.

In the New Year we will be very happy to welcome back Lou Stazi, UVM’s and Nordic’s goal-keeper Coach. Lou will be back working with the Nordic GK’s every Sunday through-out the rest of the winter season after a well deserved break to spend time with his new family.

The second session of our popular Junior Academy program for 5-14 yr olds will be starting on Saturday January 6^th and will be running for four Saturdays through-out January and February. The Junior Academy is for 5-14 yr olds and includes 30-45 minutes of technical work and 30-45 minutes of scrimmages. Our first session of Junior Academy was a huge success with over 120 budding youngsters being put through their paces by the Nordic coaching staff. For further information or to register, visit the Nordic website (www.nordicsoccer.org)

During the holiday break, The Soccer Center will again be hosting the popular 5^th Annual Jarred Williams Soccer Tournament. The U10 Girls and Boys and U12 Girls will be playing on Wednesday 12/27 whilst the U12 Boys and U14 Boys and Girls will be battling it our on Thursday 12/28. The high school boys and girls will round of the tournament with games on Friday 12/29. Over the past 4 years the tournament has raised thousands of dollars towards the Jarred Williams Foundation (www.jarredwilliams.com) which helps families with chronically ill children.

There are two age groups where we are still able to add some players: Our U10 Girls and U14 Boys Developmental have some spots. If you know of any players that might be interested please have them contact Angie Faraci at a_vfaraci@pshift.com or Jim Goudie at jimgoudie@nordicsoccer.org  or call us at (802) 288 9577.

Players in the News

Nordic Soccer Club got off to a great start for the 2006-07 season when the U-11 Premier Girls and U-17 Premier Girls teams competed and won their divisions at The Soccer Center and MAPS Tournaments in Fort Dix, NJ.  In their first event of the year, the U-11 Premier Girls under the leadership of Coach Todd Wenner battled a game Mallets Bay squad (who featured a handful of Nordic U-12 players) to a draw in the final, but won the tournament title on goal differential.  The scintillating final had a wide variety of goals and masterful saves and provided a crowd of one hundred fans plenty of entertainment. 

In the MAPS Tournament in New Jersey the U-17 Girls squad showed the rest of the region they mean business.  By going undefeated with two wins and two draws over teams from Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, and Connecticut, the Nordic squad won their division outright and the winner’s medals.  For the tournament, Kristen Hagenbarth and Kristen Schmidt provided offensive punch by teaming up for three goals while Emily Bohn, Liz Yasewicz, Megan Cain, and Kayla Bittner were singled out for their great support of the front group and balance in the midfield.  Meanwhile, the story also lay in the back as the Nordic defensive corps of Heidi Hassler, Kate Richardson, Bridget Hennessey, and Caroline Wintersteen were stellar in front of outstanding goalkeeper Autumn Reilly and amassed three shutouts in four games and only relinquished one goal for the entire tournament.  "We had some quality this weekend, starting in the back and moving forward," commented Coach Jesse Cormier.  "This is a very good start to our year, we can certainly build off of our performances," he added.

National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) All Americans:

Emily Milbank CVU High School, 18 Premier Girls

Ben Green Burlington High School, 19 Premier Boys

NSCAA All New England honors:

Jesus Calderon  Colchester High School, 19 Premier Boys
Ben Green Burlington High School, 19 Premier Boys
Doug Yeates  MMU High School, 18 Premier Boys
Emily Milbank CVU High School, 18 Premier Girls

Burlington Free Press All State team honors:

Boys First Team

Doug Yeates (MMU), Ben Green (Burlington), Connor O’Brien (MMU) 

Girls First Team

Gabby Bonfigli (Essex) Emily Milbank (CVU) Kristen Marek (Milton) Kayla Bittner (Essex)

Heidi Hassler (MMU) 

Boys Second Team

Jesus Calderon (Colchester) Lukas Petersen (Burlington) 

Girls Second Team Dia Davis (Burlington) Alison Hemphill (Peoples Academy) Amy Triano (Northfield) EmilyBohn (Rutland) Natalie LeClair (Essex) Mimi Eckenstein (South Burlington)

Lindsay Volk (CVU)

Coaches don’t forget to e-mail your team/player stories/achievements to Jim Goudie at jimgoudie@nordicsoccer.org , no later than the end of the month.