NORDIC NEWS        May 2006

   

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

Edited by Jim Goudie

 

Welcome to the May 2006 edition of Nordic News. It’s been a while since our last edition and there’s a lot of news to catch up on! For players and parents that are new to Nordic this year, the idea of Nordic News is to keep all of our members upto date as to what’s going on in the club, both on and off the field and to highlight our individual players accomplishments and team achievements.

 

The biggest news recently within the club is the announcement that we will be sharing the Champlain Valley Exposition (CVE) indoor facility with Far Post next year.  Far Post will be using the North building (our boarded field area) for their training.  We will use the South building for our training.  Both Clubs will contribute their non-training time to a “pool” that will be used for 5v5 futsal and 7v7 for larger field games.  The new relationship will allow Nordic to offer expanded training opportunities utilizing larger spaces.  League play will be administered under the name of the “Champlain Valley Soccer Center”.

 

Secondly, we welcome Jesse Cormier to the club as Nordic’s new Interim Director of Coaching.  Jesse is the Head Men’s Soccer Coach at UVM and took the reins of the club on May 1st.  He has been very busy out at the Tree Farm getting to know all our teams, coaches and families and brings a lot of stability to the clubs coaching ranks.  Jesse will also step in and assume primary coaching responsibility for the U-16 Girls when Angie Faraci takes her maternity leave.  In addition to Jesse, the other new face among our stellar coaching staff belongs to Wade Jean the new Head Men’s Soccer Coach at St. Michael’s.  Wade has assumed responsibility for the U-18 boys in order to free-up Lou Stazi for goalkeeper training (see schedule below).  Wade returns to his home state after a spectacular run as the head men’s coach at Duquesne (Pittsburg, Pa.) where he was named Atlantic 10 Conference Coach of the Year four times (1999, 2002, 2004 and 2005)!  Steve Elliott, our former Executive Director has moved to Portland, Oregon, to take up a Director of Coaching position with FC Portland.  We wish Steve well and thank him for his many contributions over the past 9 months.

 

The Tree Farm is in fantastic shape and is one of the top soccer facilities in the New England/North-east area.  Please help us to maintain it’s current condition and show a lot of respect when we use it.  Unfortunately, some vandals managed to get onto the fields with a car and did some considerable damage causing the closure of one of the fields and breaking a set of goals.  The Tree Farm Management Group of which Nordic is a founding member has asked us to remind folks to please drive slowly in the parking lot!  The rain out procedure is for parents to call the club number at 288 9577 and there will be a message on the voicemail if the fields are closed.  No message means the fields are open.  If time allows, we will get an e-mail out to all the coaches and managers and get a message up on the web-site (www.nordicsoccer.org).  The Tree Farm Group will soon be kicking of a capital campaign that is intended to raise funds to pay off certain of the debts incurred in the development of the complex.  Please look for more information and consider a contribution or assisting with one of the planned fundraising events.  Every little bit helps the Tree Farm, which helps Nordic.

 

Nordic Cup 2006 is Nordic’s annual soccer tournament and is happening Saturday June 17th and Sunday June 18th.  It is one of the Club’s largest sources of revenue for the club.  We will be using fields at the Tree Farm, St. Michael’s College, Williston Central School and Dorset Park. Gregg Olson is the Nordic Cup Director this year and has been doing a fantastic job along with a group of volunteers in putting together this year’s event.  We have a record number of 225 teams entered into this year’s tournament!  We still have volunteer jobs to fill, so do your part and sign up.

 

Nordic will be hosting 3 soccer camps this summer as part of our educational program.

Week One: “FUN”damental Camp Week One 7-14 yr. olds June 26th to June 30th

Week Two: “FUN”damental Camp Week Two 7-14 yr. olds July 31st to Aug 4th

Week Three: High School pre-season and conditioning camp Aug 7th to 11th

 

Cost is $125 per person and all camps will be held at the Tree Farm. Application forms are available on the Nordic web-site (www.nordicsoccer.org)

 

 

Nordic Players in the News:

 

This part of Nordic News is dedicated to what goes on the field and will highlight all our teams and individuals achievements.


On April 22 and 23rd, the Nordic U12 Girls Premier team traveled to Epping, NH to participate in the Seacoast United Spring Invitational tournament.  This tournament took place at the brand new Seacoast United Soccer complex in Epping. The complex features 4 full-sized turf fields.  The Nordic girls played four matches over the two days versus Yankee United (CT) U12 girls, Coastal Maine U12 girls, NH Classics U12 girls and Seacoast United (NH) U12 girls.  The teams record for the weekend was 1-2-1with a total of 4 goals scored versus 6 goals against.  Two members of the team, Lauren Bernard and Stacy Tomlinson were named to the All-star team by coaches and players from other teams.

 

Our older teams kicked off their Y league seasons with varying degrees of success.  The 14 Premier Boys were the headline makers after potentially making Nordic Y league history!  In their first ever Y league game, they beat Cape Cod Crusaders 9-0 with Robert Wood claiming 5 goals.  Nordic historian Hank Bechtel is checking the Nordic history books to see if that is a Nordic Y league record for margin of victory and goals scored by an individual in one game.  The following day, the 14BP tied Boston Bulldogs 1-1 on a Ben Trendle solo effort.

 

The 14 Premier Girls have had a tough start to their Y league season with losses to Boston Renegades (4-0), Cape Cod Crusaders (3-1) and Ottawa (4-0) whilst the 15 Premier Girls also lost to Ottawa 2-0.  

 

TJ Mead’s 16 Premier Boys also had a tough road trip with a 1-0 loss to Cape Cod Crusaders and a 3-0 loss to Boston Bulldogs.

 

In VSL (Vermont Soccer League) play, our older teams came across each other last week-end where Wade Jean’s 18 Premier Boys beat the 17 Premier Boys 2-0 on a Vasilis Varsakopoulos own goal (sorry V had to mention that!!!) and  a Mario Maric penalty kick.  They then beat the 16 Premier Boys 5-3 after the 16BP had taken a 2-0 lead.  The 17BP then beat the 16BP 4-0 thanks to a Robin Pierce brace.

 

Tony Anderson and Kirk Jean’s U10 Boys have had a great start to their Jamboree season with 6 wins, 1 tie and 1 loss in their 8 games so far this season.  In their first weekend of play they beat Far Post Orange and White and Rutland before losing to Far Post Blue. Then the following weekend they got revenge on Far Post Blue with a 3-2 win before further wins over Capital White and Far Post Orange and a 0-0 tie with Capital Black.

 

Tony Anderson’s coaching is also paying off with his 11 Premier Boys, as they have now gone 4 games without a loss.  After 2 straight losses to the start of their season, they re-bounded with a 3-1 win over Far Post 12’s and a 13-0 win over Far Post 11’s.  They then had a great 2-2 tie with nemesis Colchester on a Noah Lieberman PK and a 5-2 win over Capital.


Seth Rebeor lit it up with a double for the 15 Premier Boys in a 5-0 win over the 14 Premier Boys. Adam Hart and Will Martin chipped in with a pair of singles.

 

The 14 Premier Boys spent their spring break in Cocoa Beach, Florida for a quality 8 days of pre-season training. After arriving at their dorms at 2.30am on the Sunday morning and then a relaxing day on the beach, the boys got down to business with 5 days of 2-a-day and 3-a-day practices and games in the Florida sun.  They played 3 games on their trip with a 3-2 loss to Satellite Beach on goals from Abdi Said and Robert Wood, a 2-2 tie with Rockledge (Abdi Said and Erich Schwer) before finishing with a well earned 2-0 win over Ormond Beach thanks to Awil Hussein and another Abdi Said goal.  As well as getting in 3 games, the team got in close to 20 hours of practice time, which is equivalent to 6 weeks of practice!  We anticipate making the Cocoa Beach trip a regular part of the Nordic program for teams that want to get in a week of pre-season training, sunshine and fun. More information on the complex can be found at www.cocoaexpo.com.

 

Nordic goalkeeper practice will resume on Wednesday May 24th with UVM Goalkeeper and Nordic Coach Lou Stazi. Goalies ages 9-13 will practice from 6.15pm-7.15pm and then Gk.’s 14 and older will practice from 7.15pm-8.15pm. Practices will be held at the Tree Farm (if it stops raining!!!)

 

 

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