Varsity Soccer beats 3 teams to place second in Soucek Tourney 9/5/2004 Christchurch School lost in the finals 2-1 to Strath Haven High School. “It was a heartbreaker, but the team played great and showed a lot of heart. I think we will learn a lot from this loss and it will make us stronger,” said Christchurch Coach Matt Schaefer. Christchurch and Strath Haven played an extremely physical match. Both teams had some quality chances in the first half but neither could find the back of the net. The score at the half was 0-0. Strath Haven got its break just one minute into the second half and scored to take the lead 1-0. Strath Haven had a chance to extend the lead just a few minutes later when a player broke through for a clean break away but Christchurch goal keeper Tom Conrad, known to his teammates as “guns,” stood tall and made a spectacular save. Christchurch had its chances but the Strath Haven Goal Keeper had a couple of saves to preserve the lead. Christchurch never gave up and finally found the back of the net as Patrick Brown finished a ball off a pass that somehow found its way to the back post. Patrick placed the ball nicely into the upper right hand corner of the net. The goal came with less than two minutes left in the game. Unfortunately this was not Christchurch’s day as Strath Haven countered and scored a goal with just under 30 seconds left in the match. The ball took an unlucky bounce as a Christchurch defender attempted to clear the ball off the goal line, the ball went over the defenders foot and rolled into the goal. The road to the finals was somewhat uneventful for this talented Christchurch soccer team. Despite a lackadaisical attitude and poor finishing the team opened the season by defeating Fredericksburg Christian 2-1. Christchurch started the match by generating several goal scoring opportunities but they simply could not find the back of the net. Fredericksburg had only two shots on net in the first half. Fredericksburg earned a penalty shot off a questionable call 10 minutes into the match. Goal Keeper Tom Conrad saved the penalty but Fredericksburg was able to put away the rebound. The frustrated Christchurch team finally scored with just one minute remaining in the first half when Tyler Jones found Justin Madrid with a nice cross. It was the first goal of the season for Christchurch and fitting that 2003 MVP Justin Madrid got the goal. Andrew Lee scored the game winner off another nice pass from Tyler Jones. Ben Eberline was solid in the game and Humroy Mascoll was extremely dangerous making runs out of the back. Peter Deng-Bul anchored the defense. The second match of the tournament for Christchurch was against Bishop Sullivan Catholic. Christchurch scored early and often and won 5-1. Justin Madrid scored with a brilliant diving header. Adrien Wright played a nice through ball to Tyler Jones who then scored his first goal of the season. Jody Young, Antonio Harley and Andrew Lee also scored. Adrien Wright was dominant in the midfield, he played some very smart soccer, “Adrien’s first touch is spectacular. His decision making and work rate are top notch. He is a special player,” says Coach Schaefer. With the win Christchurch finished in first place in the blue group and advanced to the semifinals. Christchurch faced Hampton Roads Academy in the semifinals. Hampton Roads Academy finished second in the orange group. HRA defeated Walsingham 3-0 and lost a close match to soccer powerhouse Strath Haven 1-0. Christchurch came out on fire and seemed to finally mesh as a team. Patrick Brown was a steady force in the central defense and Adrien Wright continued to dominate. Adrien and Justin Madrid began to mesh and the combination was deadly. Humroy Mascoll was speedy and slick coming out of the outside right back defense. Christchurch scored two goals in the first two minutes of the match. The second goal was dazzling, HRA goal keeper came out of the net and cleared a ball which Justin Madrid settled about 45 yards away from the goal, he then placed the ball over the out of position goal keeper into the upper left hand corner of the net. Justin had two goals in the match. Patrick Brown scored a nice goal late in the game when he stepped up and won a ball from the central defense and then basically dribbled through the entire HRA defense and scored. Andrew Lee, Antonio Harley, and Tyler Jones also scored. The final score was 6-2. Christchurch seemed to have found its groove and was ready for the finals. Next up for Christchurch was Strath Haven High School, a large public high school from the Philadelphia area that has won several Pennsylvania soccer state titles. Strath Haven breezed to the finals, they defeated Walsingham 4-0, HRA 1-0 and in the semifinals defeated Fredericksburg Christian 5-1. An extremely physical and well coached team, Strath Haven was a good early season test for Christchurch. “I invited Strath Haven because I wanted to see what Christchurch soccer is made of, I wanted to see if my boys could handle the speed and physical play of this caliber of team. I think they showed that they were clearly up for the task. I also think if we played this team again later in the season when we are a bit more familiar with each other, the result would be different,” said Coach Schaefer. Adrien Wright, Justin Madrid, and Patrick Brown were selected to the All-Tournament team. Ben Eberline, Jody Young and Peter Deng-Bul logged a ton of minutes for Christchurch and played well throughout. Humroy Mascoll was flashy and showed us how Jamaican’s play with heart and have fun. “I think Humroy’s attitude and love of the sport with be the most significant contribution to this team. Of course he is talented, but what I admire most about him is his heart and sincere love of the game. This will inevitably rub off on his teammates,” said Coach Schaefer. The Christchurch soccer team continues the 2004 campaign with a scrimmage against the Williamsburg Elite Soccer Club on Wednesday September 8 at 6:00 PM here at Christchurch. They open prep league play on September 14 at home at 4:00 PM against FUMA. “We will let this loss fester for a bit. We must learn to hate losing in order to become true champions. This was a very painful loss, but I am hoping it is the type of loss a team builds on and turns into fuel to win a championship. We as a team have set our goals very high this season, we are anxious to get the prep league season started,” said Coach Schaefer.