Bowie-based Arsenal wins in Scotland

Thursday, Aug. 30, 2007

Bowie-based Arsenal wins in Scotland

by Ted Black | Staff Writer

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After finishing second in five of the previous tournaments in which they had competed, the coaches and players of the Bowie-based Freestate Arsenal U-15 boys’ soccer team were wondering if the team would ever shake its bridesmaid status.

Earlier this month in the Loch Lomond Youth Soccer Festival Tournament at Stirling University in Scotland, the Arsenal ended several years of frustration by winning its first championship. After playing to a 1-1 tie in regulation, Freestate won the title in a penalty kick shootout, 3-1, on goals from Christopher Huffman (Mount St. Joe’s High School), Michael D’Antonio (DeMatha High) and Erin Frey (Southern-Anne Arundel).

‘‘It was such a great feeling to win that tournament,” said Arsenal coach Jose Benitez. ‘‘We were tired of being second. It was rainy and cold, but the kids played so well. We only took 13 players, including two goalies, so we didn’t sub very much. We dominated the first half, but they tied the score with 20 minutes left and then we went straight to penalty kicks.”

While Huffman, D’Antonio and Frey provided the scoring, goalie Jacob Smith (South River) kept the Syngenta Juveniles from gaining the upper hand. Smith, one of the team’s two co-captains, made three saves in four shots and his teammates did the rest, lifting the Arsenal to the shootout victory. Freestate had won the previous three games of the tournament in lopsided fashion.

‘‘Jake made three really nice saves in the penalty kicks,” Benitez said. ‘‘That’s so tough to do. They took good shots and Jake made three really good saves. We didn’t really dominate that game as much as we had the other games. Those other teams are used to playing back while the other teams make a run. But if one of our guys lost the ball, we tried to retake it right away.”

Other county residents on the team include Harif Balogun (Eleanor Roosevelt High) and Joshua Phillips (Bowie High). Phillips, the team’s other co-captain, was named the tournament’s most valuable player. Balogun is the younger brother of 2007 Roosevelt graduate Wendy Balogun, now a freshman goalkeeper with the University of Maryland women’s soccer team. Bowie resident Theodore Wilkening (Roosevelt) is the Arsenal’s other goalie.

Benitez was equally proud of his players for displaying good sportsmanship during the tournament, something he heard other American teams had lacked in previous years at the Loch Lomond tournament. Benitez instructed his players not to say anything that could be deemed negative to the officials and to focus on playing the game. Throughout the tournament, his team received high marks from the referees.

‘‘Before we went onto the field, I reminded them not to say anything to the refs,” Benitez said. ‘‘I told them nothing good would come of it. We had heard that some of the other American teams would go over there and talk back to the refs. But our kids didn’t do that. After one game, the referee came up to me and told me how surprised he was that our kids were so polite because they expected a team from the United States to talk back to them.”

E-mail Ted Black at tblack@gazette.net.