WAZA News

Waza U12 Teams Compete in Broome County League

Coached by LaMarr Peters, two Lansing WAZA FLO U12 teams are currently competing in the Broome County Soccer Association Spring League (www.broomesoccer.org). The WAZA FLO Gold team is competing in Division 2 and the WAZA FLO Green is competing in Division 4. They both play their home games at the Town Barn Field in Lansing.

The Gold team is off to a great start (3-0-0), defeating the Vestal Vipers twice, 1-0 in Vestal and 4-3 at home and then beating the Soaring Capital Vipers 7-1 last Sunday at home. In the 1-0 victory, Midfielder Luke Mehringer tallied the lone goal late in the first half. Sam Currie was outstanding in goal as he made several brilliant saves late in the game to preserve the shutout. The home match against Vestal was another hard fought game as the Gold team held leads of 2-0 and 4-2 before holding on for the victory. The goal scorers were Jacob Czapranski (two), Christopher Emley and Luke Mehringer. The Gold team broke out against an over-matched Soaring Capital club as Jacob Czapranski scored 5 goals and Christopher Emley and Sam Currie scoring one apiece. The team strength has been the defense through the early part of the season with Nathaniel McIntosh, Jonathan Sun, Michael Harvey and Jacob Palladino having great games.

The Green team is fairly young with all the players U11 or younger, but is competing at a high level in the Broome County League. They are 1-1-1 on the season. They had an impressive victory over Taughannock Thrashers, 7-1 on May 4th with Mason Wolff scoring 4 goals. Their tie (4-4) came in the first game of the season at Newark Valley against the Red Tide. Again, Mason Wolff was the big goal scorer with three goals and Jason Yahn scoring the other. After being down 4-0 to the Schuyler Scorpions Red, the Green team came back with goals from Donovan Baird and Emmanuel Lee to make the final score 4-2. Coach Peters has elected to use four goalkeepers for the season, rotating Jack Stevens, Emmanuel Lee, Jamie Eddlestone and Donovan Baird into the line-up. The team strength has been the quality of passing from the back and the ability to find the target forwards up front. The next game for the Green team is Saturday, May 19th at 3:30 against Corning United at home.

With all league games 8v8 including goalkeepers, Coach Peters has been using either a 3-3-1 or a 3-1-3 formation. He’s been emphasizing playing the ball wide and getting crosses into the penalty box. He also encourages the right and left defenders to push up the field to support the attack. These tactics have been successful so far this season as the teams have combined for a 4-1-1 record.

Submitted by:
Mark Emley
WAZA FLO Assistant Coach
E Coaching Certification
Lansing Soccer Club