By Jean DePlacido
Correspondent
July 03, 2009 11:09 pm The coaches issued a challenge to their New England Aztec U-15 Kodiat boys soccer team: win the last five weekends of the spring season. Coach Ebbie Kodiat and assistant Peter Lavasseur never mentioned the words "state championship;" they simply stressed the five important weekends on the schedule. The team responded by not only getting the job done for their coaches, but capping it off with the Massachusetts State Cup. "I had a plan for this group to win the last five weekends," said Kodiat, who has coached this particular group for the last two years. "We made it to the state semifinals last season and had a couple of new additions who made an immediate impact." Kodiat's team went 5-0 down the homestretch to finish with a 12-0-3 record at the end of the season, becoming the first Aztec boys team to win a Massachusetts State Cup. They beat Cape Cod Reunited (4-1) and tied Expos (2-2) and FC Blazers (1-1) in the group stage of play on the opening weekend before knocking off Greater Boston (1-0) in the semifinals. The finals featured a thrilling 1-0 win on penalties kicks over Western United at the Citizens Bank Fields in Lancaster. The Aztec boys will represent M assachusetts at the 2009 US Youth Soccer Region 1 Championship in West Virginia. It marks the second straight year an Aztec team has won the states after the girls U17 state crown in 2008. "Our biggest strength is we are extremely resilient," said Kodiat. "We work very hard together and now that we believe in each other, we are strong as a unit." "What helped us most was going to the Oakwood Tournament in Connecticut the weekend before States (and winning). The games there were very competitive and we saw different situations in games - up or down - that helped us a lot. We encountered similar situations at the State Tournament and felt very much at ease." Aztec team members include Grant Bean (North Andover/St. John's Prep); Maximilian Montanari (Hamilton-Wenham), Andrew Burnham, Chandler Burnham, Shaffy Roell and Cameron Tibert (Rockport High); Colin Mahoney (Peabody High); Maxwell Cotton (Melrose/St. John's Prep); Brady Forcier (Middleton/Masconomet); Greg Conrad (Peabody/Governor's Academy); Samuel Milbury (Peabody/Brooks); Ryan McManus (Rockport/St. John's Prep); Kenneth Fryer (Wilmington, transferring to St. John's Prep), Deklan Robinson (Hamilton/St. John's Prep); Taylor Perkins (Andover/Phillips Andover); Timothy Chiang and Sherwin Yamin (North Andover); and Guilherme Rodrigues (Lowell High). "It is a real credit to the boys for accepting our challenge and running with it," said Kodiat, an All-New England at Salem State College who was the second leading scorer in the country in 1998. He later played on India's National Team and professionally for the Boston Bulldogs. "It was a great pleasure for us as coaches to see the happiness on our boys' faces. They deserved it, and we consider it a privilege and blessing to be part of this (championship)." Lavasseur, the assistant coach, was also a standout at Salem State, where he was also All-New England and set just about every SSC record for goalkeepers. He later served as assistant coach for the Vikings, Salem High and Gloucester High. It was a very good spring for Aztec teams overall, with three winning MAPLE division championships - U12 girls, U15-White Flame girls, and U17 girls. The U14-MacLean girls earned a promotion to D-2, and the U16-Murray boys finished tied for first in D-2 to earn a D-1 promotion match. The U12 boys, U15-Kodiat boys, and U15 White Flames all won Memorial Day tournaments while the U14 boys won the Massachusetts part of the US Youth Soccer President's Cup, and the U13-Macdonald girls won the Scorpion Bowl. Seven teams represented the club in the State Cup round-robin competition.
—
Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.