Best of luck to ALL '03s at Flamefest

Looks like some tough competetion for you guys. Be sure to hydrate your DD's and have fun!!

Solar Blue loses to Lubbock Cruz Azul in Finals 1-4. Solar Blue beat Sting Scarfone 04s 4-1 and Solar Armstrong 5-0, but loses both rugby/MMA matches against Lubbock. Lubbock was huge and dangerously physical (full speed body checks and flying legs) and their coach had the shameless gall to call girls floppers when fouls were called.

I've heard several complaints from parents regarding this Lubbock Cruz Azul "03" team.
I've even heard that one or two of the "03s' can be found on the club's 01 team page. To make things more confusing...the gotsoccer.com page for this '03' team has '02' in the team name.

Can someone who was there this past weekend and watching the 03s shed some light on this?

SolarPower00 wrote:I've heard several complaints from parents regarding this Lubbock Cruz Azul "03" team.
I've even heard that one or two of the "03s' can be found on the club's 01 team page. To make things more confusing...the gotsoccer.com page for this '03' team has '02' in the team name.

Can someone who was there this past weekend and watching the 03s shed some light on this?

Can't confirm the whole team, but I recognize some of the players as '03s.

enuffsoccer wrote:Solar Blue loses to Lubbock Cruz Azul in Finals 1-4. Solar Blue beat Sting Scarfone 04s 4-1 and Solar Armstrong 5-0, but loses both rugby/MMA matches against Lubbock. Lubbock was huge and dangerously physical (full speed body checks and flying legs) and their coach had the shameless gall to call girls floppers when fouls were called.

What do you guys expect? Those girls grew up playing with scorpions and rattlesnakes and put cactus flowers in their hair for church!

Kidding of course..

I actually saw an 01 thread where a group of parents were putting their daughters in judo (body control, leverage, etc...) due to physical play. Guess it is a taste of what we have to look forward to...

I like that good4nuthin!

But, from what I hear the Lubbock '03s' were so mature and physical, that our girls would have rather tangled with a rattlesnake!

Someone well in the know confirmed at least most are 03s (if tourney roster is same as home association roster?). But the issue is not just age or size (many teams play up at times with older, bigger girls), but that this group was clearly put together by this coach for size and aggresiveness (though not an uncommon thing around here) alone and then, the real issue, is that they are coached (and encouraged by parents) to play that way. It was beyond the typical physical play that you see in academy and select.

I think that person 'in the know' said he recognized "some as 03s".
I have two parents that confirmed that 2 of those 03s are on the
Club's 01 team page....

http://cruzazulsc01.teampages.com/

I agree the style of play is perhaps more of an issue.

I know we will never play another tournament that they've been accepted in.

I'm not surprised. My DD has played a few Oklahoma '02 teams in the past. Now those are some big athletic girls. What they lack in skill, they make up on physical play. It seems that NTX soccer is played on skill and agility. Getting away more from the "physical" style we see in some of the older age groups. Oklahoma teams we played were built (coached) to be physical, punt/run and be more physical. Once your stud forwards are tired of spending time on their backs, they tend to shy away from the ball and make mistakes. That's allowing the team to get in your head. Sounds like Lubbock was successful.

Did the ref hand out any cards or take control of the game?

If I'm not mistaken, one of the Cruz Azul girls has guest played with Fever Black. Some of those parents may be more in the know regarding the roster.

jj4mel wrote:If I'm not mistaken, one of the Cruz Azul girls has guest played with Fever Black. Some of those parents may be more in the know regarding the roster.

I'm not sure if she's guested with them or not in the past. She's an excellent player (that doesn't play physically any more than any of the NTX teams). It wouldn't surprise me if they've asked her to play with them. She's playing with Fever Black all summer. She was with us over at Guts and Glory this weekend.

One caution w/o yellow. Despite all that, will give credit to Cruz Azul's defense. They shut everyone down and it was primarily due to their super fast (and small) sweeper (and rest of defense). She pretty much just poked balls out of bounds to get out of trouble, but she had fantastic timing and speed, matching all of Solar's forwards. But the real issue was the lack of class of the coach. Their coach called 9 year olds floppers. Llamas is one of the calmest, most level headed coaches and great with kids (many coaches that are also teachers are), but he rightfully went off on the guy. But props to Llamas too for putting it all to bed and calming the situation after the game and having all graciously accept medals with both teams.

Just to give an update on the 03 roster, all the girls are 03. Now they do play up to 02 and 01 divisions. But at the Flamefest they were all 03's.