Monday Feb. 15

Well for half of the team it was back to Philadelphia.  Everybody had flights at different times of the day, with different amounts of time to hang out. The other half of us are leaving in the morning so we took a day trip to Sedona. What a fun day. We took the “Pink Jeep” tour into the Red Rocks. The four wheeling adventure was really a lot of fun. A few shrills and plenty of laughter! It was hard to believe that they could drive over some of the rock formations we were on. We got out and climbed a little way up the Red Rocks to enjoy the beauty we were surrounded by. The sights were breathtaking! On the way out of town we stopped at a local chapel that was built right into the mountainside.

Well, unfortunately it is time to leave the sunny west behind and head home. By tomorrow afternoon we will all be back in Philadelphia. We had a great time and some great soccer. A fun time was had by all!

Sunday Feb. 14

Today we faced off against North Valley Juventus to see who would win our bracket. A win and we would be through as bracket champions. A loss or tie would still leave us with a chance for a wildcard spot in the semi-finals. We were determined to win and leave no doubt. We came out strong against the Arizona State Champions, but conceded another 1st half goal off a set piece and trailed 1-0 at half. The entire 2nd half we continued to fight for the equalizing goal and with less than 3 minutes left, Doyle Tuvesson deflected a Josh Wilson corner kick to even the score. We continued to fight but could not come up with the game winner. The game ended 1-1 and we had to wait for scores of the later games to see if we would advance. When the scores came in we were disappointed to learn we missed advancing by 1 point, it was especially disappointing since we were one of three teams to be undefeated in bracket play.

The 2nd game of the day was our consolation game against Rio Vista from New Mexico. It was apparent from the start that we had left a lot on the field in the morning game and with several players injured we turned in our most disappointing effort of the tournament, losing 3-1. The only bright spot of the game was “Mighty Mouse” Joe Dodds drawing a PK, which Anthony Liddy calmly converted for the 2nd time in the tournament.

We all came back to the hotel for a pizza pool party. The late night swim and time in the hot tub was just what we needed.

Saturday Feb. 13

We got to sleep in a little today because our first game was not until 11:40. We had breakfast and then piled into the vans and headed to the fields. Our first game was against Eastside FC, Washington. We started out slowly and conceded an early goal to the Seattle area club on a free kick in the 9th minute of the game. At half time we were down 1-0. As the game played on our confidence grew and we took control of the game. After several near misses by Doyle Tuvesson, Josh Wilson’s hard work paid off as he was hauled down in he box and a penalty was awarded. Anthony Liddy calmly converted the PK to even the score. We continued to pressure the rest of the match but could not come up with the winning goal. The late pressure included an incredible save by the Eastside keeper on a 3 v 1 as time expired.

After our first game we re-grouped , had lunch and then headed back to the field for our game against Colorado Select. We started off the second game of the day strong, just like we finished our first one. That energy paid off as Doyle Tuvesson’s blast from just inside the 18 gave the Crunch an early 1-0 lead. A questionable corner kick call awarded by the referee a few minutes later allowed the Colorado team to tie the score at 1-1. We fought back, regained our balance and Joey Dodds put us ahead 2-1 just before half. We continued to pressure early in the second half and Noah Blodget’s chip of the keeper added the important insurance goal. The defense led by Jorge Chavez, Kenny McArthur, Mariano Cepeda, Zach Herman, Sam Soeth and Josh Wilson shut down the Colorado attack. The 3-1 win was a real team effort.

We all had dinner together at a local Italian restaurant where we got to celebrate Noah’s birthday and now we are headed to bed. We have an early game against the local Arizona team tomorrow morning at 8:30.
 

Friday Feb. 12

Despite the canceled flights and delays out of Philly all 18 Crunch Jrs making the journey arrived in sunny Phoenix. Our “mileage” award goes to Austin and Jacqui Sosnow who DROVE to Atlanta to make their connection to Phoenix. Runner up was Noah, his mom and Hannah who managed to get here despite three canceled flights and several connections, just in time for practice this afternoon.

We all gathered after breakfast for a team practice at a local park. It felt good to get moving and adjust to the warm climate especially after being buried in 4+ feet of snow. After practice we had some down time. Some of us headed to the pool and others took a nap. Then we headed to dinner at Sweet Tomatoes to “carb” up for our games tomorrow. We have seen several Delco Player sightings at our hotel but we are not sure that all of the other teams have been lucky enough to get all of their players here. It is only day one and we already have several moms missing in action as they enjoyed a day of fitness, fun and a little pampering.

After dinner, Edgar, Mariano, Jorge, Josh, Noah and Kenny climbed the mountain behind our hotel and like Jack and Jill almost tumbled down….“their nightly workout”…. in the meantime, Sam, Joey, Zach, Blumey , Shane and Tucker hydrated playing Gatorade Pong….Sam and Joey took the win.  It is early to bed so we can be prepared for our first game.