The U10 (2013/2014) LAFC Lions finished second in their group and won the final to be crowned champions in their group. From left: Jonas Whitton, Kyson Peterson, Armen Siranosian, Zaiden McClellan, Noah Mendez, Kaleb Wilhoit, Christian Carter, Brecken Hanson, Noah Yeamans, and Coach Antranik Siranosian. Not shown: Timothy Blair. Courtesy/Siranosian
By ANTRANIK SIRANOSIANÂ
Los Alamos
The Los Alamos Youth Soccer League (LAYSL, www.laysl.org) sent five boy’s teams to the Durango Shootout over Mother’s Day weekend. The boys had an excellent showing, playing many hard-fought games, and coming home with one championship team and two second-place teams.
The U10 (2013/2014) LAFC Lions won their two games on the first day of group play to secure their spot in the final. On the second day of the tournament, they lost a hard-fought match by a score of 2-3 against a Santa Fe team in the third game of group play, then made a tremendous effort to beat the same Santa Fe team by a score of 4-2 in the final. The Lions played excellent team defense, led by a strong pair of fullbacks in Brecken Hanson and Noah Yeamans and excellent goalkeeping from Zaiden McClellan, and great defensive play from the midfielders (Christian Carter, Armen Siranosian, Jonas Whitton, Kaleb Wilhoit) and forward (Kyson Peterson). The Lions also made great offensive contributions as a team, which led to 19 goals spread between Christian Carter, Kyson Peterson, Armen Siranosian, Kaleb Wilhoit, and Noah Yeamans. Noah Mendez was injured and could not play, but travelled to Durango and helped coach and cheer from the bench. Timothy Blair was unable to travel due to unforeseen circumstances.
The U10 (2013/2014) LAFC Raptors finished off their season in style with a great showing at the Durango tournament. The boys made it to the semi finals where they were beaten in over-time by Gallup in a heart-breaker after leading for most of the game. In earlier games the Raptors won one game and lost another narrow game but still qualified for the final stages of the tournament. Zach Schroeder was their top scorer with 6 goals for the tournament and Michael Perez, Isaac Gibson and James Junghans also made strong contributions with more goals and assists. In goal Jase Strain made many amazing saves in the 3 games, and Liam Colgan, Elijah Montano and James Rushton were rock-solid in defense. The Raptors look forward to competing again in Durango next year as U11s!!
The U11 (2012) LAFC boys played in a very competitive group, dropped their first game but secured their spot in the final by winning their last two games of group play, and finished in second place after an exciting and tight 0-1 final.
The youngest team in their bracket, the U13 (2010/2011) LAFC Lasers fought hard against teams in a mixed-age group where the other teams had U14 (2009) boys on their rosters. Despite having zero subs and some minor injuries, the Lasers persevered and came close in all four games played.
The U17 (2006/2007/2008) LAFC Toppers also dropped their first game, finished strong in group play to make the final, and played a tough final game to finish in second place.
The U10 (2013/2014) LAFC Raptors finished second in their group and made it to the semi-finals for their bracket. From left: Zachary Schroeder, Elijah Montano, Isaac Gibson, Julian Wright, Michal Perez, Jase Strain, James Junghans, James Rushton, and Liam Colgan. Not pictured: Coach James Colgan. Courtesy/Siranosian
The U11 (2012) LAFC boys finished second in their group and in the final. From left: Xabi McReynolds, Adam Schmidt, Quanah Mosley, Oliver Burrows, Leif Wald-Hopkins, JoaquÃn Granja, Oliver Sáenz, Dmitri Lawrence, Brandon Keller, Joel Romero, Jimmy Haroz, and Kai. Not pictured: Coach Juan Sáenz and Coach Michael Tamashiro. Courtesy/Siranosian
The U13 (2010/2011) LAFC Lasers played in a U14 group, fought hard and played four close games. From left: Isaac Jaurigue, Atticus Sena, Aamon Atchley, Steven Yeamans, Nicolas Quintana, Jackson Schaffer (G), Gavin Gayner, Ali Hijazi, Eli Aldersebaes, Lucas Garduno, and John Fung. Not Pictured: Coach Gil Garduno. Courtesy/Siranosian
The U17 (2006/2007/2008) LAFC Toppers finished second in their group and in the final. From left: Coach Tom Roelfs, Brendan French (G), Diego Sena, Ben Dattlebaum, Brandon Walker, Jayden Ramirez, Connor Lattimore, Dario Granja, Chris Teague, Angel Perez, Uriah Martinez, Cohen McKown, Pablo Neves Fonseca, Lorenzo Delzanno, and Jason Rogers. Not pictured: Xavier Martinez, Esteban Wright, and Assistant Coach Lydell Brown. Courtesy/Siranosian
