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CCSL Stars Combine to Take Gold CupMany of the stars who grace Southside Park on a weekly basis combined to take the Open Division at the SASL Gold Cup this past weekend, defeating Young Guns from Woodland 3-0 in the Final.Coming into the tournament as co-favorites with defending champions El Salvador, the team, named Arsenal after the team that plays in the Folsom League on Saturdays, was made up of players mostly from Casa Sporting, Real San Juan and Cruz Azul. Arsenal began the tournament by outclassing Black Forest FC, a SASL team, 4-0 in the opening match. The game could have easily been more definitive if not for some slack finishing from the winning side. The 2nd match found Arsenal in a tougher match against Premier Division side FC Ireland who were the first team to test goalkeeper Conor McNulty, who came up with two key saves throughout the match. In the third match, Arsenal played Real Madrid from Palm Springs who gave the side their toughest game despite losing 2-0. As the group stage ended, Arsenal had three clean sheets to their name with defenders Marcos Mercado, Ben Gale, Laith Sitka, Tim Bystrowski and Mike Springer holding down the fort in the back. Offensively, the goals came from strikers Jason Jones, Micah Howser with ample support from the midfield of Clemente Fonseca, Levi Henson, Jimmy Frazelle and Damian Flores. Winning When It Counts Arsenal went into the knockout stage as the first seed and faced Afrique Star, who were the winners of their group. Afrique, an athletic and aggressive side rarely tested the Arsenal defense, now marshaled by Gale and Sitka. Midfielder Jaime Perez and midfielder Robbie Comanschi put in strong performances as Arsenal won, 1-0 to advance to the finals. It was in the final where Arsenal were disappointed last year, but they made no mistake this time. Arsenal, throughout the tournament, played stylish football and this game began much the same. Striker Pat Nelle came into the side at the semi-final stage and his pace proved a thorn in the side of both Afrique Star and the finals opponent, Young Guns of Woodland. The turning point of the match came near the end of the 1st half, when striker Jason Flores was introduced and provided a wondergoal from long range after Sitka won the ball in the back, played the ball to Damian Flores who found his brother in space; 1-0 Arsenal. Young Guns came closest when a strike from Real San Juan midfielder Alvaro Delgado forced a fine save from McNulty. The second half saw Arsenal pull away as the tournament winners put two more away to settle the score. Starting strong and finishing with equal style, Arsenal did what Big Brown couldn’t; seal the deal. When the final statistics were totaled, Arsenal’s defense kept five clean sheets out of five, while scoring thirteen. The Squad Coach: Kenyon Hill Asst: Tom Boon Asst: Ruben Mora, Sr.
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