More on the RCU/NPSL Final Four

Southeastern Championship Trophy Presentation

Prior to Friday night's semifinal match, RCU were presented the NPSL Southeast Region Champions trophy.

Rocket City United captain Rafa Barbosa receives the Southeast Champions trophy

The video of the trophy presentation isn't the greatest, but you can hear the announcer pretty well.

Greg Petersen On The Semifinal Loss

I spoke with Greg Petersen prior to the Championship match. In part one of my interview, he discusses the loss to the Erie Admirals SC in the semifinals.

RCU Coach Greg Petersen discusses the semifinal loss

Greg Petersen on the NPSL and Championship Match

In part two of my interview with Greg, he discusses the NPSL League Meetings, and the Championship match.

RCU Coach Greg Petersen on the League Meetings and the Final

More media coverage of the RCU Semifinal Loss

NPSL Director of Public Relations Director Ryan Knapp told me today that over 400 people listened to the audio webcast of the TV coverage provided by John Moran and myself despite some technical difficulties due to unavoidable circumstances. I think that's pretty good numbers for a service that was announced just days before the matches.

Here's a pretty good match report from Eric Anderson of Wisconsin Soccer Central.

Huntsville Newswire ran the RCU write up of the match.

Huntsville To Host 2010 NPSL Final Four

The Executive Committee of the NPSL decided today that Huntsville's own Rocket City United will host the 2010 edition of the NPSL Final Four. Executive Committee member and RCU president Andy Zorovich confirmed that Huntsville, AL will serve as host for the expanded weekend of championship NPSL soccer.

The 2010 version of the NPSL Final Four festivities will be held over 4 days instead of 3. Teams will arrive on Wednesday of Championship Week and hold a pre-Final Four press conference that night. The semifinals will be contested on Thursday night, with Friday serving as a rest day for the winners. The Championship match will be held on Saturday night. This will extend the weekend and combat some of the player fatigue that certainly apparent in the latter stages of this year's event.

Sonoma County Sol Win The 2009 NPSL Championship

Sonoma County Sol forward Tyler Hurst scored deep into the second extra time to claim the 2009 NPSL Championship over Erie Admirals SC.

Erie went ahead in the 16th minute on a Jeremy Deighton deflected header. Sonoma leveled the score in the 44th minute on a goal by Shawn Percell off a broken play on a corner kick. The 1:1 score held until Hurst's goal sealed the 2:1 victory and Sonoma lifted thier first NPSL trophy.

I'll have more from the final four later.

More on the NPSL

I was able to grab the NPSL's Public Relations Director for a few minutes after the semi-final matches last night. Here's what he had to say about the direction of the league.

Ryan Knapp on the how the league fits in the soccer landscape

I'm off to call the final match between the two undefeated teams in the league; the Sonoma County Sol and Erie Admirals SC. Should be an exciting match.

RCU falls in the NPSL Semis; Erie vs Sonoma in the Finals

Despite supremely headed goals from Rafa Barbosa and Freddy Okello, Rocket City United fell to Erie Admirals SC in the first match of the NPSL Semi-finals last night in Madison, WI.

RCU went up early when Daniel Segewitz whipped in a picture perfect cross to the head of Rafa Barbosa in the 12th minute. The lanky Brazilian lept to meet the cross and nodded it on to kiss the inside of the far post. The lead wouldn't stand as in the 27th minute, the Admirals direct play led to a ball played through deep into the attacking third. Erie's Eric Tattersal sent in a laser like cross that found the charging Jeremy Dieghton at the far post to level the score.

Halftime subsitute Evan Chate, scored on a deflected free kick shortly after the break to give Erie the 2:1 lead. RCU worked tirelessly to press the Erie defense for the equalizer and found it in the 72nd minute when Freddy Okello rose above the frozen Erie defense to head in a Paul Willoughby corner.

However, the air was taken out of the inflated RCU a minute later, when a bad give away just outside the area gave substitue Afrim Lafiti a clear shot at Tyler Early's goal. Lafiti gave Early no chance as he stroked the ball home for the 3:2 lead.

In the 88th minute, with all hands on the RCU deck to push for the equalizer, Erie broke on a counter and Dan Howell finished the game for Erie. Final score 4:2 and a terrific season ends one game too early for the RCU faithful.

A full game report can be found here.

In other semifinal, the Sonoma County Sol dominated large portions of the match and beat an overmatched St. Paul Twinstars 4:1.

Breese Stevens Field: Site of the NPSL Final Four

One of the reasons I'm excited to go up to Madison, WI for the NPSL Final Four is that I get to check out the cool old stadium hosting the event. I'm a bit of a history buff and Breese Stevens Field is an old time sports stadium originally built for Madison city athletics in 1926, and has been registered as a historic site.


The field has seen a wide variety of athletic events including serving as home to several minor league baseball teams, high school football games, midget car racing, ice skating, track and field, boxing and even wrestling matches. It's even hosted concerts and a circus.


In 1982, public outcry saved the stadium from demolition and repurposed the stadium into one of the first "soccer specific stadiums" in the country. Since then Breese has been used at times as the home field of several teams including the University of Wisconsin, Edgerwood College, and is currently the home of the NPSL's Madison 56ers.


It has some very interesting architectural features including a covered grandstand on the west end and seats just under 4900 spectators. It featured an ivy covered wall until recent necessary structural improvements forced the removal of the plants. Local referee, coach, and chairman of the committee in charge of recent restorations of the stadium, Eric Bertun, told a reporter at the time, "Breese Stevens Field is sort of the Lambeau Field or Wrigley Field of soccer in Wisconsin."

Breese also hosted the NPSL Championship in 2006. I'm really looking forward to checking this place out.

Listen Live to the NPSL Final Four

If you can't make the trip to Madison, WI for the NPSL Final Four, you can still catch all the action online. The NPSL will broadcast an audio feed of all three matches featuring Huntsville's own John Moran calling the play by play and I will be providing color commentary. Here's the game schedule:

NPSL Final Four Schedule

Rocket City United vs. Erie Admirals - Friday at 6pm

Sonoma County Sol vs. St. Paul Twin Stars - Friday at 8pm

NPSL Final - Winners of Friday's games - Saturday at 7pm

The NPSL has partnered with Teamline to stream the game audio online. To listen just click the link below:

http://www.teamline.cc/teampage?teamcode=6775.

and then click on the "Click here to listen" link to catch all of the action. For more information on keeping up with the games including live blogs and tweets, check out the NPSL Insider Blog.

Closer Look at the Final Four

Rocket City United flies to Madison, WI tomorrow for their first appearance in the NPSL Final Four. Coach Greg Petersen doesn't know much about the RCU opponents, but expects success if RCU play their brand of soccer.

RCU coach discusses the semifinal opponent and the mentality of the team

RCU's opponent in the semifinal of the NPSL Final Four, Erie Admirals SC, was established in 1995 and has an extensive youth system. In their first season in the NPSL, Ireland native John Melody has coached the team to an undefeated regular season record of 9-0-1 in the Keystone Conference of the Northeast Region. The Admirals beat the Atlantic Conference's Boston Aztec 2:0 for the birth in the Final Four.

RCU's semifinal opponent Erie Admirals FC

The other semifinal features the West Region's Sonoma County Sol versus the Midwest Region's St Paul Twinstars.

Sonoma County Sol celebrates on of thier 42 goals

The Sonoma County Sol are the favorites to win the NPSL Final Four after qualifying for thier third consective appearence (fourth overall) after an undefeated season of 9-0-3. The attack first mentality of the Sol led them to the highest goals scored with 42 (3.5 per game) in the NPSL. RCU coach Greg Petersen is well aware of the style with which the Sol plays since the Sol's coach, Ben Ziemer, was a colleague of Petersen's at the Ajax School for Excellence. The Sol have also enjoyed tournament success this year by making it to the second round of the US Open Cup and the semifinals of the USASA Open Cup.

St Paul Twin Stars coach Youssef Darbaki holds the Midwest Region Championship Trophy

The St Paul Twin Stars battled their way to the NPSL Semifinals with a 5-2-1 record and hold the stingiest defense in the Midwest Region with 7 goals allowed. Coaching the team is Liberian Youssef Darbaki who may soon be doing double duty as coach of St Paul and the National Team coach of the troubled African nation.

I'll be making the trip up to Madison, WI to perform my broadcasting duties. So, I'll try to post anything interesting I may encounter.

Rocket City Invitational Recap

Jacob and friends over at the Southern Soccer blog played host to another wildly successful tournament this weekend.

Tournament Director, Jacob Noffke, breaks down the tournament

The Columbus Fire took the Open division crown 6:3 over the Liberty National Finishers while the Rec division trophy was hoisted by Dick's Sporting Goods who was victorious 6:5 in PKs over Bro-Kin-Toe. The Old Guys (Over-30) division championship was claimed by Law Dogs 12:1 over Lee's Precision Machine, and finally, the Co-ed division title went to Shurke who defeated the Blue Devils 6:5. Also, the Crossbar Challenge was won by Mario Sandoval who hit 2 out of 5 to beat Ryan Mills in the final.

Over-30 Champions Law Dogs pose with their trophy

The Golden Boot awards and other results from the RCI can be found here.

RCU and Final Four Notes

RCU Ends Season Unbeaten At Home

Second half goals from Rafa Barbosa, Jason Sabio, Derek Pirtle, Sutton Shults, and Paul Willoughby insured that Rocket City United ended the season undefeated at John Hunt Soccer Stadium. The 5:0 victory over the USL-PDL's Nashville Metros was a warm-up match for this weekend's NPSL Final Four.

RCU defender Kirk Childers on the Nashville Metros game

A full game report can be found here.

RCU defender Brian Hadley discusses RCU's night against the Nashville Metros

NPSL Final Four Teams and Draw Now Complete

The last of the four NPSL Regional participants was determined this weekend. The St Paul Twinstars will represent the Midwest Region. The semifinal games will be played Friday night with RCU (5 wins, 2 losses, 1 draw) taking on the Northeast Region's Erie Admirals (9-0-1) in Semifinal 1 at 6PM. Semifinal 2 will feature the West Region's Sonoma Sol (9-0-2) against the Twinstars (5-2-1) at 8PM. The NPSL Championship Final will be played the next night at 7PM.

We've All Been There

Here's a pretty funny take on the famous Nike ad from a few years back.



Look familiar? :)

RCU To Face Erie Admirals SC in NPSL Semis

Rocket City United has drawn the Erie Admirals SC as their opponents in the NPSL Final Four opener on July 31 at 6PM in Madison, WI.


RCU will have their hands full as the Admirals qualified for the Final Four by winning the Keystone Conference of the NPSL Northeast Region posting 9 wins, 1 draw, and no losses in the process. They then defeated the Atlantic Conference's Boston Aztec 2:0 for the honor of representing the Northeast Region in the Final Four.

I'll have more details on the match-up next week.

RCU Faces PDL's Nashville Metros

Rocket City United will welcome the Nashville Metros to John Hunt Park for a non-league match on Saturday night. Nashville sits in sixth place in the eight team PDL Southeast Division with a 2-7-7 record.


RCU Head Coach Greg Petersen has a successful history with the club from Nashville. In 1997, Petersen led the Metros to the fully professional A-League which was considered the second tier in the US Soccer pyramid. After a guiding them to a 17-11 record, they qualified for the playoffs and made it to the semifinals. In 1998, Petersen and the Metros won the Central Division title with a 20-8 record and also knocked off the Kansas City Wizards of MLS in thier successful US Open Cup run. Petersen moved on when the club ran into financial troubles in 1999.

RCU Coach Greg Petersen discusses his time with the Metros, this week's game, and the opponents in the upcoming NPSL Final Four

This week's match will be used as a dress rehearsal for the NPSL Final Four matches the following weekend. Petersen indicated that he will use a first choice selection for much of the match to help keep the sharpness of the players at a high level.

RCU Randoms

RCU Host HASL Night

The final RCU home match of the 2009 season is also going to be "HASL Night". All Huntsville Adult Soccer League players will get $5 off their tickets for the match against the Nashville Metros this Saturday, July 25 at 7:30 at the John Hunt Soccer stadium.


RCU To Hold Silent Auction To Benefit Rocket City Soccer Foundation

In a silent auction, RCU will auction off the RCU player posters that bedeck John Hunt Soccer Stadium during the home matches. All proceeds will go to the Rocket City Soccer Foundation to provide free coaching and playing clinics for area soccer organizations in need. Bidding will begin at 6 PM on Friday night at the World Soccer Challenge viewing at Parkway Place Mall and winners will be announced at half time of the RCU v Nashville Metros match on Saturday night.


RCU Player Autograph Session At World Soccer Challenge Viewing

RCU players will be available for autographs at the World Soccer Challenge viewing at the Parkway Place Mall food court. Players will begin signing at 6:30 PM near the Rocket Realty kiosk next to the food court prior to the showing of the AC Milan v Chelsea match.

Rocket City Invitational Details

I'm so bummed that I have to go out of town this weekend for a wedding. That means I'll miss the highly anticipated Rocket City Invitational at John Hunt Soccer Park. The guys at Southern Soccer put on a nice tournament. Here's the post from the Weekend Warrior's tournament this past February.


This one should be even more fun, as they have plenty of extra curricular activities planned in conjunction with the games themselves. Here's a breakdown of the tournament festivities.

• 12 teams in the Open Divsion (including an RCU team), 4 in the Rec Division, 4 in the Over-30 Division and 4 in the Co-ed Division.
  
• Each participant will receive a "sweet" official Rocket City Tournament beverage koozie.
  
• Each team will play multiple games on the Stadium fields.
• World Football Challenge viewing at Parkway Place Mall on Friday night and Sunday afternoon
• Mist tent provided by Cool Temp
• Music will be pumped through the stadium PA throughout the tournament.
  
• Rocket City United tent with various promotional goodies
  
• RCU Kid's Zone will be going for the kiddies
  
• Forevergreen Golden Boot award for top goal scorer in each division
• Crossbar challenge contest with the Finals to be held at half time of the RCU match. 50% of the proceeds will go to Kitty's Miracle Fund.
• Discounted tickets to RCU game that night against Nashville Metros PDL team
• Tournament party at Leeann's down town. Drink specials for all participants!
• 10% of tournament proceeds to Kitty's Miracle Fund

Should be a great time. I'll may have to get a special correspondent to cover the goings-on.

NPSL Final Four Draw Details

I found this nugget on the NPSL Bigsoccer board. The draw for the NPSL will apparently not be a blind draw. It will be seeded based on Points Per Game Average during league matches. Details below:


"As for the seeding for the National Finals:
It will go by average points earned during the season as each region plays a different amount of matches. Erie has a 2.8 ave, Sonoma has a 2.6 (these are off the top of my head), and Rocket City and the Midwest team (no matter who makes it) are tied with a 2.0 points per game earned.

The 3rd and 4th seeds would be settled by Goal Differential I believe, and we won't have that until this weekend."

USA vs Mexico To Be Shown On Mun2. What's a Mun2?

If you're like me, before last week you didn't even know there was a station called Mun2. And now, we find out that the English language broadcast of the USA v Mexico World Cup Qualifier will be shown only on this obscure channel.

Apparently, Mun2 is a sister station to the Spanish language network Telemundo. NBC, which owns Telemundo and Mun2, holds the English and Spanish language broadcast rights to all Mexico National Team games played outside the USA. So, instead of showing the English match on NBC or even selling the rights to ESPN, NBC has decided to use this match as an advertisment for thier new youth oriented station, Mun2. Mun2 has shows both in English and Spanish and will broadcast the English version of the match while the Spanish broadcast will appear on Telemundo.

3:0 Victory Crowns RCU as Southeast Champion

Goals from Kempess Villafana, Freddy Okello and Derek Pirtle gave Rocket City United the victory over Saturn FC and the NPSL Southeast Region Championship and has them playing in the NPSL Final Four in Madision, WI. RCU finished the season 3 points ahead of the nearest competitor with 5 wins, 1 draw, and 2 losses. RCU had the most potent offense with 18 goals scored and the stingiest defense with only 9 goals given up.

Goal scorer Kempess Villafana celebrates the victory

The team is focused now on preparing for the test ahead as they will face the Sonoma County Sol from the West Region, the Erie Admirals from the Northeast Region, and the yet to be determined Midwest Region champion.

Freddy Okello on and his goal and the job ahead

Full game report can be found here.

MLS Commish Talks Expansion; Doesn't Mention B'ham

Since the Birmingham MLS expansion rumors are hot right now, I guess I'll keep a closer eye on what the MLS powers are saying regarding expansion. So...

Just days after B'ham rumors were ignited by Mayor Larry Langford's announcements regarding the new domed stadium, MLS Commissioner Don Garber talked to Brian Lewis of the New York Post about the league's priorities when choosing the next few markets for expansion.

"We're not south of Washington, D.C. Markets like Atlanta, Carolina, Florida, we have to figure out how we capture another 50 million people in this country,'' said Garber, who felt the Southwest wasn't a priority and recent expansion has helped cover the West Coast.

"But you get east into the Midwest, we're feeling a little weak there. We need a team in St. Louis, and we're trying to figure out how to make that work.''

Notably missing was a mention of B'ham. That's not good.

Just as an aside, a few years ago my buddy, who is a big MLS fan but will remain nameless, saw Don Garber at a US National Team game and asked him about the chances of a team landing in B'ham. Garber's reply... "No chance."

I know, it's one of those I-know-a-guy-who-knows-a-guy stories, but I just thought I'd toss it out there. This is a blog after all!

Massive Match This Weekend For RCU

Rocket City United controls its own destiny this weekend. A win or draw would see them crowned the NPSL Southeast Region Champion and would punch a ticket to the NPSL Final Four where they would meet the champions of the Northeast, Midwest and West Regions. However, in Saturn FC, RCU is facing one of the few teams that have beaten them in the 2009 campaign. On May 9th in the first game of season in Atlanta, Spencer Davidson's 57th minute free kick was the dagger in SFC's 2:1 victory.

RCU forward Rafa Barbosa scored the lone RCU goal in the early season loss to Saturn FC

SFC followed the win over RCU with an impressive 3:2 victory over Atlanta FC. Since then though, the SFC run of form has been less than impressive with Saturn FC losing the next 5 league matches in a row to slide a the bottom of the table (2-0-5). Couple the abysmal SFC record on the road (0-0-3) with the RCU's perfect home record of (3-0-0) and the predicted outcome would seem to be clear, but the USA v Spain predictions were similarly clear, and we all know how that one ended.

Coach Greg Petersen is not taking Saturn FC lightly

John Hunt Stadium is the site of this weekend's massive match. RCU will have the support of several hundred military personnel from Redstone Arsenal as RCU hosts "Military Night". So, the stands may be packed for this one. It should be fun to watch.