Bella Vista FC

HELD AT MCCALL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
January 4th-March 17th

Cost: $30

Registration Night:
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9th 6pm-7pm
AT STARR GARDEN PLAYGROUND
6TH AND LOMBARD STREETS
CLICK LINK FOR MORE INFORMATION
CALL 215-686-1782 FOR MORE INFORMATION

Race St won the BVFC championship, but was it deserved? YES! …

From one point of view, one would ask, how could a team with 8 draws including both their playoffs (albeit winners from pks), eventually end up at the top. Race St won only 3 games in the entire season and postseason (not including pks), hardly a profound achievement. But in the style that the Giants claimed the NFL crown a couple of years ago, the last place qualifiers dig deep and fight persistently till the final whistle blows. Amidst the echoes of Vatche’s team-building rants, and Chris Bull’s geico-gecko style calls to action, there is a sense of belief in themselves, that throughout the season, they have been kings of comebacks - to Draw! But 8 draws!? Yes, look deeper, and one would see that many of them, especially the most critical games, were Race St coming back to WIN a draw after being down goals. Both the playoff games were exactly this story. Race st were down 2-0 to Bonte and in the last quarter of the game, they were able to draw. In the final, Race St were down 1 goal, and they were able to draw. Hence, what makes a champion? Persistence!

Perhaps the lesson for the others is that, whether you’re up or down, one’s persistence in finishing strong is incredibly important, especially in a battle of wills where Race was triumphant. As they say, “it ain’t over till it’s over.”

Congratulations Race St on a second BVFC Championship.

This was the year of irony. Irony of the final standings: Bonte wins the league, ends up 4th. The top 4 teams that made the playoffs ended up in reverse order! Race, Fuego, Vesuvio and Bonte.

2nd Semifinal (Bonte v. Race St.) to be played Tuesday Nov 17 at 8pm at Palumbo.

El Fuego and Vesuvio engaged in an epic battle on the muddy Sacks pitch on Saturday. Although the early game was cancelled, the captains for this one agreed to play. Conditions were improved by a lot of groundskeeping work by James and Zach sweeping out the larger puddles. We agreed that, while the pitch was not in the best shape, it would be equal for both teams and would at least be softer.
Each team had pretty full squads, with Kate missing through injury for Fuego and Gabe (injury) and Eli (moved to Colorado) missing for Vesuvio.

The game went back and forth, with the teams tied at the end of 90 minutes 2-2. Goals for Vesuvio by James and goals for Fuego by Stan and Riqui. Due to concerns about diminishing daylight to play in, the captains and refs (thanks Dave and Lance, plus Heri for the first half) decided to do two 10 minute extra periods instead of 15, no golden goal. During the first extra time period, Riqui scored for Fuego. Vesuvio battled hard for an equalizer to take it to pk’s, but were unable to get the tie. Fuego therefore qualified for the final of the BVFC cup by a score of 3-2 after 110 minutes.

Great game, lots of fun, competitive but respectful. Thanks again to the refs.  Ben

 STANDINGS UPDATED

In a match that was more competitive than the final score, Race Street defeated Brauhaus 3-0 on Thursday night.  This game was fiercely fought in the midfield, but the combinations worked by Cullen, Vatche and Heri proved to be too much in the end.  Cullen scored at the end of the first half on a very neat one-two overlapping run with Heri.  Race had a number of chances in the shadows of the North end of Sacks in the second half, with Vatche keeping up his goal-per-game pace.  Cullen added his second for the team’s third ignoring a difficult angle.  Race defenders Doug, Jon and Juan held dangerous Brauhausers Adel and Loren under wraps, and Alex made a couple of very nice saves on their limited chances.

In an exciting match, Bonte managed to come from one goal down to win 2-1 on Tuesday night.  Brauhaus opened the scoring with a superb through ball behind Chris Haines leaving the striker (cannot remember who) just the goalie to beat, which he did with a passing shot.  Bonte drew when a fabulous pass from Adam which Bula slipped past the goalie.  The second was another Steffen goal for Bonte from a through ball.  Brauhaus had numerous chances including a solid header from Vincenzo and a solid strike from Alex, both met with a remarkable saves by Josh the Bonte goalie.  Bonte is the first team to make the playoffs, and Brauhaus is vying for the 4th place position and need a win in their final game.

The 2 games over the weekend, Vesuvio and Race played a match of equals (Vesuvio was down one player), drawing 1-1.  Chances were plenty for both teams, where Vesuvio hit the goal post 3 times, and Race Street barely missing the target half a dozen times. Heri scored his 5th of the season with a header from Vatche’s corner.  Vesuvio equalized in the second half.

At 2pm, Bonte played BV.  Bella Vista outperformed Bonte for much of this match where they dominated the midfield, but were unable to convert on the chances they had.  Bonte’s goal was a second half missile of a header into the top corner of the net by German international Steffen.  The game ended 1-0 to Bonte.  Bella Vista became the first team not to make the playoffs.

On Sunday, Bonte managed to score the only goal against Brauhaus.  The game was pretty evenly matched.  There was action: between Glen Wilken and Stu’s blistering shots at goal, and the barrage of headers by Hadj, though nothing seemed to get through… until…  Nachmy, pissed at himself for missing a point blank shot opportunity, converted an unlikely header (the first header of nachmys life!) into the Brauhaus goal.  1-0.  Thanks Richard for reffing.

Brauhaus is currently 5th, but is a viable contender for qualifying for the playoffs.  It all depends on how their last 4 games go.  Their game against Race St may be the decider.

In a toughly contested game, El Fuego managed a decisive win over a 9-player Bonte team.  The first goal was a completely miscalculated own goal by Eddie, a new Bonte recruit.  Eddie redeemed himself by playing well for the rest of the game.  Neither side had chances worth speaking of in the first half.  In the second half, there were more chances for El Fuego versus a seemingly tired Bonte, but ironically, it took a fantastic, and perfect header from former Bonte Nathan Avery to put the Burritos up 2-0.   Good game overall. Thanks to Lance for awesome reffing.  El Fuego now lead the league.

It ended 2-2 last night, Vesuvio put in 2 in the first half through Marcus and Nick. Rave answered with 2 by Heri in the second half. Good game played at a high level. Thanks to Q for reffing.  There was a controversial goal that was allowed, and another that was disallowed…

Vesuvio is now at the top of the League, and plays the #2 team Bonte this Saturday at 2pm at Sacks.  Mr. Holt is licking his chops on this opportunity, one he missed when he pulled his hamstring the first time around.  Should Bonte win, they will control the top spot in points, with 3 games in hand.  This sets up to be the match of the tournament.

The weekend action started with Fuego and Bonte at Sacks at high noon.  Fuego, armed with everyone sans Keith “sunshine”, controlled much of the midfield.  Bonte played with 9 in the first half, and 10 in the second half.  The strategy for Bonte was counter attack and set plays.  Early opportunities fell for the burritos with some fabulous through balls which barely missed the target.  Eventually, a counter attack gave Andy a freekick which ended in the net.  It was 1-0 Bonte at the half.  Fuego came out strong as habanero, inclined bring the score level.  One obvious chance was Elana’s shot off the post after she was one-on-one with Josh the Bonte Keep.  Bonte’s D played like warriors, with Geoff, Leah, Daniel, Adam and Steffen proving to be a solid wall against the maestros Riqui and Zach.  The addition of Glenn for Bonte proved valuable when he put a second one in from 25 yards.  The score was 2-0 Bonte.  Nachman, the Israeli international, was a thorn in the Fuego side playing through balls and creating chances.  Thank you Conrad for great reffing.

At 2pm, Vesuvio defeated an undermanned Brauhaus squad yesterday by a score of 5-0. Goals were scored by Mike Geller (2), Scott H, James and Marcus. Thanks to Conrad for reffing.  No further details of the game are available.

In an entertaining and well played game on Sunday, Race Street came away with a 5-1 victory over BVFC.  Race Street took an early lead with Heri Ali scoring on a breakaway following a through ball from Cullen Meade.  Moments later, Race Street made it 2-0, when Heri set up Vatche Manoukian all alone in front of the net.  BVFC, to their credit, continued to work hard at creating chances, but the Heri-Vatche connection proved to be too much, as the strikers worked well together, each adding a second goal.  Cullen rounded out the scoring for Race Street.  Anthony Williams scored for BVFC off a low, well struck corner from Q.   Thanks to Jerry for referring, and thanks to all the players for a clean and well played game.  Q commented: “Good summary for a well played game by Race!  Despite the continued losses, BV still manages to get players to show up and work hard.  Gandhi once said, Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.  For better or worse, this quote nicely covers both our poor performances and excellent effort.”