The SRU Chelsea closed out their 2010/11 tournament season this past weekend at the CYSA State Cup Tournament in Morgan Hill. Chelsea came out somewhat flat in their early game Saturday morning and gave up an early goal to a strong Wolves team from Elk Grove. Elk Grove continued to control play for the better part of the first half, but that was not to continue, and Jordan Page's great goaltending kept Chelsea in the game. Following half time, Chelsea came alive. The team took control and continually pressured Elk Grove. Their persistence paid off with a late goal by Adolfo at the tail end of a pretty sequence of passes from his teamates. Adolfo calmly slotted his shot over a the prone Elk Grove keeper as he had made a last ditch effort to stop the solo Chelsea attacker. SRU continued to pressure but the match ended in a 1-1 draw. On to Sunday.

The first game on Sunday started at 9:00 AM. Once again, Chelsea dug an early hole and trailed 1-0 after the defense couldn’t hold off a strong attack from the Roosevelt Revolution Gold. This time it didn’t take Chelsea until half time to wake up. They began to control play and when the final whistle blew, goals by Adolfo and Ulysses elevated Chelsea to a 2-1 victory.

The win against Roosevelt Revolution, combined with the previous day’s draw, meant that Chelsea had a strong chance of moving on to the quarter final round if they could win their final game against the Alum Rock Zorros ’97. However, it was not to be. For the third consecutive game, Chelsea put themselves in a first half hole and were down 1-0. Alum Rock played well the rest of the game, but Chelsea played spirited soccer and were able to keep them from getting any more shots to cross the goal line. Meanwhile, Chelsea countered with several opportunities. One shot by Jordan Secchitano actually crossed the goal line, but a questionable call by the referee ruled that the close play was offside. Try as they might, the Chelsea could not produce the shots that would put them through to the next round. The Elk Grove team that they had drawn with on Saturday won their game and accumulated the points needed to advance.

Coach Mejia was able to extract a strong effort from the team. They played hard and well, although the results were not quite as desired.  The foundation has been set for a strong 2011/2012 season. Congratulations to all!

On Saturday, November 13, Chelsea made the trek south to finish out their initial Cal Soccer League season against the very tough Santa Clara Sporting. The grass fields were superb and the weather was perfect. Chelsea again had the services of Jesus and Alejandro from Healdsburg to fill out the team. The game was a hard fought, physical battle. Both teams had chances on goal, but the end result was a nil-nil tie.

So, after a tough start to the season that saw Chelsea playing undermanned and coming up on the wrong side of several scoresheets, they finished up going undefeated in their final two games. Things are definitely moving in the right direction. Next destination, State Cup.

On Saturday, November 6, SRU Chelsea went down to Treasure Island to take on Mountain View/Los Altos. The start looked similar to many of the games that occured in this years Cal League season. Chelsea fought hard and controlled much of the play, but towards the end of the first half, they found themselves down 2 goals to nill. A late goal by Chelsea put them back within reach going in to half time.

Unlike most of the season, this time around Chelsea had a full contingent of players with Alejandro and Jesus joining from Healdsburg along with Tupilo jumping up from the SRU ’97 team. In the second half Chelsea came out strong and controlled most of the game. Two goals later and Chelsea was on their way back to Santa Rosa with their initial Cal League win. Great job Chelsea. On to Santa Clara to finish up the season.

SRU Chelsea went to Davis for their final tournament of the 2010 season. However, unlike their first three Cal Soccer League games, they went with a full contingent of players. Joining the team for the weekend were Oliver and Orlando from the SRU Manchester, Tupelo from SRU Juventus and Jesus and Alejandro from Healdsburg.

Playing in the fall heat of Davis, Chelsea came out firing. They stormed through their group play, winning all three games with scores of 4-1, 5-0, and 8-1. That set them up for the Sunday afternoon championship game against the winner of the "B" bracket, Placer United Prestige ’98 Gold. The game was called evenly by the officiating crew, however it was a very physical game. SRU never backed down and the boys did not loose their cool. Chelsea broke out on top with a goal by Alejandro, but Placer came back with an equalizer. Later in the opening half, Alejandro was yanked down by the shirt from behind after breaking free just outside the penalty area. It was to no avail as on the ensuing penalty kick, Jesus beautifully slotted home the tiebreaker over the Placer wall and the outstretcehed keepers reach.

In the second half it was time to hold on. Placer pushed hard for the equalizer. Chelsea would bend, but not break. After pressure from Placer, United would break out with quick counters, but neither team could capitalize and Chelsea emerged the victors of the Davis Legacy Premier Cup, U13 Premier Boys, 2010 version. Congratulations to all of the boys and to Coach Mejia.

Essential to being a good player/coach/parent/fan is understanding the game and its rules. FIFA, the governing body of international soccer, has published the most current rules on line. To download a .pdf copy of the rules, just click here. It's about 140 pages, and some rules are modified for the age group, such as substitutions, but you will learn a lot from this document. Have fun.