Knoch players help Hotspurs to national title
The Hotspurs had been there before — but not against competition like this.
The under-18 PAWest soccer club, which is based in Sewickley, was crowned Division 2 champion at the National Indoor Soccer Championships recently in Sterling, Va.
Also national champions in 2004, the Hotspurs were runners-up in the 2005 tournament and were finalists last year.
"We were handed a particularly tough draw this year,"coach Dan Grant said. "Every team we played was in a higher division."
Actually, the Hotspurs were fortunate to have an under-18 indoor team this year at all. The entire squad consisted of seven players, including Knoch soccer players C.J. Wise, Mike Moorehouse and goalkeeper Nathan Geibel.
Other players were Alex Grant of Quaker Valley, A.J. Ross of Thomas Jefferson, and Ryan Prosper and Andrew Forbes of Center.
"There was a chance we weren't going to have a team ready for the regional,"Wise said. "We just called around, got a few members of our summer team together and got it done."
"Kids get older and they drop off,"Grant said. "Once kids reach 17, they discover girls, jobs and cars.
"Right now, we're not sure if we'll have a (under-18) team. You need about 16 players to field a team for the outdoor game."
The Hotspurs won their indoor regional in Cleveland to qualify for the national tournament. At nationals, teams are placed into eight-team groups and are drawn three opponents from that group.
Four divisions, U-19 Division 1, U-19 Division 2, U-18 Division 1 and Under-18 Division 2, are represented at this event. The Hotspurs drew three opponents from higher divisions.
They played a team from Chicago that was comprised of Brazilian players and lost, 10-4. They faced a U-19 Division1 team from Virginia and suffered a 17-2 defeat. Arsenal Academy of Maryland handed the Hotspurs a 9-0 setback.
"All of those teams were simply out of our league,"Grant said. "But we were the only team to score as many as four goals against that Brazilian squad.
"The Virginia team had a player from (Major League Soccer's) D.C. United and five players on scholarship from Virginia Tech."
Wise scored two goals in the national tournament. The Hotspurs were awarded the U-18 Division 2 national title "because we were the best team in our division down there,"Grant said.
Wise has been playing soccer since he was 5, but this was his third season of indoor play. He scored nearly 20 goals in three indoor tournaments for the Hotspurs this season, the team winning two of those tournaments.
"Indoor play is a lot of fun,"he said. "You have to adapt to the dasher boards and passing the ball off those boards and around your opponent.
"I prefer the outdoor game, though. You have a lot more room to run and create plays."
Grant lauded the effort of his seven players at the National Indoor Championships.
"We didn't have the numbers and weren't at the skill level of the teams we faced,"he said. "With seven players, we only had one sub. With the speed of the indoor game, that is really difficult.
"Saturday, we had to play two games. Our guys were dehydrated and cramping up. They'd come to the sidelines, vomit and get right back out there. Their effort was phenomenal."
