This week’s articles is about my adventures in North Carolina (and a quick jaunt into Tennessee).

This article contains my previous week's travel to Johnson City, TN and Boiling Springs, NC. It includes the following schools: East Tennessee State, Jacksonville, Liberty, Radford, Coastal Carolina, North Carolina-Asheville, High Point and Campbell.

 

Part 3 will contain travel to Johnson City, TN, Cary, NC, and Washington DC. It will include the following schools: Gardner-Webb, Winthrop, Virginia, North Carolina, Duke (again), Boston College, Colgate and American. Whew.

Next week is NCAA tournament in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. 

Just a reminder, this year, I’m concentrating on just a few players at each game.

 

Johnson City, TN – With 2 early goals, East Tennessee State withheld Jacksonville’s second half offensive surge. However, it just wasn’t Jacksonville’s night. They deserved at least a goal.

 

F: Daniele Campailla

M: Darko Karamatic, Stefan Durr, Christopher Helms

DM: Predrag Ivanovic, Davide Faga

D: Jack McIver, Hernik Synnes, Tobias Hottner, Ashton Pett

GK: Gavin Carlin

F: Aaron Schoenfeld, David Geno

M: David Haba, Itode Fubara, Alesi Osorio, Frank Doumbe

D: Nate Hodges, Jaron Westbrook, Simon Schroettle, Blaike Woodruff

GK: Ryan Coulter

 

The senior-laden squad was unable to score not from lack of chances.

The duo of defensive midfielders is the source of the Jacksonville attack. Senior Predrag Ivanovic is a small, alert player who scoots around the field. He’s exceptionally technical but more amazingly, he successfully challenges for balls in the air against much taller players. Ivanovic uses positioning to win the ball in the air.

Junior Davide Faga compliments Ivanovic with his technical proficiency. In the 38th minute, his side volley shot was blocked.

When freshman Ashton Pett hit the cross-bar in the 83rd minute, Coach Mike Johnson frustratingly realized that this wasn’t to be.

Senior Darko Karamatic his a laser from 20 yards in the 5th minute. He’s a competent dribbler.

 

Junior David Haba scored his first 2 goals of the year early in the first half enabling East Tennessee State to advance in the Atlantic Sun tournament which they are hosting.

The first goal was started by junior Frank Doumbe driving the ball forward to sophomore David Geno who crossed the ball across the goal mouth. Senior Aaron Schoenfeld tried to get his head on the ball but it got past him and found Haba on the far post and Haba buried the shot in the 5th minute.

The second goal was a savvy piece of skill by Haba in the 20th minute. He took the ball off his chest and with unusual composure he buried his shot with his right foot. While not particularly fleet or fit, Haba had a wonderful evening.

F: Aaron Schoenfeld, David Geno

M: David Haba, Itode Fubara, Alesi Osorio, Frank Doumbe

D: Nate Hodges, Jaron Westbrook, Simon Schroettle, Blaike Woodruff

GK: Ryan Coulter

East Tennessee State has an interesting team with players that have unique skills that are molded into a synergistic component – that is the whole is greater than the parts.

Sophomore David Geno is a sniper with a nose for the goal.

Senior Aaron Schoenfeld is a huge target striker and target on set pieces.

Sophomore Itode Fubara is the best pure soccer player with a high soccer IQ and exceptional technical skills.

Junior Frank Doumbe is a pure athlete but lacks finesse with the ball.

Freshman Simon Schroettle is an intelligent defender beyond his years. He’s a rock in the back.

Senior Jaron Westbrook supports Schroettle in the back with his athleticism.

Sophomore Nate Hodges is a gritty player.

It’s a classic model for a children’s book that I recall reading a few decades ago – though the book was about baseball, not soccer.

Schoenfeld played forward rather than right back. He had 2 second half opportunities that he didn’t finish. In the 74th minute, he got 1v1 against the goalkeeper, but he wasn’t able to put it past him. Then, in the 78th minute with Jacksonville pressing forward, he broke-away from the pack at midfield. But, he had a mis-touch that caused him to take a low percentage shot that the goalkeeper was able to block.

 

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Boiling Springs, NC – In a scoreless match that generated a single shot on goal in regulation, Liberty advanced over Radford in penalty kicks (5-4).

Both teams started slowly and didn’t build successfully in the attacking third for most of the game.

The only bright spot for this game is that the sun came out and it was relatively warm.

 

The penalty kick attempts:

 

F: Kyle Breitmeyer, Darren Amoo

M: Alex Verville, Juan Nino, Richard Nyarko, Phillip Aseweh

D: Uriah Bentick, Greg White, Chris Phillips, Sam Duininck

GK: Scott Sutarik

F: Chel Ho Kim Park

W/D F: Bernardo Ulmo

M: Luis Grande, Dario Redondo, Anthony Payne, Brian Gwanzura

D: Matt Janssen, James Jordan, Aldo Macias, Carter Mills

GK: Ryan Taylor

 

My Man of the match was senior Chris Phillips. For a Christian school player, he played defense like he was possessed. I wouldn’t be shocked to hear about an exorcism. Phillips smartly clogged the passing lanes. He’s equally adept at defending in the air. I’d don’t project that he has the raw skills to be a professional.

Senior Phillip Aseweh didn’t step up to control this game. Instead, he just drifted around making a nice play occasionally without imposing his will leaving the game in question.

Red-shirt junior Darren Amoo should have ended the game in regulation. He received a pass from the slick ball handler senior Juan Nino in the 60th minute. Amoo beat the goal keeper and struck the ball wide missing the empty goal. I can understand his frustration because he finally made a good run in the 25th minute but Uriah Bentick didn’t recognize this. Amoo plays soft.

 

Senior Anthony Payne is a chippy player who covers a lot of territory. In the 34th minute as the second defender, he picked off thee ball, but he didn’t have the composure to maintain possession.

Senior Iyiola Awosika came off the bench. His insertion into the game tilted the advantage to Radford. I like that he keeps his head on a swivel. He has good acceleration. He is a competent passer – I really liked his slick two touch pass to senior Brian Gwanzura in the 31st minute.  

Gwanzura was lost in a fog not knowing how to run off the ball. His touch has escaped him today. He didn’t add significantly to the team.

Freshman Dario Redondo is a nice player who could develop into an impact player.

 

Click here for Joe's Big Board. 

Boiling Springs, NC – #1 seed, Coastal Carolina used 2 early second half goals to secure the victory over UNC-Asheville. While I anticipated this game, I was disheartened with the level of Coastal Carolina’s play. This team is a nationally-ranked team, but I don’t see it.

Remarkably, Coastal Carolina is a very young team with just 2 seniors in their starting line-up. They should be able to maintain a good run next year.

 

F: Ricky Garbanzo, Ashton Bennett, TeeJay East

M: Pedro Ribeiro, Justin Portillo

DM: Luis Faz

D: Henrik Robstad, Cyprian Hedrick, Kjartan Sigurdsson, Shawn McLaws

GK: Scott Angevine

 

F: Bryan George

W/D F: Kenneth Lingerfelt

M: Jake Hagedorn, Kye Grooms, Quentin Reynolds, David Parra

D: Bobby Castro, Rob May, J. J. Morrow, Hans Lohmeyer

GK: Lassi Hurskainen

 

Only having to make a single save, senior goalkeeper Scott Angevine is hard to evaluate. He’s an average-sized to small goal keeper.

The other starting senior is Big South defender of the year Cyprian Hedrick. He’s a physical player but not particularly huge. His technical skills are unrefined – but could be classified as scary. I’m not positive that he knows where the ball is going to go on his first touch. His technique is poor. Hedrick is a good leader in the back – given that he’s surrounded by 3 freshmen – this isn’t surprising.

The younger players are much more enticing. Freshman left back Henrik Robstad gets up the line well. He scored the first goal in the 47th minute on a full volley hit from outside the far post from a deep cross by freshman Adam Schmoker. Robstad is a big kid that requires more attention in the future.

The Schmoker twins are good on the ball. 

Freshman Ricky Garbanzo scored the insurance goal in the 65th minute directly from a corner kick. On the play sophomore Bobby Castro got in the way of senior goalkeeper Lassi Hurskainen and the ball went straight through.

I’m a little concerned with the foot speed of huge freshman center back Kjartan Sigurdsson. He’s big in the back, but I believe that Hedrick uses his speed to cover for Sigurdsson in the back. Next year, he won’t have this crutch.

Junior Luis Faz is progressing. He reads the game well, playing like a free safety trying to clog the lanes. Next year will be a big year for him.

 

UNC-Asheville is an older team than Coastal Carolina.

I was thoroughly impressed with senior goalkeeper Lassi Hurskainen. While undersized, he made several reflex stops to give his team a chance for a result. I like the way he moves around the box and his positioning is very good. Tactically, UNC-Asheville tried to counter quickly with quick distribution with punts and throws by Hurskainen.

In the right situation, Hurskainen may have a chance with a professional team if given a chance.

Senior Bryan George is tidy player with adequate size and pace. He plays hard, but probably doesn’t have enough (skill, athleticism, etc.).

In the 30th minute with the wind assisting, Hurskainen punted a ball that George tromped into the box and was brought down. No foul was called. 

I tracked a few other seniors, but I wasn’t impressed enough with their play.

 

Click here for Joe's Big Board. 

Boiling Springs, NC – With High Point Coach Dustin Fonder serving a red-card suspension on the other side of the field, his team beat Campbell 3-1.

 

F: Karo Okiomah

W/D F: Alex Martinez

M: Kendall Lawson, Shawn Sloan, Patrick Donahue, Keith Cowdrey

D: Ryan Bennett, Todd Ray, Fejiro Okiomah, Leon Carby

GK: Michael Chesler

F: Keegan Terry

M: Jonathan Ray, Mitchell Cardenas, Scooter Oliver, Ricki Gaez

DM: Justin Franz

D: Nick Burdett, J. J. Elder, Aleksi Tossavainen, Ben Iiames

GK: Ethan Hall

 

High Point seems to be modeling their team like Coastal Carolina, a few technical players surrounded by athletes.

Senior Karo Okiomah is one of the best athletes in college soccer. However, he’s not a forward. He has blinding speed, but he has a horrible touch and a disaster in front of the goal. Nevertheless, he scored the opening goal in the 39th minute. Freshman Mamadee Nyepon served a perfect cross that Okiomah half-volleyed into the goal. If this highlight was all that he did, a different assessment would be forthcoming.

With High Point up by 1 in the 60th minute and an open look, Okiomah hit the post. He needs to bury that chance. After sophomore Alex Martinez dug the ball out off the end-line and crossed the ball to Okiomah, his shot was off-target.

Okiomah would be better served if he learned to play wide, utilizing his speed to get up the line and learn how to cross the ball. At this point, he hasn’t learned how to score goals consistently.

Okiomah earned an assist on the second goal combining with Nyepon in the 55th minute.

The ball handling in the back is dreadful. Worse, the standard is not high enough. When I hear the coaching staff accept pumping the ball up the field or out of bounds, I know that development is not important and short-term success is the goal. This is a disservice to the players.

There are tremendous High Point athletes in the back and they deserve to learn the game and to be held to an acceptable standard that passing the ball to your teammate is critical.

I was surprised to see that junior Fejiro Okiomah was playing center back when I’ve previously seen him playing defensive midfield or right back. Both of these positions would maximize his skills. However, after watching the other defenders, I understand that Fejiro is needed to solidify the backs. However, Fejiro is encouraged to kick the ball; he’s better than that.

Freshman Leon Carby needs to improve his trapping, passing and tackling. He is a good athlete.

Junior Shane Malcolm is exceptionally fast, but he is reckless in his tackling. In the 25th minute, he obliterated junior Mitchell Cardenas on the sideline that looked like a “purpose tackle”. He could become an acceptable soccer player, but he needs to increase his technical skills.

Junior Shawn Sloan is pretty good, keeps his head up and he has potential.

Senior Michael Chesler didn’t make many saves (1 in this game). His goal kicks were insufficient in depth and accuracy.

 

Junior Mitchell Cardenas is the best player in the conference. He has the body to handle the physical challenges. I like his skill. He seems to be going at a different speed than everyone else – not that he has superior speed, but his touch is precise that he doesn’t need to rush. He’s a very good passer. Cardenas is comfortable with both feet.

The other thing that I like is that he doesn’t get frustrated with his teammates that aren’t at the same level that he is playing.

Professional scouts are going to be streaming to Buies Creek, North Carolina, next year to see this talented player create his magic.