Soccer Team Tries Their Luck In The Sin City

The soccer team competed in Las Vegas recently.

It was a very exciting weekend for Black Rock FC, who made a journey to Las Vegas, Nevada, to try their luck in a highly-scouted showcase with college coaches from all around the country. The adventure for the Northwood teams started Thursday morning at 3 A.M. when a charter bus picked up both the U19 and the U17 teams and drove over two hours to Burlington International Airport in Vermont. The teams then caught a 7 A.M. flight to Las Vegas, with a connection in Chicago, arriving at Sin City at 2:50 P.M. Matches started the next day, and over the course of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, the U19’s and U17’s each played a gruelling 4 games against elite competition from all over the United States. The fixtures for these games can be found below.

U19 Results

Game 1: Black Rock FC V.S. Strikers FC
Score: T 1-1
Black Rock FC Goal Scorers:
Matías Valenzuela ‘19 (1 goal)

Game 2: Black Rock FC V.S. BEACH FC ECNL
Score: W 3-2
Black Rock FC Goal Scorers:
Petro Paggi ‘19 (1 goal)
Cory Booth ‘19 (2 goals)

Game 3: Black Rock FC V.S. DTFC DESA
Score: W 2-0
Black Rock FC Goal Scorers:
Cory Booth ‘19 1 goal)
Diego Dutilh ‘19 (1 goal)

Game 4: Black Rock FC V.S. BYSC CORONA
Score: W 4-0
Black Rock FC Goal Scorers:
Diego Dutilh ‘19 (2 goals)
Abdou Samb ‘21 (1 goal)
Matías Valenzuela ‘19 (1 goal)

U17

Game 1: Black Rock FC V.S. Laguna United FC
Score: T 0-0

Game 2: Black Rock FC V.S. ECNL 00B Pride SC
Score: L 0-4

Game 3: Black Rock FC V.S. RIVERSIDE CITY FC
Score: L 4-7
Black Rock FC Goal Scorers:
Alvaro Garcia Pascual ‘21 (1 goal)
Kenji Mboma ‘20 (2 goals)
Marc Wharfe ‘21 (1 goal)

Game 4: Black Rock FC V.S. PHOENIX RISING ECNL
Score: L 1-2
Black Rock FC Goal Scorers:
Luke Smith ‘21 (1 goal)

The highlight from this slew of games was the U19’s second game against BEACH FC ECNL. After about 30 minutes of play, Black Rock FC was down 2-0, but Petro Paggi ‘19’s stellar goal pulled the game to within one, and with two later goals by Cory Booth 19’, Black Rock FC was able to rally the troops and pull off the win in exciting comeback fashion. Once the final whistle blew, Booth realized that he had won his team the game. He said, “I thought to myself that it was a much harder game than it needed to be, but in the end, I was also just glad that I could bring one home for the team.”

In addition to the games, the boys had some fun off the pitch as well. They got to visit the Las Vegas Strip not just once, but twice. There was even a roller coaster on the strip that some of the players got to ride. The roller coaster was a hit especially among many of the international players, who had never seen a roller coaster dead smack in the middle of a city before. A few of them were quite confused, though, when they saw the re-creation of the Statue of Liberty right next to the coaster, wondering how and why the Las Vegas strip was borrowing one of New York City’s greatest monuments.

For the Northwood’s soccer teams, this past week was exciting indeed. But the adventures for Black Rock FC are far from over. In fact, in just one month, both teams are heading to Dallas, Texas to try their luck yet again against some of the best U20 soccer teams in the country.