After a first half that was fairly evenly played, the Smithtown Arsenal went into the second half of their game with the Fullerton
Rangers down 1-0, but hoping that they could improve their play in the second stanza and get back in the game. Unfortunately for the Long Island contingent, it didn’t work out that way.
Cal-Fullerton netted three second half goals in the 43rd, 61st, and 67th minute to secure a 4-0 win in the first game of opening round play. The two teams entered play as the #1 (Fullerton) and #2 (Smithtown) ranked teams in the country in the BU14 age group, but for the Arsenal, who had never experienced national level tournament play before, this game was a case of a very good team getting on a roll against them.
Trainer Tom Lips saw this coming a few weeks back when he told LIJSoccer.com that the opening game would be an important part of setting the tone for his team for the rest of the tournament.
“The first 10 minutes of the first two round robin games will be crucial,” he said then. “If they come out sluggish and tentative, we could be in for a long tournament. We have to come out aggressive. We need to come out and play like we belong there.”
The boys did a good job of that through the first half of play, and seemed ready to put their early tournament jitters aside. But Fullerton scored almost immediately at the start of the second half, and then went on to dominate play.
Now, Arsenal must re-group for another tough battle on Thursday morning against the Chicago Magic, who was a 2-1 winner over the Dallas Texans on Wednesday.
Fullerton was a very strong team and a tough first test for a team like Arsenal who had never played at the national level before. Hopefully the coaches can clear the boys heads and have them ready to go Thursday morning.
Final Match Report.