Monday, August 13, 2001
[SOCCER]
The Xcel International Soccer Tournament provided the Hawaii Select Team an opportunity to match up against opponents of varying strength. Hawaii shoots, Hawaii learns
By Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.comIn matches against Taiwan, Japan and France, the local all-stars had to raise their level of play above what they are comfortable with in Oahu's men's league. A couple of other matches were blowouts by soccer standards.
Hawaii finished atop its group in pool play with a 2-0-1 record, but fell to France in the quarterfinal round, 3-0 in a shootout, after playing to a 1-1 tie in regulation.
Japan then edged Hawaii, 3-2, in yesterday's consolation semifinal round.
"We simply couldn't finish and we outshot them, 3-1," said Hawaii coach Frank Doyle. "We were set up, had men there and it wasn't like Japan had a great goalkeeper. We just missed."
Orlando Suazo and Nick Paraskevopoulus accounted for the Hawaii goals.
The Select Team rebounded to blank Germany, 5-0, in the seventh-place match.
Chono Fernandez converted a penalty kick to get Hawaii going early. Aaron Delbex-Smith and Bryan Martin followed with goals to put Hawaii ahead, 3-0, at the half. James Nebaija and Hee Young Woo, University of Hawaii Wahine assistant coach, found the back of the net in the second half."You get to challenge people from all over the world. It's a one-time chance. That's the joy of this tournament," said Hawaii striker Darren Juliano.
Hawaii midfielder Zak Kahirane said, "Considering we hardly knew each other and come from different backgrounds, we did pretty good. Some of the teams play at a level we don't see here, so you push yourself to get to their level."
The Hawaii team practiced for about six weeks and, because of work schedules and family considerations, rarely was the full team available for workouts.
Head coach Phil Neddo, who was assisted by Doyle, Agustin Mendez and Sergio Bolloli, was pleased.
"What made me the proudest was we were professional, we showed discipline and we outshot everyone but Taiwan," said Neddo. "I believe we were in the top four teams in this tournament.
"We may not have had all the best players in Hawaii, but everyone out there is among the top 40 or 50 players here. It was a good experience for them to be put in a situation where they had to perform a little bit. They had to show themselves in the best light."
Four Hawaii Select members, Fernandez, Kahirane, Matt Snyder and Nick Chapin, played for the Hawaii Tsunami.
Select goalkeeper the first two tournament days, Adam Sthay, left yesterday for Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles where he stands an excellent chance of being the Lions starting goalkeeper this year.