Youth soccer: Local boys team Ambushes the visiting Knights

The Davis Ambush, a U12 boys soccer team, hosted the Pleasant Hill Knights on Saturday at Nugget Fields and sent them home with a 3-2 loss.

Local player Evan King took the kickoff and immediately put his team up 1-0 before PH tied things up. The Ambush kept the pressure on behind forwards Robert Michel, Noah Fanhos and Joe Vogel, with the help of halfbacks Nathan Kong and Steven Noll, and eventually Kong set up Vogel for a goal.

Soon after, Kong put through a ball to Michel, who chipped it in to make it 3-1. The rest of the way, the locals got tight defense from Ben Park, Evan Deas and Josh Noll and strong goalkeeping by Matt Belenis and Vogel to hold off the Knights.

Heat

The Davis Heat, a U16 girls team, played well against a tough Elk Grove FC side in two exciting games last weekend. The teams played even in both games before late goals cost the locals each time.

In the first match, the Heat got early offensive pressure from Mikayla Vang, Alexia Moore, Suleikha Sutter and Jaha McClean, leading to a corner kick by Sophia Hernandez that resulted in an Elk Grove own goal. Olivia Haass continued the Davis offensive assault, getting turned back on two good looks before connecting off an assist from Hernandez to make it 2-0.

EG, however, scored twice to equalize before intermission. After the break, outstanding defensive effort from locals Renee Schuman, Annie Leck, Elexsis Valenzuela, Hannah Thompson, Brooke Rosenblum and keeper Christina Roeckl-Navazio kept the score even but a scoring attempt by Davis’ Kaitlyn Wagner just missed.

Eventually, a late goal gave Elk Grove a 3-2 win.

In the next encounter, Melissa Teuber gave the Heat an early lead, which it held for much of the game behind the staunch defense of Claire Dicker, among others. But Elk Grove came up with late magic again, scoring twice for a 2-1 victory.

Domination

The Davis Domination, a U12 girls team, played Mount Diablo Heat to a 1-1 draw in Concord last weekend.

After falling behind 1-0 at intermission, the locals turned it on in the second half and eventually scored when Caroline Duncan put in a rebound off of teammate Lucia Ferrer’s powerful shot.

Although shots were attempted by Davis’ Alissa Casillas, Laurel Krovetz and Mitchelle Atungulu, backed by additional pressure by Claire Duisenberg, Sara Ludden and Julia Albertson, the Domination could not find the game-winner.

However, local defenders Claire Stevens, Chella Grattet and Allison Ayers stopped the opponents’ charges to keep the game in a tie.

Warning

The Davis Warning, a U12 girls team, got off to a good start against the Pleasant Hill Deception and the contest ended in a 2-2 deadlock.

Sasha Ballowe scored the first local goal at 5:07 in the first half, rocketing a shot in from the right corner. Davis’ Lindsey Vernau got credit for an own goal off a corner kick just four minutes later to put her team up 2-0.

Pleasant Hill, however, got one goal before halftime, then struck again at the 25:12 mark of the second half and that’s how the game concluded.

Stampede

The Davis Legacy Stampede, a U11 girls team, ended a successful 2012-13 campaign by taking third in its bracket and 11th overall at last weekend’s NorCal State Cup finals.

In Saturday’s semifinal, the locals faced the Danville Mustang Legends and fell, 6-2, despite goals from Jordan Davis, off a cross from Anne Ayotte, and Yasmeen Dmeiri, who converted a penalty kick.

The Stampede bounced back in the third-place match on Sunday, putting a wallop the ACC Mavericks Dynamite, 6-0, to secure the bronze.

Ayotte was able to convert a free kick late in the first half for the first goal, then Davis really got it going after intermission. Lily Byrne put the moves on several defenders and scored, then found Grace Barger for another goal. Ayotte and Dmeiri also found the net before the final goal came on an assist from Stampede keeper McKenna Lutzker, who punted the ball into the opponent’s penalty area, setting up a Davis tap-in.

Other contributions came from Adeline Umphress, Kaitlyn McElhern, Alex Hanna, Sydney Moore, Grace Carlson and Emily Speakman while the Davis defense was paced by Sophia Karperos and Skye Shaffer.