The Sin Nombres, the Palisades’ under-14 league winners, enjoyed a fantastic weekend at the American Youth Soccer Organization Area Championships in Santa Monica last weekend, finishing second in the tournament. Coached by Nancy Babcock and David Hindshaw, the Sin Nombres will advance to the Sectional Championships in Riverside in March. The Sin Nombres shut out Hollywood, 7-0, in their first round game thanks to the scoring prowess and assists of Augie Bernstein and Aaron Schwartz. Schwartz scored three goals, Bernstein added two and Lawrence Kondra and Kourosh Adlparvar each added one. In their second game, the Sin Nombres beat Beverly Hills thanks to a goal by Schwartz on an assist by Cooper Babcock. Defenders Ben Asoulin, Alex Hindshaw, Sam Karp and Oliver Nassiri proved impenetrable. Goalie Mack Fraser made a diving save to preserve the victory. In its final game, Sin Nombre battled Santa Monica to a 1-1 tie through regulation before losing n overtime. Midfielders Alec Kerbox, Sam Gleitman and Vince Van Norden also contributed to the Sin Nombres’ success. “Considering that much of the season we were in third or fourth place and we won our league and now advance to sectionals–it’s pretty awesome,” Babcock said. “Our defenders are the reason we made it this far. You have to score goals but first you nust defend against them. Our back line is pretty unstoppable. David and I are really proud of these guys,” Babcock said. U-12 Boys The Palisades Banditz all-stars won the Corona Flight of the Pony Express Invitational last weekend. Under the leadership of coach Gary Gray said, Pali beat Riverside 3-0, Palos Verdes 8-0 and Manhattan Beach 6-2. In the semifinals, Pali shut out Culver City 5-0. Then, in the finals, the Banditz met Manhattan Beach again on a larger field and this time won 2-0. The Banditz are comprised mainly of players that started together as 9-year olds. They have played over 150 games in the three years they’ve been together and won over two thirds of them. They have won both tournaments they have played so far this season, scoring 42 goals and allowing three. “Our goalie, Jake Tenzer, has had games where’s he’s barely touched the ball,” Gray said. “We have such a stong defense with Ryan Kahn, Chase Pion, Nick Ledesma, Charlie Porter, Quaid Walker, Jordon Lewis and Cole Kahrilas, that Tenzer often doesn’t have anything to do.” While the Banditz were winning their Flight, the Palisades Burners finished third in the Norco flight. Coached by Peter Gilhuly, Phil Fier and Ron Dorfman, the Burners won all three of their pool games, lost in the semifinals, then won the third-place game. Matthew Bailey scored 6 goals, Dylan Coleman had three and Danny Rapaport added two. Chad Kanoff and Chris Sebastian played goalie and in the field. Clinton Hooks, Calvin Ross and Jordan Fier applied tight defense and Joe Rosenbaum was consistent at stopper. Garrett Swanky, Justin Ruder, Ty Gilhuly and Kyle Warner controlled the midfield with numerous assists between them. Joe Dorfman played superbly all over the field. The Burners improved to 6-1-2. U-12 Girls The Pali Storm upped its record to 10-2-1 by winning four of its five games at the Pony Express Invitational to finish third among 10 teams last weekend. In the opening game, Pali bested Diamond Bar, 4-1. Nicole Hirschhorn scored in the first minute and Lily McGuire made it 2-0 in the fifth minute. Izzy DeSantis and Jordan Gruber scored in the fourth quarter. On Sunday, Pali shut out Perris, 5-0, with three goals in the first five minutes of the game. Natasha Wachtel scored in the second minute followed almost instantly by goals from McGuire and DeSantis. Wachtel and Zoe Aliado added goals in the fourth quarter. Pali then shut out Riverside, 3-0, on goals by McGuire, Wachtel, and Jordan Gruber. In Monday morning’s semifinal, Pali lost to Mira Mesa 2-0. But the Storm rebounded to blank Camarillo, 2-0, on goals from Wachtel and Eve Babcock. Other players contributing to the Storm’s success were defenders Sarah Thorson, Deborah Abber, Jenna Davis and Kei Goldberg and midfielder Grady Gitlin. U-10 Boys The Palisades Ferrets, coached by Fredrik Gillette, won their age division at the Pony Express Invitational by scoring 23 goals and allowing two in five games. The Ferrets beat Jurupa’s all-stars, 5-0, in the championship game. The defense of Blake Gillette, John Stapke, and Drew Pion allowed midfielders Nick Knight and Jono Klein to create opportunities for strikers Cory Abdalla, Jake Mindel and Ethan Erickson. U-10 Girls The Pali-Cats, coached by Steve Morris, scratched and clawed their way into the finals of last weekend’s Corona/Norco Pony Express. With an offense powered by Mackenzie Gray, Mikaela Hong, Emma Sanderson, Mackenzie Howe and Dani Cohen, the Cats scored 21 goals in the tournament. The defense was anchored by Emma Schwartz, Dori Morris, Lizzy Thomas and Maya Schneiderman yielded only four goals in five games. But the Cats ran out of lives in the final against Corona/Norco, losing 4-3 in a penalty kick shootout.
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