Category: Catch Ups

Catching Up with the Kids: Legon Cities

Catching Up with the Kids: Legon Cities

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Time for another round of self-flagellation and obviously past-deadline Sports “journalism” as I recap the year so far for the Royals of Legon Cities.

Match Results: 8 W – 3 D – 9 L; 17 GF/20 GA

Legon ended January atop our annual table by winning their one and only game. From February to April they continued to look strong, or at least…strong enough. The tonnage of 1-0 games suggested that the team was challenged each and every week, but the number of wins was heartening as the Royals pushed towards the top half of the league and started a deeper run in Ghana’s MTN FA Cup (the premier tournament in Black-Star Country)

A somewhat friendly draw in the tournament saw the boys from Legon continue to progress, beating lower tier side Korfoidua (home of my Ghanaian dad, Braimah Dediako) was part of an impressive run all the way to the semi-finals. Two more wins and the Royals would have their first piece of hardware under their new name.

Perhaps that distraction pulled them away from the League competition. Coach Paa Kwesi Fabian oversaw a miserable May and June as the defense crumbled and the losses piled up enough to let the Royals slide, once again, back down toward the relegation zone. Losing the Cup semi to a strong side from Nsotraman left it all in the balance, and once again the Royals escaped by the skin of their teeth…one point kept them above the drop and sent them into the offseason preparing to survive as usual.

Other Stories:

If there is a silver lining to the lousy spring the Royals endured, it’s that there were no points taken off of opponents, no bureaucratic mumbo jumbo, and no last second interventions to save them. The team truly earned their spot, which is more than can be said for prior years when they were lucky to have rivals engaging in shady practices. This time, the lack of a subplot made the survival just a little sweeter.

Star Players:

Alidu Mohamed is a rising young star, at just seventeen, the winger provided three goals, two assists, and three man of the match awards. But the Royals will lean on him still more in the coming season as the team’s clearest leader, Samuel Tenadu, who notched 10 goals for the club, has left to join the Porcupine Warriors of Asante Kotoko.

But while the goals and creators get the highlights, a large chunk of Legon’s success came down to the matches when their defense was able to deny opponents a path. The clearest connection between Legon’s best moments and a player’s performance wasn’t Mohamed or Tenadu, it was Center Back Frank Atoko. We’re always happy to acknowledge a strong center back performance, and all the more so when he makes an argument for everyone earning better wages and the awesomeness of journalism/writing. So Frank, thank you.

Catching Up with the Kids: Ross County

Catching Up with the Kids: Ross County

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Ok, I’ve said it plenty of times by now: but I really struggled to keep up daily writing routines when I was teaching full time. That’s what happens to me when I spend most of the day supporting 70 other people’s writing, and the rest of it trying to be a parent.

So rather than write one post covering six months of eleven teams in action, I’m going to break it up with posts as best as I can, I’ll fill you in on how the games have gone, who has excelled and any other news and stories worth knowing.

Match Results: 9 W – 4 D – 8 L; 36 GF / 41 GA

The last time we saw the Staggies, they were hoping to avoid another late season slog to stay above the relegation zone. There was a tremendous home win against Rangers, but a rough February and March led them to another round in the relegation region of the Scottish Premiership.

With every match increasingly important, the Staggies had to turn it on, but a brutal 4-0 loss to Motherwell left them behind St. Johnstone’s in goal difference and forced them to another relegation playoff, this year against Raith Rovers. Fortunately, this time there was no need to push for penalty kicks as they won both legs and secured another season in Scotland’s top competition.

After a number of offseason departures, the Stags had a perfect group stage in the League Cup looking the part of a top team. That completely came unraveled against Spartans, a League 2 side, who stood their ground and ended up leaving the Stags a little shell shocked, though not totally amazed given that they only have gotten 1 goal in their last 270 minutes of play.

Other Stories:

Derek Adams got a well earned boot out the door in February and the Stags turned to Don Cowie, who (fun fact) was born just 1 day before your mom! Unlike your mom, Don trained and debuted with Ross County and launched a strong career that took him all the way to the vaunted English Premier League before he ended up back at County right at the start of my blog writing days. As a local lad made good and proud to return home he has oodles of good well and also seems to be not a jerk (which is a big step up from the last couple Stags managers)

Star Players:

It’s impossible to talk about the salvation of the Staggies without mentioning the work of midfield maestro Yan Dhanda and the team’s strongest goal scorer, Simon Murray. They gave a difficult job their all and the Staggies wouldn’t still be in the premier league without them. As they move on to other clubs and challenges we wish them the best.

Equally important in County’s survival was captain and fellow central midfield stalwart Connor Randall, along with goalie Ross Laidlaw. But perhaps most influential has been the emergence of two more powerful defenders in Ryan Leak and loanee Will Nightingale (who has served as something of a brick wall for most of the Leagues Cup).

Catching Up with the Kids: Montana

Catching Up with the Kids: Montana

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Ok, I’ve said it plenty of times by now: but I really struggled to keep up daily writing routines when I was teaching full time. That’s what happens to me when I spend most of the day supporting 70 other people’s writing, and the rest of it trying to be a parent.

So rather than write one post covering six months of eleven teams in action, I’m going to break it up with posts as best as I can, I’ll fill you in on how the games have gone, who has excelled and any other news and stories worth knowing.

Match Results: 0 W – 0 D – 0 L; 0 GF / 0 GA

Okay, I’m taking a bit of a cheap route to start out, especially as the Griz have yet to play a match. But they will kick off their season this week, and as the reigning Sippy Cup Winners, they have a lot to play for.

Other Stories:

While they weren’t playing any matches, the Griz continued training all spring and summer…oh and they continued going to classes and pursuing their academic goals with aplomb. The team once again bosted a 3.7 graded point average and several student athletes with a 4.0 (or perfect GPA). Sydney Haustein led the charge in the classroom and was named the Montana scholar athlete of the year before graduating alongside Kathleen Aitchinson, Charley Boone, Molly Quarrey, and Maysa Walker.

The coming season is a big one for the Griz as they will be celebrating the program’s 30 year anniversary come October. It’ll be a great opportunity to celebrate the long legacy of Montana’s premier soccer side, and they’ll follow it up by hosting the Big Sky Conference Soccer tournament and hopefully cinching another trip to the NCAA tournament.

The journey there starts with another non-conference gauntlet with the team facing former Pac-10 teams Oregon State and Washington State plus Rocky Mountain rivals Air Force, Wyoming, North Dakota, and Boise State. The Griz do start out as a pre-season favorite (per a poll of college coaches) and bring back All-American Forward (and Flathead high grad) Skyleigh Thompson for her Senior season.

Star Players:

Obviously Thompson stands out as a rising star to watch, but she’ll be following team captains Charley Boone (yeah for Graduate studies!) and Ally Henrikson. Plus, we’re obviously holding out hope for Minnesota’s own Bayliss Flynn.