Xplosion gets back to nationals

The Yardley Makefield Soccer (YMS) Xplosion U-17 boys team blanked all four foes they met at regionals including a 2-0 shutout they posted this morning over Seacoast United Maine. The team has once again qualified for nationals slated for later this month in Massachusetts.

By Steve Sherman
Sports Editor

There’s more than one way to skin a cat as they say, or more directly, more than one way to reach your goal.
Such is the case for the Yardley Makefield Soccer (YMS) Xplosion U-17 boys team whose road to nationals less than a week ago looked much tougher this year than last.
But that was before the boys from Bucks County outpaced four opponents at regionals, blanking all four in the process including a 2-0 shutout in the championship July 7 in West Virginia.
All of a sudden, the Xplosion is back in the US Youth Soccer National Championships slated for later this month in Massachusetts.
In the Region I (East) championship, YMS needed overtime to get past opponent past Seacoast United Maine but they did so using a pair of goals from Manolo Sanchez and Eddie Guerrero.
Sanchez broke the ice in the fifth minute of the extra session off a feed from Steve Neumann (Council Rock North). Guerrero scored in 10th minute of OT off a feed from Sanchez.
Keeper Drew Hutchins (Pennsbury) and the back four of Brian Powers (Pennsbury), Sepp Dasbach, Eric Schoenle (Pennsbury) and Ryan Tessler (CR North) held all four opponents off the scoreboard for the entire tournament.
To get to the title game, the Xplosion pulled off a pair of 1-goal wins over state champions from New Jersey and Virginia and a 4-0 semifinal triumph over Rhode Island champ Bruno.
Last summer, YMS qualified for nationals through its top two finish in the USYSA National League. This year, the Xplosion had its chance to sidestep regional qualifiers by winning a National League playoff with Lower Merion Velez in a mid-April matchup at Drexel University.
With both teams entering the battle with identical 4-0-2 records, Velez won that all-important game, 2-0, with a pair of goals in the last five minutes, finishing as the top team in the National League. The Dallas Texans–Houston Division punched the second ticket to nationals by claiming the runner-up slot with a 5-1-1 record.
In order for the Xplosion to make it to nationals this year, they had to take the top prize in the US Youth Soccer Region I (East) tournament which took place July 2 to 7 at Barboursville Soccer Complex, Huntington YMCA Kennedy Center and Scott Orthopedics Soccer Complex in Barboursville, West Virginia.
YMS qualified for regionals last month by defeating their old nemesis Lower Merion Velez, 2-0, in the finals of the Region 1 Premier League. A week later, the Xplosion followed with another 2-0 win over Lower Merion in the EPYSA State Cup finals.
At regionals however, YMS had an extremely difficult draw, says Coach Jim Powers, as it had to go up against TSF Academy Celtic--the state champs from New Jersey, Virginia state champ Great Falls 91 Elite in preliminaries.
The Xplosion passed the first two tests, kicking off the tourney July 3 with a 1-0 win over TSF Academy then following that up with a 1-0 win July 4 over Great Falls 91 Elite.
That put the Xplosion into the semifinals, where they trounced Rhode Island champion Bruno, 4-0, on a trio of goals by Pennsbury forward Eddie Adams and another by Chris Wysocki of Newtown.
In the opening win against TSF Academy, Brian Powers scored the game winner using a late-game penalty kick goal. Neumann put the ball into the back of the net against Great Falls.
YMS took off for West Virginia late last week as the Eastern PA representative to compete in the regional tourney, which kicked off at the Barboursville Soccer Complex, Huntington YMCA Kennedy Center and Scott Orthopedics Soccer Complex, in Huntington. Rains that pelted West Virginia Saturday night into Sunday forced the cancellation of a preliminary matchup between the Xplosion and Maryland champion Pachuca.
The US Youth Soccer National Championships are slated for July 21 to 26, at Citizens Bank Field at Progin Park in Lancaster, Massachusetts.