The week of June 17 through 21, 2013
We could only muster 14 players for this competition as several officers could not get time off from the Department to compete in this week long event. Being 4-players short did have a negative affect on the outcome our our games.
As the “games” begin, LAPD drew two games on Monday, the
first day of competition. Our first
opponent was from the California Department of Corrections (CDC). We had not competed against this team before so
they were an unknown us.
Right from the start LAPD had a good jump in their legs and
played a skillful passing game that left the CDC team flat footed. So much so that LAPD won the game 7-2. Contributing to the scoring were: 4-goals by Joseph STEVENSON, with additional
goals by Joel DOMINGUEZ, Kevin BONILLA and Manual MANDIETA.
On to our second game of the day was against the “Homeland
Security” team. This is a team that we
have played in the past. They are a
spirited and aggressive team that challenges early to try and break up our
passing game. It was a close game,
however, LAPD again prevailed to win 3-1, with scoring from Alberto DUENAS,
Edgar RAMOS and Heric OBREGON.
On Tuesday, we played the Los County Fire Department. This team is highly skilled and very
competitive. They continue to be one of
the toughest teams that we play against.
They are always physically fit and have a strong defense.
As the game progressed, both teams fought hard and gave
little advantage. This was proven by a
0-0 score at half time. In the second
half, LAPD began to put more pressure on their defense spending more time in Fire’s
zone. Late in the 2nd half, Officer Kevin BONILL
received a long pass down the left side of the field. Kevin noted that Fire’s goalie seemed out of
position and took that opportunity to launch a blistering shot from about 25
yards out from the left side that traversed across the goal mouth and into the
upper right corner of the goal….A truly spectacular shot at any level of
soccer. A powerful and amazing goal that eventually
won the game; score 1-0.
LAPD won all three games of their bracketed play, now on to
the semi-finals.
In the semi-finals, we played an Orange County Combo
Probation team, one we have not seen before.
The game started out with both teams moving up and down the
field pretty much at will, however, Probation seemed to have a little more jump
in their legs and began to dominate the play in general. This made us do much more defending than
usual. Eventually, Probation got the
first goal, setting us back on our heels.
At the end of the first half, Probation was leading 1-0. As we came out in the second half, it was
obvious that Probation had fallen into a defensive mode so as to maintain their
lead of 1-0. Additionally, we lost a
player due to penalties and played short, one man down.
Our spirit was strong and we began spending more time in
Probation’s defensive zone. With about
10- minutes left in the game, Officer Joel DOMINGUEZ collected a rebound shot
by on of the LAPD players and drove it past their goalie to tie the game 1-1.
The last 10- minutes was a slug-fest with both teams fighting
to gain the lead. LAPD continued to push
forward even though they were one man down.
As time drew near the end of the game, Probation, with
3-minutes left, had a corner kick near our goal. As the kick was initially denied by the
defense, but not cleared from the zone, Probation struck the ball hard and fast
into our net scoring a 2nd goal and putting them in the lead.
Unfortunately, Probation was able to make that score stand
and LAPD lost 2-1.
We fell just a little short of our goal to take the gold
medal, however LAPD was awarded the 3-rd place “Bronze” medal for soccer.
The following are actions photographs taken by Coach Don Barfield during the course of the tournament. To expand the photo, place your cursor on the image and double click it.
Comments or suggestions are welcomed.
